Men’s grooming continues to be on beauty marketers’ radar. Recently, a new trend focusing on male consumers is making big waves and has great potential to impact the market in the upcoming years. Men’s cosmetics and gender-free beauty are the next steps in the male beauty movement, with the media, indie beauty brands, and even major beauty companies paying tribute to the rise of men in beauty.
Social media gave a voice to indie beauty brands as reported by Kline’s Beauty’s Most Buyable Brands: Global Tracking Service, and it is now providing a platform to men who are just as passionate as women are about cosmetics and beauty. Social media has given a platform to early male adopters of makeup to share their experiences with the world. From editorial pieces like PopSugar’s “10 Beauty Boys Who Will School You on Glam Makeup Looks” to “Rise of the Beauty Boys!: 11 Male Makeup Artists You Must Follow on Instagram” in the Daily News, just two examples of these types of articles published in 2016, it is clear that there has been a shift when it comes to thinking about men in beauty in the United States.
A major driver of growth for trends is support from innovative indie brands. Examples of these indie brands include Milk Makeup, which launched in January 2016 and offers a genderless approach to makeup, and Menaji, which has been in the market for years, but has grown by double digits this year because of its new and improved marketing focused on male cosmetics.
While indie brands are certainly attracting attention towards this major trend, 2016 also marks the year for a memorable shift in major brand marketing because of this male-centric beauty trend. CoverGirl, one of the mass market makeup leaders, proves in 2016 that major beauty companies can be progressive, by announcing its first “CoverBoy” —James Charles. After over 50 years of existence, CoverGirl broadens its target audience to include men. This bold move proves that the demand for makeup products for men has arrived, and other major companies should be ready to tackle this trend.
For more information on this trend, as well as others in beauty, please refer to our Top Trends and Insights in Beauty presentation to be available very soon as part of our legendary Cosmetics & Toiletries USA report. Along with the hottest trends in beauty, this insightful presentation provides corporate developments, product trends, and an industry outlook in a highly visual approach. To top it all, our upcoming Male Grooming Products: U.S. Market Analysis and Opportunities report will provide an in-depth view on this dynamic market, as well as actionable insights on its size and growth, news-making imports, alternate channel analysis, key new launches, and product trends.
Written by Kelly Alexandre, Consumer Products Analyst
