Mentioned in every Vogue skincare video... La Mer's marketing team never sleeps. Estée Lauder is the beauty giant that owns brands like Bobbi Brown, La Mer, Clinique, MAC, Too Faced, and Jo Malone. Its first quarter earnings reveal a glow up from 2020.
Forgot how to do winged liner... (never really knew how). Skincare was the star of Estée's quarter, outperforming while makeup disappointed. Skincare sales soared 31%, perfume sales jumped 30%, and even hair care grew. Meanwhile, makeup dropped 11% — the only category that declined. Rival L'Oreal also reported "lacklustre" makeup sales last quarter.
Old habits die hard... so do some Covid habits. For a year, we’ve been sitting at home fresh-faced. "Big Nights Out" turned into "Big Nights In," complete with self-care rituals. Eye serum became the new eye shadow, and clean became the new cakey. Even with rebounding travel and "revenge spending," makeup is still lagging. That shows some Covid habits are sticking, even through reopenings. Amazon just had its best first quarter ever because ecomm is still growing, and Crocs posted record Q1 sales because comfort is (still) cool.