Oil, Clay Are Hot in Skin Care

Oil and clay were recognized and used regularly by the Ancient Egyptians for their beauty benefits, but in today’s world these ingredients have only recently become beauty buzzwords. They are also the two skin care textures experiencing the greatest growth within the US prestige beauty industry, according to global information company The NPD Group. Dollar sales of skin care oils have more than tripled over the past five years, while clay/mud has more than quadrupled.

Sales of prestige skin care oils reached $58.5 million and grew 22 percent in the 12 months ending April 2015 (May’14-Apr’15), while clay/mud grew 53 percent, to $27.9 million. Oil is most prominent as a facial skin care moisturizer, though recently it has experienced the greatest lift within facial cleansers. Clay/mud is most common among facial skin care masks and continues to see high double-digit growth. At the same time, some of the more traditional skin care forms have been experiencing declines; serum sales have been declining for the past two years, as have lotion/milk formats.

“The growth in oils and clay/mud comes on the heels of the shift to more primary facial care products we first began watching about five years ago. While corrective anti-aging treatments are still an important part of the facial skin care market, the consumer is increasingly recognizing that there are other vehicles that provide great looking skin,” said Karen Grant, global beauty industry analyst, The NPD Group. “With innovative new applications of age-old beauty secrets, consumers are discovering the noteworthy benefits of products that soothe and nurture the skin as well as address environmental aggressors, a primary source of aging.”

While New York and Los Angeles, the largest prestige beauty markets based on dollar sales, are among the regional growth drivers for these formats, smaller markets from Florida to Texas are performing just as, if not more, strongly. In Europe, a similar trend is happening in France, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom, particularly when it comes to skin care oils.  

“The popularity across continents of mud and, particularly, oils demonstrates just how important this trend is for newer skincare formats. For more than a decade, all the news in skincare was about serums and the technology,” added Grant. “The success and increasingly global footprint of the brands offering oil and mud products is telling us to also look for solutions from less traditional sources.”