Mintel has announced what it believes will be the key trend set to impact global beauty consumers in 2014: 'mixologiste'. The consumer, product and media intelligence company defines this trend as the blurring of the lines between beauty technology, with overlaps between skin care, hair care and colour cosmetics.
“Mixologiste is fast becoming the stand out trend that spans all beauty and personal care categories,” said Jane Henderson, Global President of Mintel’s Beauty and Personal Care Division. “This is a key mega trend – in development for the last year or so – but we are set to see it really accelerating in 2014. While manufacturers have worked with multifunctionality for a number of years, we are now seeing them take inspiration from completely different categories to create new products and marketing messages. The huge success of BB creams has led manufacturers to think about how they can build on their existing portfolios and add excitement to sometimes saturated sectors. New combinations will continue to evolve, resulting in new products, packaging, marketing and merchandising. This will add a new sense of excitement to the market and will drive innovation in the year ahead.”
Mintel’s research highlights the popularity of multifunctional make-up in the US, with as many as 70% of US female consumers expressing an interest in multifunctional lip products, and 65% showing interest in multifunctional facial coverage products, for example those which combine the benefits of foundation and concealer. And while saving time and cost are highlighted as the benefits of these products, the research shows how time poor US consumers perceive time saving (68%) to be a greater benefit than reduced costs (63%).
In China, almost half (46%) of Chinese make-up users express an interest in trying new products with multifunctionality, while almost one in three (29%) agree that multifunctional products perform as well as products designed for single purpose. But while multifunctionality is popular in the US and China, it is not yet as popular in the UK where just a quarter (25%) of women say they are interested in products which have cosmetic benefits as as well as care for the skin.
Mintel says the the mixologiste trend will impact hair care, skin care, colour cosmetics and fragrance in a variety of ways in 2014. Hair chalks, for example, blend make-up with temporary colourants, primers now extend to pre-styling treatments and CC creams have moved beyond facial colour cosmetics in to nail care, lipsticks and even hair care. The company's Global Fragrance Analyst, Emmanuelle Moeglin, even added: “In the fragrance field, there is room to innovate by extending the category to new formats and added benefits. We expect hair fragrances to offer more than scent with targeted and time-release delivery of specific benefits such as antioxidants, vitamins, pigments and UV filters.”
