The New Little Luxuries: How Beauty Brands Are Winning Without Premium Pricing

Trends Agency

Luxury in Beauty Is Being Rewritten

As inflation continues to shape beauty spending, consumers are becoming far more intentional about where their dollars go. Rising prices haven’t dampened demand, but they have raised the bar for what products are expected to deliver in return.

Instead of trading up indiscriminately or stepping back altogether, shoppers are redefining what luxury looks like in practice. Today, value is less about price tags and more about performance, reliability, and how seamlessly a product fits into everyday routines. In this environment, brands are winning by proving their value through performance and relevance, not higher price tags.

Everyday Essentials Continue to Command Spend

Within makeup, premium face products continue to stand out as areas where consumers are willing to invest. Foundations, concealers, skin tints, and other core complexion staples like setting powder, blush, and bronzer sit at the heart of daily routines. Their consistent performance makes the spend easier to justify even as prices rise, reinforcing their role as essentials rather than discretionary add-ons.

That same dynamic is playing out across everyday eye and lip categories. Products with frequent replenishment and repeat purchase behavior continue to hold attention, signaling resilience in a more value-conscious environment. By contrast, tools and brushes — categories that sit outside daily application — are easier to delay or deprioritize as routines are streamlined. Across prestige makeup, complexion accounts for roughly half of total sales YTD, with eye and lip contributing nearly 40%, while tools and brushes represent less than 6% of spend.

Fragrance Is Leading the Little Luxury Shift

One of the clearest expressions of the “little luxury” shift is unfolding in fragrance. While full-size colognes and perfumes still drive the majority of prestige fragrance sales, consumers are increasingly supplementing those purchases with lower-commitment ways to indulge. Hair and body mists and fragrance sets have emerged as meaningful secondary sales drivers, offering moments of indulgence without requiring another full-size purchase.

This behavior allows shoppers to explore, collect, and treat themselves while keeping spending in check. Fragrance is evolving into a more flexible category — one that delivers sensory payoff across a range of accessible entry points, even in a tighter economic environment. More broadly, it reflects a growing appetite for participation without the pressure of premium trade-ups.

Comfort-First Performance Is Gaining Ground

Performance expectations in makeup are shifting as well. Consumers are gravitating toward benefits that prioritize comfort and wearability, with hydration and longwear gaining traction. Across prestige makeup, hydration and waterproof claims each account for roughly 17% of benefit-driven sales, with longwear contributing about 15%. Meanwhile, correction-heavy claims like mattifying, pore minimizing, and skin perfecting have become far less central, representing under 3% combined.

This points to a broader move away from intensity and toward ease. Products that feel dependable, wearable, and supportive of everyday routines are increasingly defining value, especially as shoppers become more selective about what truly earns space in their makeup bags.

Accessible Indulgence Is Replacing Premium Trade-Ups

Rather than opting out of beauty discovery, consumers are leaning into controlled indulgence. Across categories, shoppers are choosing products that feel rewarding without requiring a major step up in spend, reinforcing beauty’s role as a source of everyday luxuries.

The winners in this environment are products that deliver immediate payoff and integrate effortlessly into existing routines. Whether that’s a new complexion staple or an approachable fragrance format, consumers are finding new ways to engage with beauty products.

Pricing Confidence Comes From Clear Market Signals

As consumers become more strategic about where they trade down — and where they don’t — brands need clarity on where value still resonates. Product- and subcategory-level performance signals offer critical guidance, helping brands understand where shoppers remain willing to invest and where pricing pressure is most acute.

Armed with that insight, brands can price, position, and innovate with confidence, aligning product strategy to how luxury is being redefined in real time.

Daash is a new, next generation commerce intelligence platform for the prestige beauty, personal care, and health & wellness industries. Think traditional intelligence tools but without the frustrating limitations. We’re enabling leading brands to track and understand the sales performance of competitor’s products and SKUs within brick & mortar retailers, including exclusive brands and products.