Paris (France) (AFP) – A Louis Vuitton lipstick or a Lancôme cream: while luxury seeks to regain growth, high-end cosmetics continue their momentum, driven by consumers who favor these more affordable purchases over fashion pieces.

Published on: 09/30/2026 - 11:10

At Galeries Lafayette in Paris, this Monday afternoon, the ground floor is teeming with customers. At the Louis Vuitton makeup corner, Jessica Karawa, 32, tests the fragrances.

“I really like perfumes, I bought one yesterday from Creed,” she told AFP.

The young woman also treats herself to luxury pieces from time to time, like this monogram bag that she carries on her shoulder, but she recognizes that the price increases practiced by luxury houses in recent years have limited purchases. “I bought this bag for a thousand euros five years ago, now the same product sells for 1,500 euros,” she regrets.

Despite an uncertain geopolitical context and inflationary pressures, the high-end cosmetics segment recorded sales growth of 7% in North America, 5% in Europe and 10% in Latin America in the first half, according to Circana.

“This is the fifth year of good growth in the prestige cosmetics market around the world,” says Mathilde Lion, director at Circana and a specialist on the subject.

L'Oréal stronger than LVMH

Treat yourself at prices that aren't too high: "For this, makeup is particularly well positioned," she observes.

In recent years, large luxury groups have understood the benefit of developing offers that allow customers to enter into their brands, like Hermès, which launched its lipsticks in 2020, or even Celine in 2024.

A strategy that is all the more important given that for at least two years, leather goods - long the spearhead of luxury - have been struggling. In the first half, the fashion and leather goods division of LVMH (Dior, Celine, etc.) notably declined by 5%, like that of Kering (Gucci, Balenciaga, etc.).

Several factors explain this slowdown, including price increases practiced by major luxury houses. According to consulting firm Bain & Company, the luxury market lost 20 million customers between 2024 and 2025, after having already lost 50 million in previous years.

A sign of the growing importance of beauty, the world number in the sector, L'Oréal - which offers several ranges, from the general public to luxury (like Lancôme) including professional products - recently dethroned the luxury giant LVMH at the head of the CAC 40.

A strong symbol, according to Eric Briones, specialist in the sector, who even speaks of a change of era. “The center of gravity of luxury has shifted in 2026 from fashion to broader beauty,” he says.

10,000 euros per liter

The expert also highlights the habits of Gen Z - this generation born between the mid-1990s and the mid-2010s - who are "in self-optimization mode. And this involves the body, beauty."

Goodbye crocodile bags and haute couture dresses? For Benoît Heilbrunn, professor of marketing at ESCP Business School, young people today “want signs of luxury, but not necessarily luxury objects”.

With cosmetics, brands “play on the idea that it is perhaps luxury, when in fact, nothing in the substance or material justifies it being luxury,” he says.

And prices sometimes reach new heights. A serum from the Swiss brand La Prairie sells for 300 euros for 30 ml... or 10,000 euros per liter, when 500 ml of Crème de la Mer (Estée Lauder) sells for 2,970 euros.

“The hyperinflation of luxury is contaminating beauty,” analyzes Eric Briones, with consumers who, in the long term, could also turn away from products deemed too expensive to favor less ostentatious brands. Or even turn to dupes, these cosmetics inspired by big brands, much cheaper, very popular.

© 2026 AFP

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