Mintel Highlights Multifunctionality for 2014 with Mixologiste Trend

Mintel Beauty & Personal Care announced the key trend it sees as set to impact global beauty consumers in 2014—Mixologiste. Blurred lines between beauty technology are becoming increasingly common, with overlaps between skin care, hair care and color cosmetics. Combining the most exciting technology and marketing from more than one category, beauty brands and manufacturers are creating new combinations with new products, packaging, marketing and merchandise.

Jane Henderson, global president of Mintel’s beauty and personal care division, explains, “Mixologiste is fast becoming the stand-out trend that spans all beauty and personal care categories. 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 exclusive consumer research highlights the popularity of multifunctional makeup in the U.S., with as many as 70% of U.S. 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 U.S. consumers perceive time saving (68%) to be a greater benefit than reduced costs (63%).

In China, almost half (46%) of Chinese makeup users express an interest in trying new products with multifunctionality (such as 2-in-1 eye shadow and blusher), while almost one in three (29%) agree that multifunctional products (e.g., BB cream) perform as well as products designed for single purpose. Around four in ten (37%) say they like products that have cosmetic benefits as well as care for their skin. Reduced cost is seen to be a benefit for a third (34%) of Chinese consumers who say that buying multifunctional products is more economical than buying products separately.

But while multifunctionality is popular in the U.S. and China, it is not yet as popular in the U.K., 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, such as BB cream and tinted lip balm.

This article is an excerpt from GCI magazine. Read the full report.

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