In November 2016, Frito-Lays Cheetos brand entered the color cosmetics market with its Colour de Cheetos bronzer, retailing at $11.99. The product claims to give users the perfect shade of Cheetos orange. Cheetos also launched a fragrance, Cheeteau Perfume, retailing at $18.99. Cheetos describes the fragrance as being crafted from hand-extracted cheese oils. Similar to KFC’s recent sunscreen and nail color launches, this suggests a trend of food brands moving into the beauty category.
What We’ve Seen
Facial make-up is the largest category segment and accounted for nearly half of total sales in 2016. US women are highly likely to use several types of facial make-up on a regular basis, such as foundation, blush and facial powder, resulting in strong replenishment cycles due to daily use.
41% of women use bronzer, though only 13% say it’s part of their regular beauty routine
According to Mintel report Color Cosmetics US 2016, as would be expected, younger adults are above average users of facial cosmetics products. In fact, 25-34s over index in use of less common facial cosmetics like primer, highlighter, bronzer, BB cream, and CC cream. This reflects their overall higher engagement in the category and greater awareness of current trends.
What we think
As discussed in Mintel’s Skincare Ingredient and Format Trends US 2016 report, a key trend in the skincare industry is the inclusion of food ingredients in skincare products. While most launches focus on fruits and vegetables (such as tomato and kale), incorporating Cheetos into beauty products provides a new, comical take on this trend, and could appeal to the seven in 10 US Millennials who enjoy funny advertising (Mintel’s Marketing to Millennials US 2016).
As is the case with KFC’s sunscreen and nail color launches, the Cheetos beauty products won’t have any major impact on the beauty industry; however, they will likely drive interest in Cheetos. Additionally, beauty vlogger Huda Kattan posted a video of herself trying the Colour de Cheetos bronzer to Instagram in December 2016 and it went viral, reaching eight million views, an improvement from the two million viewers who normally watch Kattan’s beauty tutorials. Now that Kattan has reached a broader audience, her future beauty tutorials may see an increase in viewership, boding well for brands and products that Kattan features.
Margie Nanninga is a Beauty Analyst at Mintel and a member of the US Reports team. Her diverse background, which includes qualitative research and data analysis, allows her to spot patterns and trends in the market and create actionable recommendations across beauty, home and personal care topics.
