Two weeks ago, Loewe Perfumes opened a large-scale holiday pop-up at New York’s Rockefeller Center. Running until January 31, the green garden-themed temporary space is the brand’s first US storefront, a stone’s throw from top tourist attraction, the Rockerfeller Christmas tree. This follows a slew of major beauty activations and events in the US over recent months, from Valentino Beauty’s star-studded Studio 54 party during New York Fashion Week, to fragrance launches from scores of brands including Prada, Miu Miu and Christian Louboutin.
As Chinese consumer spending and travel retail revenue remained soft in 2025, major beauty labels have refocused their energy on the US consumer this year. In its 2025 half-year earnings this summer, L’Oréal CEO Nicolas Hieronimus publicly signaled that he is “bullish” on the US, and plans to “sharpen focus” on the market as Chinese demand remains weak. Estée Lauder, too, identified the US as a priority in response to the Chinese slowdown. In the company’s fiscal 2025 results, Asia-Pacific sales were down 7% as consumer sentiment in China remained a challenge.
Meanwhile, LVMH’s perfumes and cosmetics division reported 2% organic sales growth to €1.9 billion in the third quarter of the year. The company said that the US remained stable in the first nine months of 2025.
The US has become more strategically important for beauty labels, but prioritizing the region is not a sure-fire way to mitigate soft Chinese and travel retail sales. As more brands invest in the market, competition for American dollars is heating up. To stay ahead, brands will need to lean into their heritage and prove their genuine intentions to the American consumer, by offering convenient services that merge storytelling with strong product placement.
Dominique Temple, founder and CEO of communications agency DT Consulting, which works with top beauty labels including Dr. Barbara Sturm and Rhode, says that a strong US market launch should blend storytelling, strategic retail positioning, influencer partnerships and cultural immersion. “It’s important to clarify your brand positioning while anchoring your credibility, whether that’s through hero products, expert authority or an aligned retail channel partner,” she explains.
Meeting the consumer where they are
A large portion of American consumers will buy into luxury and premium beauty “without the bells and whistles other markets require”, says Marc Elrick, CEO and founder of UK-based skincare brand Byoma, which is stocked at Ulta Beauty, Target and Amazon. These mass market retailers, which focus on convenience and ease over the “frills” of luxury shopping, are a key vehicle for brand discovery and expansion in the US, particularly with younger consumers.
Beauty is one of the fastest-growing categories for Amazon in the US, reaching more than a hundred million unique beauty customers per month. Amazon currently stocks scores of premium labels, including Elemis, Olaplex, Lancôme and Tatcha, with ambitions to scale its premium beauty business, former general manager of Amazon Beauty US Stores Melis Del Rey told Vogue Business at a recent event. (Del Rey was tapped last week to lead Supergoop as CEO.) International labels are adopting the platform in response. Charlotte Tilbury launched on Amazon Beauty in September, in addition to existing stockists Ulta Beauty, Nordstrom and Bluemercury.
Ulta Beauty is another key platform for international labels looking to scale across the States. The retailer raised its full-year sales guidance last week, after outperforming forecasts for the third quarter of fiscal 2025, buoyed by healthy demand for fragrances and skincare, per the company. International brands are leading the charge: fragrance saw double-digit growth, led by Valentino and Dolce Gabbana, with skincare spikes led by K-Beauty brands, which Ulta Beauty CEO Kecia Steelman said “continues to resonate and drive” sale.
“The prominence of mass market retailers and e-tailers in the US is ultimately tied to scale, convenience and discovery. They provide an easy one-stop shopping experience where beauty can sit alongside groceries, apparel and household essentials. They also tend to offer strong loyalty programs that incentivise purchase habits,” says Temple.
Marissa Lepor, managing director at The Sage Group, agrees that “today’s customer is open to building a routine across price points rather than buying an entire beauty routine from a single brand or retailer, they mix and match, which is why many brands are now diversifying their distribution ecosystems across their proprietary direct-to-consumer [DTC] channels, retailers and online marketplaces”.
While brands are seeing an uplift in the market, there’s still economic pressure on the American consumer. They want to feel products are worth the price. “The [US] consumer is now more informed and educated than ever before, but they’re also overwhelmed and are demanding transparency,” Byoma’s Elrick says. “The consumer is now more globalized because they’ve got access to information resources through channels like TikTok, AI and Instagram,” he adds.
Temple contends that “US consumers are uniquely diverse, convenience-driven and value-conscious, but also deeply brand loyal when trust is earned. Unlike many markets where consumer preferences are more homogeneous, the US spans dozens of cultural identities, income brackets, regional lifestyles and beauty ideals. This makes the market incredibly dynamic, but also highly competitive. US consumers expect brands to meet them where they are, so it’s key to have a specific strategy for that market.”
In a post-Covid world, she adds that “we’re all self-made experts and that education of the customer has really graduated to another level. Even the younger generations are ingredient savvy and they’re not sold just by marketing.”
Hospitality as a vehicle for growth
As the beauty market becomes increasingly saturated, brands are seeking innovative strategies to build long-term relationships with customers.
“Immersive brand experiences such as spas, retail stores and other physical spaces are an excellent way to build brand loyalty and introduce customers to the world of the brand, not just a specific product,” says Lepor.
In October, ultra-high-end luxury skincare brand 111Skin set up a standalone spa at New York’s Plaza Hotel, offering advanced facials and massages. In the US and beyond, consumers are investing more in experiences and lifestyle rather than conspicuous luxury. Hospitality and wellness treatments are a great way to enter the market or scale your US business.
111Skin CCO Eva Alexandridis — who co-founded the label with her husband Dr. Yannis Alexandridis in 2012 — says that the brand has been experiencing year-on-year double-digit growth in the US since 2024. The US market now accounts for 40% of the business. Earlier this year, 111Skin received a minority investment from Kim Kardashian and Jay Sammons’s private equity firm Skky Partners, partly to fund its US expansion.
111Skin’s shift into a permanent clinic at the Plaza Hotel felt like the perfect way to target the discerning US luxury shopper. Having a physical space, where consumers spend long periods of time with the brand, allows 111Skin experts to educate on ingredients and heritage, as a brand born out of London’s Harley Street, known for its luxury medical practitioners. “[US consumers] are inquisitive as customers and want to know who is behind the brand, ingredients, clinical stock and trials,” says Alexandridis. “They want to know everything and you can’t just sell them a product, it has to have real provenance.”
“The US hospitality sector is uniquely influential because experience drives aspiration. For luxury beauty, a spa presence allows brands to tap into a captive audience that are willing to spend and allows you to capitalize off an established brand ecosystem that a hotel has to offer,” says Temple. “In a market saturated with brands, hospitality gives luxury players a boutique environment to stand apart from mass channels.”
Other brands are employing the playbook. Dior opened its first permanent spa residence in August, on the corner of East 57th Street and Madison Avenue, with gilded interiors and a Haute Couture Treatment for the face using customized technology created with American aesthetician Sarah Akram. While fellow LVMH beauty brand Guerlain opened a permanent 22,000-foot spa space in New York’s Waldorf Astoria hotel, the brand’s largest in the world. A full wellness clinic, it offers treatments around four wellness pillars: nutrition, sleep, movement and mindfulness.
“More than a hotel spa, this is a true sanctuary nestled in the heart of Manhattan — a place where beauty, wellness and longevity converge,” Guerlain CEO Gabrielle Saint-Genis said in a statement. “This exceptional destination embodies Guerlain’s Art of Wellness, a legacy deeply rooted in our DNA since 1850. With this opening, we proudly continue our legacy of combining French art de vivre and exceptional savoir faire to redefine the future of well-being.”
While beauty brands bet on the US through 2026, China spending is not expected to recover until 2027, according to an outlook report from Morgan Stanley. However, the long term looks promising for beauty brands with footprints in the two regions, experts agree.
“The beauty market in the US continues to grow rapidly, so when China picks up, the brands that have invested in scaling in both the US and China are poised to benefit from these strategic initiatives,” says Lepor. Particularly brands that form part of a broader luxury house. “The beauty divisions of luxury brands become even more important, both for driving consistent revenue among existing customers as well as for driving revenue from customers that might be priced out of other categories.”
