Skincare search

With hundreds of new beauty products introduced each year, one has to wonder if there's a woman left out there who still has any room left in her cosmetics case. Yet women of all ages and all skin tones still feel they are missing products that are right for them.

"More than anything, what we hear from consumers is that there is a frustration with trying to find products that work for them," said Karen Grant, a senior beauty analyst at NPD, the consumer research firm.

According to NPD, based on an online study of 5,657 women, 84 percent between the ages of 18-64 have worn makeup in the past year.

Black women are the least likely to use both makeup and skin-care products, Grant reported, and that might be because they probably have the hardest time matching these products to their skin color and treatment needs. They are, however, the biggest users of fragrance.

Overall, Hispanic women are the most likely to use makeup. The number hovers between 86-87 percent across all age groups.

Among white women, between 18-34, 85 percent wear makeup, but that decreases to 77 percent of women 55 and older. Conversely, older Asian women - 85 percent - say they wear makeup versus 82 percent of the younger group.

Younger black women, at 61 percent, were the least likely to wear makeup, while 71 percent of black women older than 55 reported wearing it.

There was a similar pattern in skin care, Grant said.

Less than 20 percent of black women said they used anti-aging products for their face.

Direct-to-consumer sellers Mary Kay and Avon do well with black women because this way of selling provides an opportunity to see the brands' full range of colors and products instead of a select few chosen by retailers.

Poll participants were asked, "Who offers products for someone like me?" A name that showed up in the top 10 in makeup across almost all ethnic groups was Bare Escentuals.

It's become an increasingly conscious decision at Bare Escentuals to offer products that work for women of all skin types, according to Staci Wilson, senior vice president of brand awareness. And, she added, the packaging for a new collection of lip glosses features women of all different races.

Queen Latifah recently launched her own collection under the CoverGirl umbrella that targets dark-skinned women. It was tested in 18 markets but has been so successful that it recently was distributed nationwide.

By Samantha Critchell. Source: www.news.enquirer.com