From the European Commission’s 2013 ban on animal testing to Nordstrom unveiling a “Natural Beauty” category, there has been a sea change in how consumers think about the products on their vanities. While natural skin care used to connote pseudoscience, Mintel’s 2016 Skincare Ingredient and Format Trends found that 55% of consumers believed that natural and mainstream skin care products are equally effective. Nielsen’s 2015 Global Sustainability Report also showed that 57% of respondents considered the presence of “fresh, natural, or organic” ingredients a key factor in purchasing a product.
Despite the recent surge of interest in the category of “natural,” the term remains difficult to define. Currently, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) does not have established criteria for what “natural” entails, and there is widespread disagreement about what constitutes “toxic” or “nontoxic” substances. To gain a better picture of how beauty influencers are grappling with the often amorphous category of natural skin care, Tribe Dynamics looked to EMV, its metric for social media engagement, to analyze influencer conversations.
The following report, released exclusively in partnership with CEW, takes a deeper look at brand performance and influencer conversations across the category, from mainstream-natural (Lush, Kiehl’s, Tatcha, Fresh and Caudalie), and all-natural brands (Derma E, Tata Harper, Burt’s Bees, Kopari Beauty and Herbivore Botanicals).
Key insights from the report include:
- Influencer interest driving Natural Skincare growth, with Mainstream Natural brands outpacing and outperforming All Natural brands.
- Beauty blogger’s, who tend to have larger followings than dedicated Skincare bloggers, generated a significant portion of EMV for All Natural and Mainstream Natural skincare brands.
- Lush’s influencer community stands out from the pack with impressive brand loyalty.
- Drunk Elephant, a growing brand that places itself in “a category of its own” due to its fusing of natural and clinical practices, brings to light the tensions between All Natural and Mainstream Natural content.
The report also includes brand spotlights and category commentary, including successful hashtags and campaigns. Click the link below to download directly. More reports on beauty and fashion are available at TribeDynamics.com.
