The ultimate accessible luxury gifting category, beauty has long bet on reaching price-conscious shoppers with glitzy campaigns during the holiday season.
But this year, brands are taking sharp positions on whether to encourage lavish spending or conscious consumption, bifurcating consumer groups into what analysts call a “K-shaped” economy: Customers with disposable income are going big while others are pulling back.
On one end of the spectrum are glittering ads featuring the likes of Mariah Carey encouraging shoppers to splurge on beauty and influencers unboxing beauty advent calendars worth thousands of dollars. On the other are brands urging consumers to slow down, buy less or opt out of the frenzy entirely. To large audiences, some of the more ostentatious ads have come across as tone deaf in a season where news has centred around people missing paychecks and food assistance benefits.
“I see an increased concern about cost of living, and I see that around the world,” said Deciem global brand president Jesper Rasmussen. The accessible skincare label is in its seventh year of its Patagonia-inspired “Slowvember” campaign that will include the closure of all stores and its online shop on Black Friday, instead making all products 23 percent off for the entire month.
Studies have shown dampened US consumer sentiment for the holidays and cautious spending. A Deloitte survey found that 57 percent of respondents think the economy will weaken in 2026, the highest percentage since 1997. Deloitte and PricewaterhouseCoopers estimated that consumers would spend between 5 and 10 percent less this year than last on holiday purchases, including gifts.
But overall retail spending during the period is projected to grow by 3.7 to 4.2 percent, according to the National Retail Federation, surpassing $1 trillion for the first time. Brands are taking two approaches at the different ends of this “K-shaped” spending pattern, splitting holiday campaigns into two dramatically different philosophies.
Meeting the Maximalists
For one group of brands and retailers, extravagant ads and luxury products have been a strategy to inspire engagement and spending at a time of dampened sentiment.
But execution matters. Sephora’s holiday partner video featuring Mariah Carey and Billy Eichner was heavily panned on social media for misreading the cultural moment. Featuring Eichner dressed as an elf going on “strike,” proclaiming he couldn’t afford “elf therapy” and that “Christmas is cancelled,” it ended with Carey trapping him in a snowman body and riding away in a sleigh.
The ad was released at a time when US news was focused on the government shutdown leading to stalled food stamp benefits, and thousands of commenters took to Instagram, TikTok and Threads to argue that the brand missed the mark. The top-voted comment on Carey’s Instagram post sharing the ad said, “It’s giving ‘let them eat cake,’” while one TikToker dramatically cut up her Sephora card on camera, saying she was boycotting the retailer.
But for other brands, a full embrace of opulence has meant high engagement.
“The advent calendars are very extravagant and ultra premium,” said Halie Soprano, a senior influencer marketing consultant at influencer marketing firm Traackr, noting the bigger and more expensive they are, the more viral they go.
Dior’s La Malle des Rêves Holiday 2025 advent calendar for $8,200 has been one of the biggest hits for beauty advent calendars on TikTok and Instagram. Singapore-based influencer Grace Glazee’s unboxing video of the calendar pulling out full-size fragrances, earrings, candles and ornaments received 9.1 million TikTok views.
“Some of these brands are really banking on this spectacle to go viral and have these special, sparkly, flashy unboxing moments,” said Soprano.
UK beauty retailer Cult Beauty, meanwhile, centred their campaign around “More is More” and a gift guide with the theme of “beauty in abundance,” enlisting fashion photographer Claire Rothstein to shoot a high-glam campaign with maximalist makeup. The focus was on shifting away from minimalist “clean-girl” looks and quiet luxury with bold, colourful eyeshadow to encourage beauty shopping for holiday parties, said Ashleigh Baker, head of content at Cult Beauty. But its gift guide features products across price ranges, given the fact that UK consumers are also price-conscious heading into the holidays.
“The consumer is probably a little bit more considered in their approach to gifting,” said Baker.
‘Underconsumption’ Marketing
On the opposite end of the spectrum are brands aiming to intentionally slow the holiday rush. Affordable skincare brand Deciem and luxury Italian sustainable hair and body care brand Oway are both continuing their multi-year anti-Black Friday traditions, rejecting urgency and discounting in the vein of outdoor outfitter Patagonia’s longstanding stance against Black Friday’s buying frenzy that began with its iconic 2011 “Don’t Buy This Jacket” ad.
“This idea of buying more because it’s cheaper today than tomorrow is not a good thing for our world,” said Rasmussen, who noted that Deciem’s customers are especially motivated by financial considerations, and stress over the economy, politics, inflation and the cost of living have made the campaign increasingly relevant each year.
Oway is running a similar “Black Out Friday” campaign for its fifth year in a row that will also include shutting down the brand’s site and offices for the day. But at a luxury price point, the campaign’s emphasis is on sustainability, and the brand rejects all forms of discounting. “Discounting is not really part of our belief system. It’s not something that we advocate because discounting gives that encouragement to over-buy when really we’re trying to encourage mindfulness,” said Sharon Nykaza, US general manager of Oway.
For all the luxury influencers unboxing luxury beauty displays, the minimalist brands can tap into those who have gotten on board with the trends of “deinfluencing” and “underconsumption” as a response to social media’s endless torrent of impulse buys.
“A lot of creators as well are very tuned into the fact that sharing these very over-the-top moments can be wasteful,” said Soprano. “Not everybody is in a place to be able to go and buy these extravagant things,” she said. “That’s okay.’”
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