These resources are both free sources and subscription based source. Any full-text database can be used to research the industry. This is a good strategy for those looking to find very specific pieces of information - marketing to women, marketing to millennials, ethnic beauty trends, etc. The Internet is also good for finding niche industry conferences.
The resources here are focused on finding industry related information and consumers - the type of information found in market research reports. We have included a few market research firms, what is here is only a partial list, but the Library does not subscribe any of the market research firms products.
We have included a few associations, web based news sources, and places that focus on ingredients as they will be resources for the type of information that are part of a market research report or important for someone studying the industry to know about. However, some of the consulting firms publish analysis. For example,in May 2023 McKinsey published as part of their State of Fashion, a Beauty Report.
The subscription resources marked with a padlock
are available to researchers on-site at the Library of Congress. If you are unable to visit the Library, you may be able to access these resources through your local public or academic library. One resource that is only available at the Library of Congress and only on specific terminals is STACKS, a platform for over 15,000 books and 100 newspapers deposited digitally. It contains recently published items and searching through the system is possible. The contents could be printed out, but there is no downloading. Please see a reference librarian for access.
Formerly called IRi and the NPD Group, this company is a market research and consulting company. Much of what the do is fee-based but some older content and press releases about reports may be available and offer useful information
This is the biggest of the economic data activities undertaken by the Census Bureau. It began in 1930 as an outgrowth of the Census of Manufactures and other reports on economic activity. Information is shown by industry code (NAICS from the 1997 Census forward and SIC for prior years) and geographically by state with industry code breakdowns. In addition to displaying data by industry codes, the Economic Census also shows data by Product Codes that can be even more specific. For example, if one were tracking pharmacies, one would use the SIC/NAICS for independent pharmacies. But to capture those supermarkets with pharmacies, one would use the SIC/NAICS for supermarkets and then look for the product code for those supermarkets that have pharmacies. There are also several subsets of data that are updated more frequently. Those include: the Annual Survey of Manufactures, the Annual Retail Trade Survey, and the Annual Wholesale Trade Survey. Another report to be aware of is the Franchise Statistics Report.
It was produced at varying intervals until 1967 but since then it has been issued once every five years. The Economic Census shows data on the national and state level. The Bureau web page has data from the Censuses for 1992, 1997, and 2002 (and going forward) though under Economic Census By Year, data goes back to 1977.
IBISWorld External This link opens in a new window
IBISWorld provides thoroughly researched, accurate and current business information using economic, demographic and government data. Includes an range of industry analysis including: US Industry Reports (NAICS), US Industry iExpert Summaries, US Specialized Industry Reports, China Industry Reports, Global Industry Reports and US Business Environment Profiles.
"Makeup Dupes: The Law of Cosmetics and Trademarks"
This is a 2020 blog post from a Law Library intern on makeup and trademarks
This is an aggregator of market research reports so it is good for finding specific reports and firms that specialize. For example "Global Colour Cosmetics Market Growth 2018-2023," "Global Organic Color Cosmetic Products Market Growth 2018-2023," "Global Cosmetic Skin Care Market Growth 2018-2023," "Global Mass Beauty and Personal Care Products Market Growth 2018-2023," "Global Premium Beauty and Personal Care Products Market Growth 2018-2023," etc. It is a subscription resource that the Library does not subscribe to.
MINTEL - Global News Products Database External
Focused specifically on detailed product data on new products in the food, drink, beauty and personal care, health and hygiene, home care and pet markets.
SimplyAnalytics External This link opens in a new window
SimplyAnalytics has data which answers key business research questions, provides small businesses with a tool for making sound business decisions, and helps users understand the socio-demographic and economic conditions of any geographic area in the United States. There are thousands of data variables related to demographics, employment, housing, market segments, businesses, consumer spending and brand preference. This geographic information resource allows for extraction and comparison of data for specific geographic areas as small as a zip code or Census block. It also provides colored maps and spreadsheets for business plans.SimplyAnalytics offers the following data for the U.S.:
- Nielsen PRIZM: Make comprehensive and precise insights when using lifestyle and consumer behavior segmentation. PRIZM by Nielsen defines every U.S. household in terms of 66 demographic and behavior types or segments. Helps discern consumer preferences, consumer spending, consumer behavior and lifestyles.
- Dun &Bradstreet Company Data: Access detailed profiles of more than 30 million U.S. businesses provided by D&B, the world's leading source of commercial information and insight on businesses. Add business points to your map to find the best place to locate your business, manage the competition, or identify services. Also export the data to a spreadsheet for additional functionality.
- Mediamark Research (MRI): Extract current estimates of usage and consumption (propensity) for thousands of very specific and detailed products, including actual brand data.
- Historical Census Data: View 1980, 1990 and 2000 data to learn how geographic regions have changed over time.
- Accurate and up-to-date Street Data. Perform highly accurate location analysis to support critical business/social decisions. Create high quality presentation maps.
- Shapefiles & Data Export .SHP files into advanced Geographic Information (GIS) software.
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Additional assistance is provided in the Science & Business Reading Room.
The simultaneous user limit for this resource may result in temporary delays.Statista External This link opens in a new window
Statista is an online statistics, market research and business intelligence portal. It provides access to data from market and opinion research institutions, as well as from business organizations and government institutions in English, French, German and Spanish.Trade Data Monitor (TDM) External This link opens in a new window
Trade Data Monitor is a database of international trade statistics, analysis, and reporting for data-driven answers to crucial questions in any industry, around the globe.
Associations & Industry Groups
American Academy of Dermatology External
In the Public and Patients area for insights into the care and treatment of your skin, hair, and nails.
American Cosmetic Association External
This is an association of physicians, surgeons, dentists, scientists and beauty, cosmetic & aesthetic industry professionals and aims to be a source of information on services and products relating to plastic & cosmetic surgery, cosmetic dentistry, cosmetic dermatology and cosmetic beauty products.
Associated Skin Care Professionals: Esthetician Association External
This is the association website for estheticians. The resource section includes Spa Business Planning Tools and state cosmetology requirements. The media section contains links to Esthetician Magazines, Skin Care Podcast, and Skin Care Blog. The education section contains skin care videos and information on tradeshows and events.
Cosmetic Executive Women External
This is a professional organization with executives, both women and men, in the beauty, cosmetics, fragrance and related industries. CEW developed the Indie Advisory Group, providing a network of cross industry experts for indie brands to easily access to help foster growth in their businesses. While this is a membership site there is content available without joining. The "Beauty Insider" area includes articles and reports (for a fee) which is a good resource for beauty news and information. They present articles on trends, retail, makeup, skin care, hair, scent, financial, and people.
In-Cosmetics Group is for global personal care ingredient community to interact, conduct business, network. The sponsor a conference but also have an ingredients database.
Independent Beauty Association External
International association focused on keeping its members apprised of regulatory and industry developments. Most of the information is for members only or available only on a fee-basis.
National Coalition of Estheticians Association (NCEA) External
This is an member association and is primarily involved with credentialing and providing educational resources. They do have a Find to find NCEA Certified Professionals.
National Beauty Culturists' League External
Looking to the work of Madam C. J. Walker, the organizers of the National Beauty Culturists' League, Incorporated was founded in 1940 to establish a framework to provide professional training and opportunity for future generations of Beauty Professionals, Barbers, Cosmetologists, Students, Nail Technicians, Make-up Artists, etc.
National Retail Federation (NRF) External
This trade association covers all types of retail establishments (as well as online retailing) including beauty stores and products. While much of their content is for members their blog will include items on particular chains and topics. See their Resources and Insights areas consumer trends, retail technology, small business, holiday/seasonal trends, etc.
Personal Care Products Council External
The Personal Care Products Council (formerly the Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association) is the trade association for the cosmetic and personal care products industry. Includes information on science/safety, regulation. They sponsor cosmeticsinfo.org and Cosmetics Ingredient Review. Some information is for members like the On-Line INFOBASE which contains the International Cosmetic Ingredient Dictionary & Handbook and cross references its contents with many applicable regulations; such as EU Annexes, Canada Hot List, and California’s Proposition 65, and access to more than 22,600 cosmetic ingredient names from around the world. There is a subscription sources as well - the International Cosmetic Legal & Regulatory Database wich the PCPC follows, identifies and obtains legal and regulatory documents from all over the world from over 80 countries.
Pro Beauty Association External
This is a membership organization so much information is only available to members.
Founded as the Barber Supply Dealers Association of America (BSDA) in 1904 and became the National Hairdressers and Cosmetologists Association (NHCA) in 1921. NHCA becomes the National Cosmetology Association (NCA) in 1986. In 1994 the Salon Association became a branch of the Beauty and Barber Supply Institute (BBSI). In 2005 the American Beauty Association, the Salon Association, and BBSI merge to form the Professional Beauty Association (PBA) and 2010 it merges with the National Cosmetology Association (NCA).
News
ABI/INFORM Collection External This link opens in a new window
Delivering over 6,800 journals, nearly 80% of which are in full-text, ABI/INFORM Complete is a comprehensive business database. Offering much more than journal content, this diverse solution provides the right mix of content types to meet the needs of any business researcher. ABI/INFORM also offers coverage on hundreds of industries and focus areas such as oil, gas, mining, energy, environment, and healthcare management, and has an ever growing range of content from around the globe. ABI/INFORM Complete provides researchers with diverse publication types that meet the requirements of core business programs and corporate libraries. With annual reports from nearly 1,000 leading North American companies, downloadable data sets from the Economic Intelligence Unit, market research reports, dissertations, business cases, and current news from The Wall Street Journal and Financial Times, researchers will be equipped with the tools to respond to changing market conditions and prepare for emerging areas of interest.
The beauty/cosmetics area of Women's Wear Daily. Includes articles and information on the business and fashion end of the cosmetics industry.
Website for news/newsletter articles. Some content is free, some is subscription. There is a particular focus on packaging but by necessity they do look at the beauty industry.
Business Source Complete External This link opens in a new window
Provides bibliographic and full text content for thousands of the most important scholarly journals, magazines, and trade publications covering all disciplines of business, including marketing, management, MIS, POM, accounting, finance and economics. The database also contains detailed author profiles for the 40,000 most-cited authors in the database. Additional full text content includes financial data, books, monographs, major reference works, book digests, conference proceedings, case studies, investment research reports, industry reports, market research reports, country reports, company profiles, SWOT analyses, faculty seminars (videos), and more. Indexing and abstracts for 1,300 scholarly business journals date back to 1886.
Reporting on trends, products, and news for large chain pharmacies includes coverage of beauty products sold in drug stores. The print edition has a regular "Beauty Care Report" covering cosmetics, perfumes, and skin care.
This is the online presence for the publication Soap, Perfumery & Cosmetics. Website includes articles by topic, market reports (only available to subscribers), a company directory, etc. This magazine publisher (HPCi) also publishes "Pure Beauty" and "SPC; Soap, Perfumery and Cosmetics" as well as sponsors the Cosmetics Business Regulatory Summit and the Pure Beauty Global Awards.
This is an online news source for the cosmetics and personal care industry. This is a mostly news source but includes information on products and trends as well as the business and financial end of the industry. The Resources section covers skin care, hair care, color cosmetics, fragrances, nutricosmetics, and packing and includes webinars, product brochures, technical papers, and suppliers. There is a Hot Topics which can cover a variety of topics and can change, but naturals/organics, anti-aging, nanotechnology, and other hot or even new areas. There is also a free newsletter as well as alternative websites for the EU as well as Asia Pacific (in English).
Source for cosmetic industry professionals to find information about all components of the industry. Includes news, articles, information on industry events, and has a entrepreneur area, lots of resources related to packaging, supplier directory, and links to market research firms specializing in the area. Some content is not free but available to subscribers. The Resources area includes links to relevant government agencies, associations and miscellaneous groups, etc.
Cosmetics & Toiletries External
Publisher for Cosmetics & Toiletries and Global Cosmetic Industry with links to both publications. Cosmetics & Toiletries has an archive of some of its issues and the China, Brazil, and Latin America editions of CT. Global Cosmetic Industry, the Global Business area, has market information, a state of the industry section, general news, and an archive of some issues.
This was launched as a magazine in 1975 and it the publication for the aesthetics industry, looking at skin-related products and trends.
This publication covers drug store and pharmacy news covering heath, OTC, beauty, generic and branded drugs, consumables, general products.
Factiva External This link opens in a new window
Factiva is a vast full text archive of publications and up-to-the-minute reports and news focusing on global developments and business. Combines over 35,000 sources from the Dow Jones Interactive and Reuters Business Briefing to provide premium business content from 200 countries and in 26 languages. Factiva is very strong in trade journals and company reports.
Requires username/password; see reference staff for assistance.
The focus is on all things fragrance. Good for looking at the smaller fragrance makers and tracking the industry news.
This is the online presence of Global Cosmetic Industry magazine - some content if free but more is by subscription.
Global Cosmetics News External
News source for all things cosmetics.
These are fee-based report. Their Consumer Products area produces reports on a variety of beauty products including on beauty devices, retail general as well as on TV/Internet, body care, Cosmetics & Toiletries, K-Beauty, Male grooming, etc.
Mass Market Retailers (MMR) External
This is a business-to-business trade publication serving the needs of mass market retailers like: Supermarkets, Drug Stores, Mass, Value/Dollar Stores, and Warehouse Club trade channels.
New and reviews devoted to beauty products and trends. Articles include:
10 Indie Beauty Brands to Have on Your Radar Now
Our Favorite Discoveries From the NYC BeautyPass Live Event
Expired Beauty Products: What Really Happens if Used Past Their Shelf LifeNews publication that covers business aspects of fashion and beauty like technology, sustainability, companies, retail, etc. Includes data as well as articles like;
"How Gen Z is changing beauty"
"Is there space in sustainable fashion for synthetic fabrics?"
"Where are VCs investing in China?"
Purchasing access provides more content.
Women's Wear Daily Archive External This link opens in a new window
Womens Wear Daily (WWD) Archive is the only digitized source of the entire run of WWD, widely considered the Wall St Journal of the fashion industry. From the first issue in 1910 to the present year, WWD Archive preserves one of the industrys most influential reads, tracing day-to-day news, opinion, and socio-economic trends, from runway reports to beauty product reviews. WWD is a unique record of the twentieth century US and international fashion and beauty business. Key moments in the history of the industry, as well as major designers, brands, retailers and advertisers are all covered in this publication of record. From 1927 on, WWD covered the news behind the manufacturing of womens clothing, including sales and acquisitions, production costs such as textiles, and personnel moves within the industry. In later years, WWD began featuring social commentary, tracking the personal lives of high-society.Issues are reproduced from cover to cover in high-resolution color and presented in page image format with fully searchable text. All editorial content and pictorial features are captured as separate documents to allow for easy search and discovery. For advertisements, the featured company and brand names have been assigned to the document records where possible, and all image captions are captured to a high accuracy, allowing precise retrieval of photographs and illustrations. Contributor names that appear in image credits, such as photographers and stylists, are also indexed. This archive database provides a wealth of information to researchers and students of fashion, the retail business and twentieth-century material culture.
Podcasts
Beauty Brains (podcast) External
This pod cast is hosted by cosmetic chemists so it is a bit heavy on the science but will be of interest to those who want to know about ingredients.
Breaking Beauty (podcast) External
This podcast looks at breakthrough trends, brands and products in the beauty industry. It often includes industry guests.
Fat Mascara (podcast) External
This podcast was put together from Teen Vogue's Jessica Matlin and Marie Claire's Jennifer Goldstein and covers breaking beauty trends, beauty crazes, need-to-know brands and products.
This podcast looks at secrets behind the ever-changing trends of influencer marketing. Includes interviews with successful influencers.
Ingredients & Testing
California Safe Cosmetics Program Product Database External
California Safe Cosmetics Act (the Act) requires companies that manufacture cosmetics to report any cosmetics products that contain ingredients known or suspected to cause cancer, birth defects, or other reproductive harm. The California Safe Cosmetics Program (CSCP) collects this data and makes it available to the public through this website.
Campaign for Safe Cosmetics External
Cosmetics companies whose products meet or exceed current EU formulation standards are encouraged to sign the Compact for Safe Cosmetics. Only cosmetics companies who manufacture their own line of products can sign the Compact. See What's In Your Products.
Sponsored by the Personal Care Products Council and its member companies. Resources include federal, state, international, and scientific links. Also includes information by product category (bath, hair care, nail, eye makeup, face makeup, etc.). Each product category includes a description of the products as well as ingredients and related information. The Safety area includes such topics as regulatory information/overview (U.S. and international), ingredient reviews, labeling issues, and scientific information.
Cosmetics Ingredient Review External
CIR was established in 1976 by the industry trade association (then the Cosmetic, Toiletry, and Fragrance Association, now the Personal Care Products Council), with the support of the FDA and the Consumer Federation of America and reviews the ingredients used in cosmetics.
Cosmetic Products & Ingredients (FDA)
This is a site from the FDA which goes over some of he more common ingredients that can be found in cosmetic products.
Cruelty free cosmetics database External
There is no single database for those looking for cruelty free brands. This also links to a list of brands that do test on animals.
This is an ingredient database founded by a cosmetic chemist to help people understand ingredient lists
These were formerly Material Safety Data Sheets, and they are provided by manufacturers and allow scientists and consumers to research products based on chemical ingredients. Data/information by: products, manufacturers, ingredients, health affects. See the Personal Care section.
SkinDeep Cosmetics Database External
The Environmental Working Group (EWG) created this database of online profiles for cosmetics and personal care products.
Government & Regulatory
California Safe Cosmetics Program External
Collects information on hazardous and potentially hazardous ingredients in cosmetic products sold in California and to make this information available to the public. The Publications & Resources section does have have a cosmetic product database
CFSAN Adverse Event Reporting System (CAERS) External
CAERS is a database that contains information on adverse event and product complaint reports submitted to FDA for foods, dietary supplements, and cosmetics.
European Union - Cosmetics External
Regulation (EC) N° 1223/2009 on cosmetic products is the main regulatory framework for finished cosmetic products when placed on the EU market. Page includes information on specific products, a Cosmetic Ingredient database, and links to other relevant tools/databases.
Food & Drug Administration (FDA) - Cosmetics
Cosmetics are not FDA-approved, but are FDA-regulated (see "Clearing up Cosmetics Confusion," FDA Consumer . May-June 1998). The two most important laws pertaining to cosmetics marketed in the United States are the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act) and the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act (FPLA). Within the FDA's Center for Food Safety & Applied Nutrition there is an Office of Cosmetics and Colors. The web site contains information on such topics as laws, regulations, the international activities of the FDA, labeling, the Registration Program, Guidance & Regulation, and Compliance & Enforcement. The Products & Ingredients has information on selected cosmetics products, ingredients, and potential contaminants. The Science & Research has information on research related to cosmetic products, ingredients, and testing
This is a 2020 report from the Law Library of Congress, Global Legal Research Directorate that looks at Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, European Union, France, Germany, Israel, Japan, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom.
