The latest Circana data revealed mass market sales growth outpaced prestige for the first time since 2020.Is it a hiccup for prestige or the beginning of consumer pullback in spending on premium beauty? And do the numbers hint at a potential resurgence of mass-market beauty?There are two scenarios.US prestige beauty industry sales revenue was flat in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the same period last year, according to Circana. Mass market sales experienced a year-over-year dollar increase of 3%—albeit driven by price increases. Unit sales were down 1%.Still, it was the first time in five years that mass gains outclassed prestige. At that time, essential retailers such as Target, Walmart, CVS, and Walgreens had an edge over prestige retailers that were closed for several months. The footfall in pharmacies for vaccines boosted beauty sales, too.Larissa Jensen, Circana’s Senior Vice President and Global Beauty Advisor, doesn't portend a big migration to mass and views the first quarterly as an anomaly. “I think this was a blip. What we have seen so far in Quarter Two is that prestige is on the recovery side. If you look at the weekly trends, prestige is on an upward trajectory and outperforming mass in units.One of the issues in the first quarter, she noted, was environmental, such as snow in Florida and the fires in California. "People were turtling—a term when consumers just want to stay in."She pointed to a CivicScience report stating that the percentage of US adults reporting a decreased desire to leave the house climbed to 35%, surpassing pandemic levels in 2020 and 2021.