What Lebanon buys when it buys beauty
A demand-side read of online beauty retail in Lebanon — the brands that win the basket, the items that actually move, why gift sets became the default purchase, and where the digital shelf still leaves money on the table.
A cross-section of what's on the digital shelf
Representative products spanning the categories that define demand — from derma-skincare and serums to mass colour and haircare.
249 brands compete. Ten of them win.
A snapshot of the international houses tracked in this report — a fraction of the long tail, but the names that shape demand.
A top-heavy market one group controls
Demand is extraordinarily concentrated: the ten largest brands take 71% of units, and four L'Oréal-owned names lead the field. Below them, a long tail of 240+ brands splits the rest.
Mass beauty is the engine. The head of the market is accessible, mass-market makeup and haircare — not prestige or niche — led overwhelmingly by the L'Oréal portfolio's stacked presence across every price tier.
Volume and value diverge sharply. Garnier moves high unit volume on a thin 3.7% of value — the entry drug of the basket. NYX inverts it: 12% of units but 18% of value, the affordable-cool tier shoppers trade up into.
The dermo tier holds quietly. Avène, Vichy, La Roche-Posay and The Ordinary each hover near 1% — small alone, but together a resilient skincare bloc that over-indexes on value.
Combined unit demand for L'Oréal-owned brands (L'Oréal Paris, Maybelline, NYX, Garnier). A single parent effectively sets the category's terms online.
Every hit is a bundle
Rank the individual best-selling items and a pattern is impossible to miss: almost without exception, the top sellers are multi-product sets, duos and gifting bundles — not single hero products.
| # | Brand | Best-selling item | Unit share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | L'Oréal Paris | Lumi, Plump & Tint Summer BundleBundle | 3.4% |
| 2 | Maybelline | Lifter Oil-in-Gel Duo BundleDuo | 2.8% |
| 3 | L'Oréal Paris | Infaillible Trio BundleTrio | 2.5% |
| 4 | NYX | Wonder Snatch Conceal & Powder BundleBundle | 2.0% |
| 5 | Maybelline | Age Rewind × Fit Me Summer SetSet | 1.7% |
| 6 | Maybelline | Fit Me × Colossal Bubble BundleBundle | 1.5% |
| 7 | L'Oréal Paris | Infallible 24H Endurance BundleBundle | 1.4% |
| 8 | L'Oréal Paris | Voluminous Summer Bundle (−20%)Bundle | 1.2% |
| 9 | NYX | Buttermelt HighlighterSingle | 1.1% |
| 10 | Maybelline | Lifter Gel × Lifter Liner SetSet | 1.0% |
| 11 | NYX | Buttermelt Bronzer & HighlighterDuo | 0.9% |
| 12 | L'Oréal Paris | Infallible Serum, Concealer & SPFBundle | 0.8% |
Eleven of the top twelve items are multi-product sets. The best-selling unit in Lebanese online beauty isn't a lipstick or a serum — it's a package.
Lebanon doesn't buy products — it buys presents
The bundle isn't a seasonal spike; it's the structural shape of the market. Curated sets have become the default way beauty moves online.
Gift sets & bundles make up close to half of all unit demand — and the makeup-set segment alone drives a striking 61% of category value. The winning unit of merchandising here is the set, not the SKU.
Sets also carry a price premium that lifts basket value: the median set rings up at $34, well above the $15 median for a standalone colour item — bundling trades the shopper up without feeling like an upsell.
And it compresses discovery. Shoppers reach for a ready-made, recognizable package over the work of assembling a routine — a gift-first, low-friction mindset that rewards curation over catalogue depth.
Share of unit demand held by makeup gift sets & bundles — the largest single category online.
Share of makeup spend flowing through sets and bundles rather than individual products.
Median gift-set price — a 2.3× premium over the typical single colour item ($15).
Where demand lands — and who owns each aisle
Grouped into macro categories, the market is led by gifting and colour, with fragrance notably thin online. Each aisle has a clear leader.
- Maybelline
- NYX
- L'Oréal Paris
- L'Oréal Paris
- Medicube
- Garnier
- Garnier
- L'Oréal Paris
- Schwarzkopf
- Narta
- L'Oréal Paris
- Vichy
The ingredients shoppers now buy by name
Ranking skincare demand by the actives named on the label reveals what the market is actually reaching for — and how a Mediterranean climate and K-beauty influence reshape the list.
Sun comes first. SPF is the single most in-demand active online — no surprise for a Mediterranean market, but a clear merchandising cue: sun protection is a year-round hero, not a summer add-on.
The modern routine, decoded. SPF, hyaluronic acid, vitamin C, retinol and niacinamide form the active core — the ingredients shoppers increasingly search for by name rather than by product.
K-beauty rewrites the ingredient list. Collagen, centella/cica and peptides all crack the top ten — and one Korean brand leads three of them, a sign that K-beauty actives have crossed fully into the mainstream.
own the actives: L'Oréal Paris leads the Western staples (hyaluronic, retinol, niacinamide, AHA); Garnier owns the accessible entry actives (SPF, vitamin C, BHA).
An accessible shelf with a barbell
Assortment spreads evenly across price bands on a $22 median — cheap enough for impulse, deep enough to trade up. Price sensitivity varies sharply by aisle.
Nearly 45% of the shelf sits under $20, yet more than one in ten SKUs clear $60. Fragrance stands apart — high ticket, but the thinnest volume online.
Six openings the data exposes
At a $65 median but just 5.6% of demand, perfume is a high-value aisle that under-converts online — a discovery-and-trust gap, and the clearest category to build into.
NYX's value share (18%) runs well ahead of its unit share (12%). The affordable-cool tier is where shoppers willingly spend more — prime premium-mass territory.
With half of demand — and eleven of the top twelve items — in sets, single-SKU ranges start behind. Gifting-led curation is the price of entry.
Medicube is the only non-heritage name in the top five, outselling every prestige house — a signal that Korean skincare has crossed from trend to staple.
Avène, Vichy, La Roche-Posay, Eucerin and The Ordinary each sit near 1% but together form a durable pharmacy-skincare cluster that over-indexes on value.
Beyond the top ten, 239 brands share under a third of demand. Distribution breadth is high; shopper attention is not.