Commentary

Google: Colors Change With The Seasons

Weather data integrated into search campaigns has became a factor in the past few years. Search marketers should also consider colors. Not just the colors of changing leaves in the fall months, but colors women search for in clothing and cosmetics like nail color, lipstick, and skin foundation. Believe it or not, fair-skinned women have trouble finding the perfect shade of makeup that can vary throughout the year. Women typically want lighter or softer hues in nail colors during summer months and darker hues from fall through winter. Skin foundation can get lighter in the winter months and darker in the summer. Data from Google released Thursday shows spikes on YouTube and the engine for different cosmetic colors depending on the time of year.

Searches for dry skin makeup peak in January, which searches related to glitter eye shadow peak in December and January. Red shines on Valentine's Day, as well as makeup tutorials on YouTube. Views of Valentine's Day makeup tutorials grew 13% this month in 2014, compared with the prior year. Searches for lipstick related to the color orange rise from March through June.

Prom season takes a back seat to Halloween makeup tutorials. Top searches about prom makeup are related to eye and dress color, and creating a natural look. Searches related to purple eyeshadow shades peak in April. During these months, Google  begins to see an increase in bronze searches and pastel eye shades.

This year, YouTube searches related to prom makeup grew 76% in April 2014, and mobile searches rose 85%, compared with the year-ago time period. When wedding season hits in May, searches related to wedding hair and makeup skyrocket. This year, Google saw searches on YouTube related to wedding stuff rise 70%, compared with the same time last year.

Nail art videos on YouTube also skyrocket during these traditional wedding months. This year, searches for nail art-related videos on YouTube grew 35% compared with 2013. Searches related to waterproof mascara also peak in the summer. Searches related to oily skin makeup rose 18% year-on-year in August 2014.

Halloween videos accounted for 57% of seasonal makeup tutorial video views as of August 2014. Views of Halloween makeup content on YouTube grew 3.5-times in 2013 compared with 2012. While searches related to white makeup peak in October, searches related to red lipstick peak from October through December.

In November, moustache wax becomes a popular search terms in California, New York, Illinois, Texas, and Florida. YouTube searches related to Thanksgiving rose 77% in 2013, compared with the prior year. Searches related to gold and glitter peak in December. Popular searches for the month also include makeup brushes, and 56% of makeup-related searches on Google.com contained a brand name in 2013.

 

1 comment about "Google: Colors Change With The Seasons".
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  1. Genesis Toralba from ASU, November 20, 2014 at 12:51 p.m.

    For some reason I don’t find this surprising at all, being a lady I think I am involved in all of those video searches on Google, since I am a big fan of makeup and learning new techniques. It is also very true that color schemes change throughout the year depending on the season, it is rare that we see dark makeup colors during summer, unless its at night, but during the day, it’s a more natural look that brings light to the face, whereas in winter, dark colors are very common during the day, because you want to give your face a warm look to contrast the coldness of the outside weather. As stated in the article, a lot of holidays are also searched because we like to play around with colors and dress up for the occasion, like we would wear green eye shadow on St. Patrick’s day, and pink on valentines day, so its not only a matter of season, but also occasions. Though I am nowhere near getting married, I do search for those bridal looks, because they just look so natural and beautiful, and I tend to wear them in summer, since I want to keep the makeup to a minimum when the sun is hitting my face. Overall, I enjoyed reading this article, and I can agree with everything that is said because it is true and I can relate, as well as the percentages given must be very accurate, because there are a lot of people like me that like searching for new looks depending on the occasion.

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About the Author

Laurie Sullivan is a writer and editor for MediaPost. You can reach Laurie at lauriesullivan@gmail.com.