• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, June 5, 2020

Consumers at home who are not ready to venture into stores are still searching. Here’s what it looks like.

Captify, which analyzes billions of monthly on-site searches aggregated from publishers and ecommerce sites, compared blocks of days prior to COVID-19 restrictions in the U.S. -- Jan. 26 through March 26 -- with the period from March 27 through June 1.

Some of the spikes identified by analysts are more pronounced heading into June.

The rise of how-to and DIY in the beauty category has skyrocketed.

The quarantine still limits visits to many salons, barber shops, and beauty retailers across many cities in the U.S. And for those who are not limiting visits, the waiting time to get in may seem frustrating. 

One of the most interesting trends identified in searches point to what Captify calls the "eye makeup effect." In many states such as California, patrons and workers must wear a mask to enter a store. 

The Eye Makeup Effect May Be the New Lipstick Effect, Because of Masks

There has been a 46% uptick in search volume for eye makeup, with mascara accounting for 59% of search share.

Lip makeup, color and liner only saw an 11% increase in searches, with the top brands being Chanel, Dior, and Nars.

Premium cosmetics brands have experienced a 12% search increase, while mass brands have declined by 4%.

Masks Of Any Kind Rose In Searches

Do-it-yourself and how-to beauty rose 44% in searches during the period from March 27 through June 1, compared with the prior block of time.

Searches for DIY beauty face masks, excluding masks worn to protect against COVID-19, rose 557%.

How to make a hair mask spiked at 527%, and how to cut hair rose 825%. How to color hair rose 143% between March 27 and June 1, compared with January 26 and March 26.

Masks and treatments jumped 217% overall.

Recovery and Restoration

Captify has seem a 109% search increase for restorative and repair products for hair, skin and nails. More time is spend on beauty brands, with the extra minutes on products for hands, perhaps because of all the disinfecting during hand washing.

The number of times someone will search for a product rose from three to nine.

Three is the average number of beauty brand searches among consumers before COVID-19, and nine is the average number of beauty brand searches among consumers during the past two months.

There has been an 11-times jump in searches around beauty therapy. Some 71% of those searches revolved around booking hair appointments post-lockdown.

Mask moisturizers rose 187%, oils saw a 54% decrease, and serums a 32% decrease in searches