The ultimate accessible luxury gifting category, beauty has long bet on reaching price-conscious shoppers with glitzy campaigns during the holiday season.
But this year, brands are taking sharp positions on whether to encourage lavish spending or conscious consumption, bifurcating consumer groups into what analysts call a “K-shaped” economy: Customers with disposable income are going big while others are pulling back.
On one end of the spectrum are glittering ads featuring the likes of…

