Colour Cosmetics

France According to figures from Symphony IRI France the French colour cosmetics market has put on 3.6% in the past year to total €468.3m and in volume terms the market also grew by 2.8% to make 50.1m units. Facial make-up is the most popular sub-sector followed by eyes, nails and lips in that order. Facial colour cosmetics grew by a robust 4.6% in the past year but eye products did slip by 0.8%.

Germany The German colour cosmetics market has been particularly buoyant, according to Symphony IRI Germany. In the first six months of this year alone the market has put on 4.5% to total €620.27m, compared to €593.71m the previous year. Nails proved to be the strongest category, putting on a massive 15.2% in value terms while eyes and lips grew by 5.1% and 7.1% respectively. Facial cosmetics did have a slip of 0.4% in the same period however.

Italy In Italy the colour cosmetics sector was performing well with a 2.7% growth in 2010, according to trade body Unipro. The figure swelled from €1.08bn in 2009 to t1.11bn in 2010 and colour cosmetics as a whole counted as the third biggest sector in the Italian C&T market. Eye products in particular contributed to this growth, putting on a hugely impressive 29.6% to total €181m but lip products did see a slide of 9.8% to total t68m.

Spain Things were less bright in Spain as the overall market stayed fairly flat and even saw a decline of 0.5% in the past year. According to figures from Symphony IRI Spain, the market fell to €500.9m in the past year although there was better news when it came to volume sales – this part of the market grew by 4% to total 64m units. Cheaper own label products continue to grow in prominence in Spain and during the same period own label products have put on 8% in value terms to make up €72m of the total.

UK According to Kantar Worldpanel, the UK colour cosmetics market grew by a small but encouraging 1.7% to total £803.04m in the past year. Volume sales fared worse, falling by 3.8% to 158.23m units for the same period. Facial colour cosmetics remains the largest sub-sector in the UK, accounting for 35.2% of all sales and things are still moving in the right direction as this sub-sector also grew by 1.8% in 2010.