A market, that of personal hygiene cosmetics, which is worth almost 10 billion: even in the midst of the crisis, Italians do not give up on making themselves beautiful. The leading product is nail polish: Italians spent 100 million euros on nail polish in 2010, with an increase of 6.7%. This is the industry's fastest growth of all other products and has been driven by the success of the trend of new and original colors, as opposed to the traditional red. The figure has just been presented with the Beauty report by Unipro, the association that unites cosmetic companies, and confirms that the market in the beauty sector is recovering strongly. In Italy, spending on perfumes, make-up and creams is in third place in the ranking of consumption deemed essential, tracking food and health expenses. The research shows that the pharmacy continues to be the preferred channel for the purchase of cosmetics.
In 2010, Italians spent over 9,261 million euros on make-up, creams, perfumes, soaps and shampoos, with an 1% increase over the previous year. Among the most successful sectors are gift packs for women with an increase of 14.4 percent. Make-up boxes are close to 60 million euros, and have had a growth of 11.8 percent. A lucky year also for the sale of depigmentants, creams to remove skin spots: + 6 percent sold for just under 15 million euros.
On the wave of success, new developments were announced in the sector, in particular regarding safety. This is why checks will increase: in a year a new service from the Ministry of Health will start for the cosmetic-vigilance. As with medicines, all undesirable effects of a beauty product must be reported. This was announced by the Undersecretary of Health Francesca Martini [in the picture]. Counterfeit or poor quality products can in fact cause allergies, rashes and redness. On the website of the same dicastery it will be possible to collect all the reports on the effects of any type of beauty product which in some situations can create problems such as during exposure to the sun or when taking certain medicines.
"Italian and European companies are subject to very strict safety standards, the strictest in the world" explains Fabio Franchina, president of Unipro. "The problem is some cosmetics that arrive from third countries, such as the Brazilian ones for straightening hair, which contain too high quantities of formaldehyde, a substance used as a preservative but which in concentrated formulations is carcinogenic".
