With 41% more page space within the last five years, obviously, personal-care and cosmetic products have never been so present in media. The supply changes and diversification encourage journalists to quote more and more brands, four per page on average. Beauty, undeniably, is a media hype … but does this improve sales?

In 2012, French people spent in this sector almost 9% of their expenses for consumer goods. This is a high percentage, though its impact is rather moderate on the purse, as the average shopping-basket (currently sized at € 266) steadily decreased since a decade. Not that surprising when an economic crisis period makes people decrease their beauty budget for food expenses …

The trends role

Facing this lowering of expenses and a more and more generous offer, how do journalists and consumers react?

Essential goods, such as personal-care products, are still widely used, but, on the other hand, get a limited media coverage. Conversely, make-up draws the attention of fewer and fewer consumers, but attracts media: its 1,631 pages dedicated to make-up make it the most media-covered sector of the 2012 beauty world.

In this dichotomy: dream – media /market share – consumers, some products differentiate, and are …