Lip service: women spend €70 a year on cosmetics

IRISH women spend more than €70 each, every year on beauty products from blusher to lipstick in a market worth €112 million annually.

The growing number of women in employment is driving demand for cosmetics as women strive to look smart in the workplace, according to researchers Mintel.

Among the biggest growth areas in cosmetics in Ireland is the market for luxury skincare products aimed at women under 30.

Mintel’s report, Women’s Cosmetics in Ireland 2007, reveals annual cosmetics sales in Ireland are worth €112.2m — or €70.56 for each of the country’s 1.59m women aged 18 and over.

However, earlier this year the Government’s household budget survey painted a different picture of expenditure on cosmetics — down to last eyeliner, lipstick and cotton bud.

The average household spends about €11.55 per week — or €601 a year for mum, dad and the children — on personal grooming products like perfume, soaps and skincare products.

Of a weekly total expenditure of €788 on all goods and services, the €11.55 a week spent on looking good is equal to just 1.5% of the average household’s budget.

Urban households are the highest spenders nationally on toiletries, cosmetics and such beauty products, spending €12.15 a week or €632 annually.

By comparison, rural households spend less at €10.60 per week on such products and €551 a year — some 80 less a year than city and town dwellers.

Ranked according to how much households earn, the figures show Ireland’s poorest families spend €2.70 a week on personal care products while the richest spend eight times more at €21.41 weekly.

On perfume alone, Ireland’s richest families spend up to €79 a year while the lowest earners spend just €7 a year.

Ireland’s richest spend €165 a year getting their nails done while the lowest-earners annually spend €16 on theirs.

The biggest single item of expenditure on personal grooming for the rich is their weekly manicure (€3.17 per week) while the poorest spend most on general toiletries (33 cents a week).

Likewise the rich annually spend €30 on foundation, €15 on lipstick, €20 on hair dyes and €93 on moisturising creams.

Annually low earners spend €1 on foundation, €3 on lipstick, €5 on hair dye and €9 on moisturiser.

On alternative and complementary therapies, the average household spends just under €20 a year. The richest are spending €47 annually on such treatments while the lowest earners spend €4.68 a year.