Brasil The World's Hottest Market For Beauty Products.

REUTERS/
The beauty industry's explosive growth has made Brazil a battleground for brands such as Avon Products Inc and L'Oreal.
Brasilians' obsession with beauty, from body waxes to perfumes to looking good in bikinis, helped lift beauty and hygiene sales last year by 27.5% in dollar terms from 2007 to $29 billion.
That makes it the third-largest market in the world, trailing only the United States and Japan, despite much smaller average incomes. In the first six months of this year, sales were up 18 percent from a year ago, keeping Brazil on course to overtake Japan in 2010.