Flicking through Professional Beauty Magazine (Feb) this month I noticed an article about how much British women are now spending on cosmetics - over £1 billion in 2006 - that’s not each obviously - I wish

It’s from a recent Mintel report and goes on to say that the figure has climbed  almost 40% in the last five years thanks to "glitz and glamour making a comeback since the millennium".

MIchelle Strutton, from Mintel, goes on to say that there is an increasing alignment of face make-up and skincare products, blurring the distinction between cosmetics and a treatment product. The report also acknowledges an ageing population using anti-aging skincare products as a factor for the increase in spend on beauty products.

It follows this beauty survey article I found quoting a New Woman magazine survey late last year that states that "beauty-conscious British women" are spending a whopping £3,000 a year on beauty products and treatments, with 81 per cent of women wearing make-up every day.

Despite this massive spend, only 18 per cent of the women said they were ‘happy with their skin’,
with 44 per cent admitting that it was ‘prone to spots’, 32 per cent
said ‘it’s blotchy’, while others complained of freckles and dryness.

In the beauty survey, the woman (5000 of them with the average age of 29) were asked how make-up made them feel:

• 73 per cent said that they felt ‘sexier’
• 53 per cent were ‘more flirtatious’
• 52 per cent felt ‘healthier’.

Only ten per cent of the women said that they
actually felt they looked any younger in make-up though, which highlighted the £600 per year spent on facials, massages and anti-aging
treatments.

Get ready for the real shocker ladies. "The total cost of an adult lifetime of beauty products and treatments was calculated to be £182,528".