On a fragrance counter crowded with hundreds of scents launched last year, a simple glass bottle doesn't cut it any more. Packaging is getting more elaborate: The cap of Marc Jacobs's Dot is a large Lucite butterfly. It took six months of testing to get the crocodile to stick properly on the new Lacoste men's fragrance bottle. Glowing by Jennifer Lopez lights up for 15 seconds when sprayed.

— Read more at Perfume Bottles Gone Wild at the Wall Street Journal. Hat tip to Bill!

According to beauty market research conducted by The NPD Group, Inc., a leading market research company, during the first 10 months of 2011, (January to October), total prestige fragrance dollar sales in U.S. department stores were $1.7 billion, a healthy double-digit gain of 10 percent, compared to the same time last year.

— The top five new launches during that period? Would you have guessed Gucci Guilty Homme, Justin Bieber Someday, Marc Jacobs Daisy Eau So Fresh, Jimmy Choo and Estee Lauder Sensuous Nude? Read more at NPD Reports: Healthy Fragrance Gains Bode Well for Holiday Season.

Nail varnish has become the top-selling fashion accessory, replacing lipstick as an affordable indulgence in austere times and leading to a boom in sales as consumers flock to buy bright-coloured bottles. [...] In France, over the whole of 2010, perfume sales in department stores rose 2 percent. Over the same period nail colour jumped 42 percent, according to global market research company NPD.

— And there are even more nail polish blogs than perfume blogs. Quote is from Beauty industry sees growth at its fingertips at Money Control.

Women’s prestige fragrance sales generated 4 per cent less revenue in the first half of 2011 compared to the same period in 2008, while men’s prestige fragrance sales were down by 2 per cent on the same period comparison.

However, the year-on-year trend remains up compared to the first half of 2010, with sales of men’s prestige fragrances growing by 10 percent in the first half of 2011, while women’s prestige fragrances grew by 14 percent in the same period.

— Read more at ‘Rediscovery’ of prestige make-up pushes sales to pre-recession levels at Cosmetics Design.

In fragrance, the prestige market grew by 6 percent during the first quarter of 2011 versus flat sales in the FDMx [mass] channel. NPD says the increase in prestige fragrance is due to the positive performance in top existing juice brands, as well as strong sales from 2010 fragrance introductions.

— Read more at The only way is up as US beauty industry rises from recession at Cosmetics Design.