Trendwatch: Global beauty customers are patriotic with their fragrance shopping

(Relaxnews)

Judging from besteller lists of fragrances around the world, shoppers prefer scents created by or associated with their compatriots.

The new Very Hollywood by Michael Kors and Marc Jacobs's Lola, the more mature follow-up to the very successful Daisy fragrance, dominate the top three of Sephora's perfume sales of the moment in the US.

They're joined by Perfume Diaries, the new brainchild of equally American Bare Escentuals CEO Leslie Blodgett who has just launched a new series of limited-edition scent, each inspired by her personal diary.

In France, two of three designer brands represented in Sephora's 'fragrance charts' are French: Dior (with its iconic J'adore perfume) and Lolita Lempicka. Paco Rabanne, whose 1 Million fragrance also counts among the most popular men's scents, is Spanish but also based in Paris.

French customers also seem to be the most loyal of the bunch on a more broader level: almost none of the rankings changed since this time last month, suggesting that beauty shoppers in France stick to their products once they've found the right ones instead of experimenting as US shoppers do.

Finally, in China, one of the three products is non-Asian: L'Occitane's solid rose perfume. French brands such as L'Occitane, Compagnie de la Provence or Clinique also have quite an impressive standing among Asian customers (much more so than US products, for example). The other two perfumes listed in the top three are Flower by Japanese design label Kenzo and Harakuju Lovers by Gwen Stefani, which shows that Asian shoppers rely on Asian-themed products.

Judging from past Sephora listings, Japanese brands such as Kose, a skincare label, are increasingly gaining importance in China in general.