It Might Not Be Right, but It Sells

Beauty Companies Go Beyond English to Add Glamour

At the Douglas Cosmetics beauty supply store downtown, Christine Arnold surveys the French phrases and translations on the many glamorous-looking packages -- and laughs. As a native French speaker, Arnold trips over the many mistakes.

"No, that's not right; that's not really a French word," she says of a Lancôme foundation's packaging. "And that's not really a correct translation. That accent is not right -- you don't need it."

To her trained eye, the lapses are irritating. But to the largely American customers who walk through the popular boutique, Arnold knows, the rampant use of French -- correct or not, needed or not -- adds a certain je ne sais quoi . With French, it just looks more sophisticated. More chic.

With the beauty and personal care industry increasingly global -- and U.S. exports soaring -- foreign translations are needed more than ever. Marketing experts say manufacturers are seizing the moment to enhance their packages with non-English phrases, words, accents and suffixes -- not just to inform but to catch the consumer's eye and to make products appear more sophisticated and successful.

Whatever the political sensitivities between the United States and France, the language of choice is increasingly French.

"When you have several languages on the label, it does show that you are a widely sold, respectable company that sells in several countries," said Herberto Calves, director of marketing for the all-natural skincare product company Kiss My Face Corp., based in Gardiner, N.Y. The company is about to repackage its entire product line with bilingual labeling in English and French, he said, largely for marketing reasons. A very small amount of the company's business comes from overseas.

"It does add something, seeing that we are a multinational company. Even though we're a tiny company, it gives it a little more credibility," Calves said. "If this product is accepted there, it's good enough for here."

Foreign products must meet the labeling requirements of countries where they land on store shelves. In most places, the rules are fairly minimal -- except in Quebec, the French-speaking Canadian province of 7.5 million people, where everything on the label must be translated into French. In the rest of Canada, Europe and Asia, the requirements generally mandate translation of just the product description, and maybe also the directions and ingredient list.

But manufacturers often go far beyond the requirements, translating all manner of wording, from the prosaic, such as the now common New!/Nouveau! , to the playful, such as the phrase on bottles of some Tony & Tina cosmetic products: Think Cosmically/ Pensez de facon cosmique .

A new line of eyebrow care products made by Ardell, a division of American International Industries Inc. of Los Angeles, gets especially cute with its French translation, using voilà! on its packaging and translating it into the English non-word "Wa La!"

Indeed, the company has had to rework all its packaging in three languages to satisfy one of its biggest buyers, U.S. retailer Sally Beauty Supply, spokeswoman Peggy Hoebink said.

"These are products that are really for the American market, but they have French and Spanish on them," Hoebink said. "It's a twist. Before you would've been creating those packages for another country, not necessarily for here."