The first time someone hears that Spain exports more perfumes and cosmetics than olive oil, wine, or footwear, the eyebrow raises a little in disbelief. However, the figures are clear: we are the second largest perfume exporter in the world, only behind France, and a cosmetic power that has quietly and almost unnoticed slipped into half the planet, with a presence in 175 markets. Exporting is not a complement, but one of the main engines of the economy and the sector.

One more year we will celebrate what Simone Weil defined as “the supreme mystery of this world” and Jorge Luis Borges, not far from the philosopher’s vision, as “that beautiful mystery that neither psychology nor rhetoric can decipher.” Beauty will once again be the protagonist of the gala that we celebrate every spring at the Thyssen Museum in Madrid to award, among works of art and with artists’ names, the best launches of the year in cosmetics and perfumery