While the U.S. prestige beauty industry got off to a slow start, The NPD Group reports that things may stabilize in the second half. While the first half showed a drop of about 1% over 2007, second quarter sales showed improvement over those of the first quarter. In fact, says NPD, the second quarter of 2008 was the strongest in the past three years. U.S. sales of skin care continue to shine; it was the only category to show growth in the first half of the year; prestige skin care sales reached $1.2 billion for the first half. Elsewhere, China’s prestige beauty industry continues to rack up double-digit growth in all categories. While Italy and France are holding their own, research shows a sales decrease in skin care.