The world economy may be going to hell in a handbasket, but you wouldn’t know it in Maria Irece da Silva’s tiny cosmetics store in the impoverished favela of Jardim Carumbé. “The rich talk about the crisis but the poor don’t mention it,” says Da Silva, whose business — helping women look good in a country where style always trumps substance — is booming. Not even the worst recession in memory has stemmed the flow of shampoos, lipsticks and nail varnish from the shelves of her tiny beauty-aids store.
