Beauty made its mark on Millward Brown’s annual Brandz Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands list. The sole true beauty brand to make the list was L’Oréal, which ranked #57. Gillette, which also falls under the market research firm’s personal care category, ranked #33.

The top three brands on the list are in the technology sector, with Apple ranking #1, IBM #2 and Google #3. Also to ranking in the list are McDonald’s at #4, Microsoft at #5, Coca-Cola at #6 and Marlboro at #7.

By region, L’Oréal ranked as the ninth most valuable brand in Continental Europe; Natura ranked #7 in Latin America, and Dove came in at #9 in the UK. Overall, the report said, developing markets remained critical to the growth of the personal care category.

And, beauty is making headway. Millward Brown issued its Top 20 riser brands–brands that grew the most in value during the year–and two beauty brands made that list. Clinique ranked as the sixth most-growing brand with 43% brand value growth, benefitting from overall brand strength and growth in BRIC markets. Dove ranked 18th with 23% brand value growth. Clinique and Dove were included among brands such as Facebook, Starbucks, MasterCard, Ralph Lauren and Hermes. In 2011, the Estée Lauder brand made the riser list, ranked at #16 with 31% brand value growth.

In a statement, Lynne Greene, Global Brand President of Clinique, Origins and Ojon, said, “Clinique’s success is largely due to our mission to provide disruptive innovation in as many aspects of our businesses as possible, including becoming the number-one skin care brand in Russia and growing market share globally.” Lynne cited Even Better Clinical as one of the most successful global skin care launches in the last two years.

Millward Brown ranks brand value by calculating branded earnings, financial value and brand contributions. To view Millward Brown’s complete Top 100 Global Brands Report, please click: millwardbrown.com/BrandZ/Top_100_Global_Brands.aspx