There’s a thing called the “Lipstick Index”, coined during the 2008 recession by Leonard Lauder, who runs the Estée Lauder Companies.
The idea is that no matter how bad it gets, women will treat themselves to a little lipstick.
That fell off a cliff with COVID. Lipstick sales plunged. The industry now hopes women will shift to something called the “Longwear Foundation (or Mascara) Effect”, or whatever the heck that is, which sounds like it’s grasping at straws.
It goes like this: People are in shutdown. Stores are closed. People don’t buy makeup.
Shutdown ends. We wear masks. People don’t wear lipstick.
Consultants are paid millions to notice these things and the hope is if women will not treat themselves to (less necessary) lipstick during COVID, then they will turn to something else.
The hope, also, is that everything will go right back to how it was whenever COVID is over.
Doesn’t this trivialize what is happening, trying to find relevance in old ways while COVID is upending things?
What is the environmental impact of the beauty industry?
Can it do more with less?
Can we do more with less?
Nothing wastes a new opportunity faster than an old paradigm.
Let’s get beyond lipstick and eyeliner and breathe life into something that matters.
“How COVID-19 is changing the world of beauty,” McKinsey & Company,
https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/consumer-packaged-goods/our-insights/how-covid-19-is-changing-the-world-of-beauty#
“GOODBYE LIPSTICK EFFECT, HELLO MASCARA INDEX – HOW COVID-19 MAY HAVE CHANGED THE BEAUTY LANDSCAPE FOR GOOD,” Global Cosmetics News,
https://www.globalcosmeticsnews.com/goodbye-lipstick-effect-hello-mascara-index-how-covid-19-may-have-changed-the-beauty-landscape-for-good/
“Face masks may have killed off the ‘lipstick index.’ What’s the lipstick index?,” Fortune,
https://fortune.com/2020/07/07/lipstick-index-face-masks-coronavirus-nail-polish/amp/
“Kylie Jenner Has Something Else to Pout About,” Bloomberg,
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-06-02/kylie-jenner-coty-can-pout-over-covid-lipstick-sales-slump
“How to Tell Longwear Makeup Products From Those That’ll Peace Out in 2 Seconds,” Well + Good,
https://www.wellandgood.com/what-is-longwear-makeup/