PERRY ROMANOWSKI 
Element 44 Inc, Chicago, USA

Abstract

Perhaps more than any other sector, the color cosmetics area has been significantly impacted by the COVID 19 pandemic. While the “lipstick effect” has protected color cosmetics during past economic downturns, it hasn’t helped during this recession. With people going out less, demand has shrunk. Consumer trend company, Mintel reported that over 50% of women spent less on color cosmetics due to the pandemic

Perhaps more than any other sector, the color cosmetics area has been significantly impacted by the COVID 19 pandemic. While the “lipstick effect” has protected color cosmetics during past economic downturns, it hasn’t helped during this recession. With people going out less, demand has shrunk. Consumer trend company, Mintel reported that over 50% of women spent less on color cosmetics due to the pandemic (1).

But people are still buying makeup. Formulators of color cosmetics will need to adapt their formulas to address the impact on consumer behaviors. Specifically, cosmetic chemists will have to modify formulas to be more compatible with masks, digital meetings and the trend of multifunctional products. Let’s look at how to approach making those changes.

Mask wearing – 2020 saw the regular wearing of masks by most of the world population. This meant mouths were covered so color lipsticks became much less important to consumers. And for the people who did continue to wear lipstick, the problem of transfer to the mask emerged. Of course, this not only affected lip prod ...