June 4, 2021

Lipstick Sales Are Up 80% and It Has Nothing To Do with the Lipstick Index

As you know the lipstick index is a measure of how consumers are spending extra money. The phrased was coined by Leonard Lauder, Estee Lauder’s chairman of the board of Estee Lauder, and was used to describe increased sales of cosmetics during the recession early in 2000s. It’s a term that can’t be used to measure current makeup sales in our economy since the skincare and self care revolution overturned it in 2020.

That being said lipstick sales are actually up 80%! 80%! IRI, a market researcher that tracks points of retail sale, says that lipsticks hit 34.2 million dollars mid-April which is an increase of 80% from the same period last year. Don’t get too excited about the bounce back as they still fell short of pre-pandemic levels of over $40 million.

Actually, cosmetics sales for the past four-weeks ending May 22 have surged 16.7% from a year ago, according to data from Nielsen and over a 12-week stretch are up 24.7% from last year.

Here’s the good news….

The rise in sales actually has nothing to do with the Lipstick Index. I feel some sense of relief that sales of lipstick aren’t because people are tightening their belts and not spending money. Right now, the smart thing to do is save your money but also, you’re not going to see the economy return to normal until we let loose a little and start spending again.

Why are they up?

Simple answer that I’m sure you already know. Mask mandates have changed, more people are getting vaccinated and social interactions have picked up. We all want to look pretty again and do it wearing our favorite red lipstick.

Walmart recently told CNN Business that lipstick is a top performer in the last quarter sales.

I never stopped wearing makeup or lipstick the last year. As I’ve said many times in the past year it was important for me to keep my routines when things were so chaotic. It made me feel a sense of normal and I really don’t care that my routine may have included waxing my wood floors while wearing red lipstick. It’s all about the ritual for me.

I know many of you have missed wearing lipstick but haven’t yet felt comfortable getting out there without a mask yet. I’m vaccinated but I still very much wear a mask. I’m excited lipstick sales are seeing such an incredible turn over but it may take me a little while longer to be comfortable wearing it out without a mask on!

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June 3, 2021

Coastal Scents Closing After 16 Years Of Being In Business

Coastal Scents is closing after 16 years in business and I’m all choked up about it. Coastal Scents was like the Morphe of the early 2000s. They offered inexpensive makeup brushes, massive eyeshadow palettes, and tons of other makeup related items at very affordable prices.

They were also legendary for creating interesting duplications of products that were popular at the time! Remember that time they did that massive Blush and Bronzer Palette that channeled the Too Faced Big Book of Bronzers and Tarte�s Big Blush Book!

How about all those Revealed Eyeshadow Palettes that were obviously inspired by Urban Decay Naked Eyeshadow Palettes?

I really loved their brushes the most though. They had a pretty good brush selection and heck, I even had many of their brushes still! They wash up great and have served me well over the years!

Fact of the matter is a lot of brands have just fallen over the edge after COVID. I’m sure Coastal Scents was likely not doing well before COVID but after the pandemic hit that’s likely what pushed them over the edge. Coastal Scents just became lost in a sea of indie brands would be my guess. Where as Coastal Scents started with bloggers like Pursebuzz and EnKoreMakeup far bigger influencers started promoting Morphe and I imagine they just got lost somewhere along the way…

It’s pretty sad but not surprising. I feel like nothing really surprises me lately when it comes to the beauty world. Things shift so quickly lately if you blink you miss it.

I wish you well Coastal Scents. I worked with you several times in the past and you were always very gracious.

Maybe we’ll meet in the next makeup life.

Are you said to hear about Coastal Scents closing down?

Did you love them?

Do share!

26 Comments

June 3, 2021

Excuse Me, Mr Louboutin but I Don’t Wanna Buy An Eyeshadow Palette Without a Case It Reminds Me Too Much Of That Time I Brought a Castle Grayskull Play Set Off Ebay

I receive a small commission if you shop through my link.

Christian Louboutin Abracadabra La Palette Collection launches into the world of powder products with a gorgeous Abracadabra La Palette Eyeshadow Palette and a Abracadabra La Palette Blush & Highlighter Palette. And guess what? Both are actually very affordable. I mean, for Louboutin that is.

The Christian Louboutin Abracadabra La Palette Eyeshadow Palette is available in three shade selections and each palette contains six shades of color and I actually like them a lot more than I thought I would because I still believe launching a luxury beauty line right is a bit iffy. That being said, the market seems to be upturning so, maybe it’s not THAT bad an idea after all.

There’s also an Abracadabra La Palette Blush & Highlighter Palette which is also available in three shade selections and each palette contains two blushes and one highlighter each. And again, I LIKE this a lot more than I thought I would.

The colors in both the eyeshadow and blush palettes are very vibrant and pretty.

Now price wise, these aren’t bad at all for a luxury brand each one is $78. Impressive for Christian Louboutin.

There’s a catch though.

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June 3, 2021

Staying Up Late Does No Good for My Fine Lines and Puffiness Here’s What Helps

How can you eliminate pesky fine lines and puffiness under your eyes? It’s a lot simpler than you may think!

I wanna rock and roll all night and party every day. Especially the rock and roll all night part! I’m a night owl! I’d totally sleep all day and get up when the sun goes down and stay up until it comes up again if I could. But as an adult I have to do adult things like run my business. What the hell? Who decided that we needed to do mature stuff like this? Grrr!

Fact of the matter is I have an adult schedule even though I want to live like I’m a frat boy. I used to actually stay up quite late and function on about 5 hours sleep. Typically I’d go to bed around 12 AM sometimes 1 and I’d be up at 4:45 to start the day. I can’t do that anymore…! I tend to get in bed by 11 at the latest 11:30 and I’m up at 4:45 (if I’m indulging myself it’ll be 5). If nothing else I realized late nights totally wreck my beauty life. I’m prone to puffy eyes! Is it old age? Gaming? Too much time spent staring at a monitor or my phone? Who knows but I’m the Queen of Puffiness! Thankfully, I have very few fine lines under my eyes but they tend to be a lot more pronounced if I haven’t slept well or slept very little.

The last two or so nights I’ve had difficulty adjusting to sleeping alone again and it’s made me stay up later than I should which means the puffiness is super real at the moment and my fine lines are not really appreciating my lack of sleep!

So, how do you eliminate puffiness and fine lines without spending money?

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