- Mask warrants during the pandemic made it difficult to wear lipstick or lip gloss.
- But with the new guidelines from the CDC, the beauty industry expects lipstick sales to increase.
- Consumers “will be ready to celebrate,” Larissa Jensen of NPD Groups told Insider.
After being largely overlooked for over a year, lipstick, lip liner, and gloss are about to experience a resurgence.
Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that fully vaccinated people in the United States can stop wearing masks in most places. It led to several states lift their masks mandates and retailers across the US are dropping mask requirements for customers and employees.
The changing mask rule will have major implications for a society that has largely adjusted to COVID-19 precautions over the past year. But it’s also making waves in the beauty industry, especially when it comes to lip products.
According to CNN Affairs, which cited data from market research firm IRI, lipstick sales reached $ 34.2 million in the month ending April 18, an increase of more than 80% from at the same time last year (although they are still below pre-pandemic levels).
Now, with mask warrants starting to rise in states across the country, the beauty industry expects sales to skyrocket.
“This big CDC announcement… which I think is a game-changer,” Larissa Jensen, vice president and beauty industry advisor at market research firm NPD Group, told Insider.
Sales of lip products plummeted during pandemic
Yifan Ding / Getty Images
Last year has been a tough year for anyone who likes to wear lipstick or lip gloss. If you wear your mask correctly, it’s almost obvious that whatever you put on your lips will eventually end up inside your mask, smeared across your face, or both.
This problem translated into a drop in sales of lip products, which plunged almost immediately when the pandemic struck: In the month ending April 11, 2020, Amazon saw sales of ‘skin care and colors’. lips’ fall by 15% and prices have fallen by 28%, according to data compiled by McKinsey & Company.
While mask mandates remained in place throughout early 2021, the category continued to decline. According to data from NPD – which includes sales of brands sold in department stores or stores like Sephora and Ulta, but excludes drugstore beauty brands – total sales of lip products were down 24% in the first quarter. 2021.
While products like lip gloss and lip treatments have seen a smaller decline, lipstick has seen a steep decline: traditional lipstick sales fell 32% in the first quarter – with a downturn. on guard.
“Matte lipsticks started gaining market share almost immediately as the mask mandates took hold,” Jensen said. “If you think about it, matte lipsticks are the least likely to rub off on your mask and they stay on your lips.”
Jensen said the decline in lip product sales may be directly related to the masks’ mandate, as it was the worst performing makeup category. Eye makeup was most effective last year, as the eyes were the only part of the face visible on the masks – in fact, eye makeup sales jumped 204% year over year from April to June 2020, discovered data analytics company Kantar.
But overall, makeup has been hit hard in a year when people have barely left the house. Premium makeup sales fell 34% in 2020, Jensen said.
“Make-up is very closely linked, and beauty is linked to occasions of use, too,” she said. “So without going to work, going out to eat, going to events, there was no use opportunity.”
Growing optimism
Dimitrios Kambouris / Getty Images for ULTA Beauty / KKW Beauty
But that may be about to change. Jensen said the industry expected makeup sales to increase ahead of the new guidelines as more Americans were getting vaccinated as the weather warmed in many parts of the United States. Now, with the mask warrant largely lifted, consumers will not only want to look good again, but brush up on makeup that they probably haven’t touched in over a year, which could translate into positive growth for beauty brands and retailers.
A spokesperson for Ulta told Insider that the company does not share category sales outside of its quarterly profits, but said the company has seen “a growing sense of optimism among our guests – which is creating many possibilities for beauty “.
“We anticipate that the passion for skin care and hair care will remain stable and we see that makeup continues to experience positive momentum,” the spokesperson said.
A spokesperson for Sephora declined to comment.
But other retailers are already starting to see an increase in demand for lip products. Walmart spokesperson told CNN Business this week, this lipstick is currently its top performing makeup category, with consumers looking for bold or trendy colors like blue, purple and brown. The company said customers are seizing the opportunity to “once again express uniqueness.”
Sam Cheow – Global Head of Makeup Innovation, Portfolio and Product Development at The Estée Lauder Companies, which owns a range of prestigious make-up brands – told CNN that the company expects customers to look to hot pink, orange, magenta and purple lipstick shades this summer, and will opt for a satin, densely pigmented, and slightly shiny finish – not something that really worked under a mask.
Cheow told CNN that “lipstick is like instant gratification, a pick-me-up that we haven’t had in the past 12 months and we miss it.”
Jensen said that while NPD does not share data on specific brands or companies that are expected to see a boost in the coming months, the company saw growth in the first quarter among brands exclusive to one or two retailers. – Kim Kardashian’s makeup. and fragrance lines, for example, are only sold online and at Ulta; Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty is only available online and at Sephora.
And once weddings pick up, cities like New York reopen and travel picks up, we’ll see spending rise “dramatically,” Jensen said.
“I really believe this, that as this mask tenure comes up, we’re going to see a lot of momentum coming out of the makeup category from 2021 to 2022,” Jensen said. “You’re going to have the consumer who’s ready to celebrate – ‘We made it! I no longer need to wear a mask! “I think this could be indicative of some definitely encouraging signs.”
