How the pandemic is changing the beauty industry From the "eyeliner effect" to increasingly digital purchases

In the beginning there was the lipstick effect, the almost forbidden pleasure of purchasing a superfluous beauty item, gifting it to ourselves, even in a moment of economic crisis. It has been theorized during the Great Depression and ever since the assumption always proved to be valid, even in truly tragic circumstances such as those of September 11th. But this phenomenon today is based on a new object of desire.

Aided by the fact that it was prohibited to leave our home and that we could do so only with a mask covering half of our face or that we had to deal with dozens of Zoom meetings and video calls, since the beginning of quarantine we can rather observe the eyeliner effect. Translated: we want to give ourselves a fresh and nice look, without necessarily overdoing with a heavy make-up.

In China, where the cosmetics industry is already highly digitized, it is estimated that business could return to normal by July, but imports and exports will be reduced at least until the end of 2020. This could benefit domestic brands and manufacturers and the online industry could then come to the rescue once again.