Marketing Beauty

I've recently become aware of an interesting phenomenon: Lipstick sales go up during economic recessions.

Which got me thinking. Lipstick is hardly a necessity, and I can't see how we would need more of it in a recession than normally. Clearly the main consumers of lipstick are women, so I'm going to continue on under the assumption that women are buying all this product.

It's a fairly simple equation: Women like to feel beautiful. Women like to indulge themselves (mmm... chocolate). Lipstick is an inexpensive way to feel special. Normally, not under a recession, I assume these women would be likely to spend more on various other cosmetics or beauty products.

For special occasions, women spend hours of time and hundreds of dollars to feel like they look beautiful. Through advertising, the beauty industry is effectively trying to sell us our own image. And very clearly it's working.

I don't believe there is anything inherently wrong with trying to look good or playing with your image. As an artist and an actress, I actually love it. I wear makeup most days. I love buying clothes that make me feel good. But I try to keep that separation of enjoying my body, compared to frantically trying to chase down an image I can never achieve. I choose to celebrate what I have, not wallow in dissatisfaction.

It's difficult. Because the beauty industry doesn't care about us as people. They are, however, interested in our wallets. For this reason, they prey on girls who only want to feel special and gain approval. They do their best to convince us that we can buy this in bottles and jars. Murale, Sephora... these are entire chains that survive selling nothing but beauty products.

Just know this. Buy that cherry lipstick or green eyeshadow if you want, try it on and let yourself feel glamorous. But don't let it consume you in some desperate attempt to loose yourself searching for whatever is missing. Nothing is missing. You are complete and valuable as you are.