Seeing red

Lipstick has the power to lift our mood - and this season, we're reaching for red.

- EVA-MARIA BOBBERT

Some say hemlines rise and fall with the stock market but in beauty circles we talk about The Lipstick Effect: in a financial pinch, we experiment with lip colour.

History backs up lipstick as a reliable barometer of human psychology in times of relative hardship. In the 1930s, when industrial production and employment plummeted, lipstick sales soared. The same thing happened in the ’90s recession and again in the noughties’ global financial crisis. The theory goes that, when we have to tighten our proverbial belts, we turn to indulging in smaller luxuries like lipstick to lift our flailing spirits. The only time this didn’t hold up was during the pandemic (presumably because mandatory face masks smothered that small joy too). But things have since bounced back to predictable: Punters are forecasting a recession looming because lipstick sales are once again booming.