RANDOM THOUGHTS : BEAUTY (PART DEUX)

[jemly]

welcome back to the junk drawer of random beauty thoughts and musings. it has been nearly a year, so i think it is time for a rew RT thread ! 

when i'm doing my makeup in the morning, my dog sometimes throws a fit until i move his food bowl over to where i'm sitting. i'm certainly not the diva in our relationship.

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THE QUESTIONS THREAD:  http://community.sephora.com/t5/Products/The-Question-Thread-Because-not-all-questions-need-their-ow...

VINTAGE BEAUTY VIDEOS THREAD ! :  http://community.sephora.com/t5/Beauty-Confessions/VINTAGE-BEAUTY-VIDEOS/m-p/1826210#M69382

SWATCH REQUEST THREAD : http://community.sephora.com/t5/The-Swatch-Board/THE-SWATCH-REQUEST-THREAD/td-p/2223212

[gonerogue]

@tsavorite Thank you! I’m just glad they are in new homes and not just hanging out at my house 😉

[PaletteAddict99]

Good job @gonerogue 🙌🏻 That’s Awesome shweeeew you must feel so good to get that off your mind. I need to do that too. Thanks for the inspiration 🙂

[txcatx]

Do y'all know about the lipstick index? I love reading up about economics and sociology (both of which I studied extensively in college), and it's especially interesting when beauty products are involved. 

Anyway, I stumbled across an article on CNBC titled "Why lipstick isn't as useful as an economic barometer as it used to be," and I thought it was so interesting that lipstick was used at one point as an economic indicator. 

But, lipstick isn't as useful of a barometer these days partially because of the rising popularity of other types of beauty products. Which makes sense, since I've noticed other products like highlighters and sheet masks become super popular since the "lipstick index" was coined in the early aughts. 

One other takeaway: "The lipstick industry is forecast to hit $17 billion in market value by 2023, according to marketing firm TechSci Research." That's a lot of lipstick. 

[divaknits]

I’ve probably bought it all. 😄 The number of lipsticks I own is ridiculous even though I know there are people whose lipstick collection rivals mine.

[MissPuff]

@txcatx  Very cool. I love articles about consumer purchasing habits 🙂 I never knew about the lipstick index, it's an interesting thesis, that cutting back on LARGE luxury items increases purchases of "smaller" more easily affordable luxury items. I can personally attest to that type of behavior, my 20's was all about treating myself little fancy things as a stop gap to forgoing bigger investments that I couldn't afford (thank you recession!) Though at the same time, more financially stability in my 30's has ALSO increased these smaller luxury purchases at perhaps a greater rate than when I was struggling (the theory should be that my lipstick purchasing is slows down and inversely related), so I'm not 100% convinced specifically lipstick sales are a great economic indicator 🙂 

I do feel like the broader category of mid-range to high end cosmetics is moderately recession proof due to its "luxury" status and might be a better yardstick than just lipstick alone. I'm also curious about market saturation, especially with these million a minute releases now, do you think we'll ever reach a point where sales drop/plateau because we all literally just have too much stuff?

[Brutalitops]

@MissPuff interestingly enough, the same relationship can kind of be seen in chocolatepurchases. When the economy is bad/ people are hurting luxury purchases go way down, but spending on smaller luxuries- like a chocolate bar- tend to go up. So the lipstick index may be working exactly as expected for you 

[GennX]

There can be no market saturation when they can market organizing storage solutions that 'maximize space' for even those living in 200sqft apartments! 😉

[txcatx]

@MissPuff I'm also guilty of making a few more luxury purchases besides makeup now that I'm in my 30s! I remember reading an article a few years ago about how millennials can't afford luxury goods except for makeup, so we've been treating ourselves with luxury makeup. For me, that's still true--I happily buy Givenchy lipsticks, but there's no way I'm spending $2000+ on a Givenchy handbag.  And now that I'm at the age where I actually have more disposable income (especially after paying off student loans) and a job with unlimited PTO (at a company that actually encourages employees to use a lot of PTO), I would rather spend that $2000 on travel rather than a handbag. The only unfortunate thing is that I live in a rapidly growing city, and my rent prices keep going up a lot every year...

Also, funny thing regarding saturation--there's an article in Quartz today titled "Luxury skincare is driving record profits in the beauty industry." Here's an excerpt (since I can't link articles here):

Spoiler

Online publication Fashionista recently speculated that the skincare industry could be reaching “bubble” territory: Some analysts believe that the unprecedented growth of the category within legacy brands, paired with the unfettered proliferation of independent labels (the last two years have seen the debut of over 100 new brands) has caused the market to become dangerously “fragmented and crowded.”

It'll be interesting to see which products and companies can stand the test of time, for sure. 

[GG84]

@txcatx *looks around* I'm the handbag to your travel. I have little interest in travel because I got to travel a lot for work in my early 20's. I've lived in 3 different countries. I'm 100% the handbag. 

[txcatx]

@GG84 That's awesome that you got to live in several different countries in your twenties! I was working multiple low wage jobs, living in a house with three male roommates (who had way more drama than any of the female roommates I lived with in college), and going after all the wrong types of boys--all while being broke because I kept getting asked (six times) to be a bridesmaid in friends' weddings around the country!

[MissPuff]

@txcatx  I'm totally with you on travel, I'd totally rather spend my money on visiting someplace awesome (and probably upgrading my flight and hotel along the way...I've gotten so bougie in my 30's 🙂 ) . I can't quite pull the trigger on a fancy handbag, yet there's probably already a couple thousand dollars worth of lipsticks in my collection...whoops 🙂 

The skincare bubble! Oddly enough, I just noticed Glossier ads NOT on the internet for the first time! I've seen a couple of billboards and a couple of traditional TV ads, I found myself wondering if this is their push to reach a new type of consumer, but it still looks like you need to purchase direct from their website. There do seem to be a million and one new brands, but I feel like that's because the industry giants went on a purchasing spree a year or two ago. These new little companies are perfectly positioned for acquisition, I'm curious to see who makes it out in the longer term! 

[txcatx]

@MissPuff  Same! I just upgraded my seats on flights for my upcoming trip to Morocco and Spain. Not first class, but any extra legroom makes a difference on an international flight! 

I did notice that Glossier appears to be expanding to other countries, so maybe that's another focus? I stumbled across some of their ads in French on Instagram fairly recently.

I love that others on BIC are also interested in the business of beauty!

[ShortErica]

This made me smile. Thanks for adding some economics in with my beauty browsing @txcatx!

[missjeanie]

@txcatx I remember learning about the lipstick index when I was in university the first time around and thinking yep... thats me! lol 17 billion in lipstick eh... thats a whole lotta lipstick!

[faeriegirl]

Wow @txcatx! That is a lot of lipstick ❤️

[eshoe]

Thank you @txcatx I am very interested in the economic/sociology aspect of beauty so this was interesting (phone wanted it changed to ‘interstellar’ which could be the case, too😄). 

[sonnydee]

@eshoe sorry dont think I can send pics via PM are these the ones? or the clear up unicorn? I know the melody ones you are talking about.

[txcatx]

I've been wondering how to store all those little plastic spatulas that come with some skincare products when I finally found a solution. I poured sequins from the packaging of a couple of Pat McGrath mini lipstick and lip gloss sets into an empty Sugarfina cube. I've been wondering how to repurpose a few Sugarfina cubes and the sequins!

[heartsmyface]

Oh that’s such a cute idea!  I store mine in a clear makeup bag along with all my cleaned Sephora sample pods and travel skincare pods. @txcatx 

[sprocketta]

Brilliant @txcatx  I didn't know what to do with those sequins.  They were so pretty but I had nowhere to put them and couldn't think of anything, so I got rid of them.  I wish I hadn't.  I guess I'll just have to buy the PMG lip gloss sets now...

[mermadelove]

@sprocketta  Lolololol those are some expensive sequins! I think you can get them at Michael’s for cheaper, but they don’t come with the designer lip gloss GWP. 😂🤣😂