Makeup the economic situation to suit you...

Yup, with The Beauty Brains highlighting the groundbreaking revelation (ahem) published by Science Daily :

"Professor Pine’s research found that an intense emotional state, high or low, could send women to the shops. “This type of spending, or compensatory consumption, serves as a way of regulating intense emotions,” she said.

This ability to regulate emotions is crucial for mental and physical wellbeing and humans adopt a variety of means of doing so, including drugs and alcohol. Shopping is one method increasingly adopted by women."

Hmm. Yes excellent excuse. That shopping is fun for most of us could hardly qualify as debatable. However it is rather noteworthy that the old adage, lipstick sales go up when the economy grinds down, known as "the lipstick index" (as coined by Leonard Lauder) has been debunked. The Financial Times even went so far as to reclassify the trend as "The Foundation Index" when it appeared that:

"The only age group which still appreciates the glamour of painted lips is the over-60s, with 40 per cent surveyed citing lipstick as the most treasured item."

I think the reason for this perceptible generational divide is that nowadays beauty is not associated with putting on a brave face, or treating oneself. Nowadays 'Health and Beauty' has become a phrase that rolls off the tongue: almost interchangeable. If the 80s Boom Years were complemented by flamboyance - bold eyeshadow up to the browbone, and blush in a dominant angled swoop, and bright lips - then today's more sober palette takes its cue from a battered and bruised economy. No wonder that a foundation purchase would overtake the more statement like choice of a lipstick. Foundation arguably more than any other makeup, represents the hybrid between health and beauty, particularly when viewed through the lense of current foundation promises "HD"; "Anti-Aging"; "Superfit"; "Perfectly Real"; "Superbalanced"; "Even Finish"; "Smooth Skin"; "Instant Rewind" ....the list goes on, you get the idea. With healthcare now seamlessly incorporating anti-aging creams, thanks in no small part to Dove's dominant advertising campaigns which imply there is a correct way to Pro-Age(?!), foundation is no doubt seen as an extra way to safeguard and invite the healthy skin we crave.

So why is this indeed a new trend, or a symptom of our current economic showdown? And why is it that the lipstick index has faltered, or even that it existed in the first place? Well, in the first instance, let us keep sight of the fact that by announcing this, Lauder did invite a self-fulfilling prophesy. As Estee Lauder herself had successfully ingrained Youth Dew into society by 'accidentally' spilling it and flooding a shopping floor with its distictive scent, the marketing angle within a lipstick index cannot be ignored. And as the FT article explains, "The index may be a frivolous indicator - some researchers point out that lipstick sales have at times grown in periods of prosperity as well as downturns".

That Science Daily now brings a study showing that indeed, these fluctuations coincide with any extreme emotional points, seems again to simply cloud what might in fact be a non-starter. Makeup purchases, ultimately, do stand alone. Often within the bounds of impulse purchases (especially as these days everywhere from supermarkets to hairdressers to Claire's to H&M or even WH Smith's Victoria Jackson sales troops have makeup thrown in the mix). And unlike even shoe shopping, which takes minimal undressing and fussing, makeup can literally be dabbed on and approved - the easiest, quickest pick up of the shopping kingdom experience. Does this necessarily mean that it is harder to gauge the pattern, and therefore easier to manipulate the statistics to illustrate some exagerrated theory??

For my own part, I do feel more and more that my own 'signature look' should be curtailed to a light colour on the lids, some black eyeliner and some neutral lipstick and rosey cheeks. In other words, I find myself suddenly more prone to clothes and accessories shopping, than to bright eyeshadow. Whether this is a symptom of ageing or a conscious decision to stop frittering away money on shades I know are superfluous, I cannot quite decipher.

Makeover shows like Gok's Fashion Fix, and the plethora of shows that feed off the economic climate to promote cost effective ways to feel better, have lent credibility to the sense that looking good should not be related to one's financial position. Adverts for drugstore ranges that promise benefits which once upon a time were the preserve of the 'High End' ranges, also push this. I do now find myself questioning whether a £14 eyeliner is necessarily better than a GOSH or Prestige one. Even packaging for drugstore ranges seems to have got sleeker. With Boots pushing the boundary by commissioning a scientific study for its best selling 'Protect and Perfect serum' - (a move usually reserved for prescription-only medicines) the force of the consumer being entitled to expect top-notch from a drugstore range surely casts a shadow over the definition of high end creams. Indeed, Estee Lauder et al are if anything more notorious for their adverts being pulled for misleading and false promises. Could economic woes prove the catalyst to sound a death knell for high end ranges altogether?

Probably high end can rely on its niche status for now, but with drugstore range prices creeping up and all the products aping each other, even innovative ones like the Givenchy Phenomen'eyes mascara wand, or the Lancome oscillating mascara wand, how long will there even be any gravitas associated with high end anyway?

What is the future of makeup shopping, will it retain its status quo or is there shifting afoot? What do you think... have your makeup spending habits changed?