Lipstick’s Composition and Production Technologies, “Lipstick Index” as economic indicator

The lipstick index is a term coined by Leonard Lauder, chairman of the board of Estée Lauder, used to describe increased sales of cosmetics in the past and during the early 2000s recessions. Lauder claimed that lipstick sales could be an economic indicator. He said that purchases of cosmetics (and lipstick in particular) tend to be inversely correlated to economic health.
The speculation was that women substitute lipstick for more expensive purchases like dresses and shoes in times of economic distress. Lauder identified the “Lipstick Index” as sales across the Estée Lauder family of brands.
“It’s perfectly consistent with all kinds of economic theory,” said Richard DeKaser, chief economist at National City Corporation, a financial holding company and bank in Cleveland.
April Lane Benson, a psychologist in Manhattan who works with compulsive spenders, said there are two reasons for which women would want lip colour more than other affordable pleasures. Lipstick can be applied as many times a day as you’d like. “It’s very primal”.
“Lipstick also helps a woman look glamorous, even when her bank account is overdrawn, when women use lipstick in times of stress” Dr. Benson said, “they’re doing it to put forward an image that they are more alive and more vibrant. It’s part of the uniform of desirability and attractiveness.”

‘Read my lipstick' is the title of the chart that analyzes the sales of lipsticks, from 1989 to 2007, correlated with the inflation line by Kline & Company for The Economist.
The drawing shows that the Lipstick Index theory also accompanies florid periods from an economic point of view.
Subsequent recessions, including the late-2000s recession, provided controverting evidence to Lauder's claims, as sales have actually fallen with reduced economic activity (as shown in Picture 8), some expert analysts suggested that in the past lipstick was the most popular and affordable beauty product but that today things have changed and women also use other products.
In Italy thanks to the coordination and support of Cosmetica Italia, Ansa has created the first volume that scans the history of Italian beauty in relation to the main events of the last 50 years.