Sales of makeup, including lipstick, fell due to the coronavirus. - Laurent Gillieron / AP / SIPA

Between confinement, teleworking and wearing a mask, the Covid-19 crisis dealt a blow to the make-up market, and particularly to that of lipstick, the French preferring to focus on body care and varnish.

"During confinement, I put nothing, only moisturizer. The first few days, I didn't recognize myself. I said to myself, "Is that my head for real, without make-up?" On deconfinement, I loved putting on my make-up, but I put on a lot less. A stroke of mascara and I feel neat, ”says Nolwenn.

And this 27-year-old Parisian architect is not the only Frenchwoman to have changed her beauty routine. As of the second month of confinement, the “prestige beauty” market, bringing together perfumeries and department stores, suffered the blow.

"More care, a little less makeup"

Face creams, body care, lip balms ... The big winner in cosmetics against coronavirus is skincare. "Skin and hair care is growing much faster than makeup," says Sephora. "Basically, it's more care, a little less makeup," confirms Hervé Navellou, CEO of L'Oréal Paris.

Nail polish is also on the rise. "They who had fallen asleep woke up during the period," notes Hervé Navellou. "The closing of nail bars and beauty salons" played, comments Mathilde Lion, beauty analyst at the research firm NPD Group. Women have "a desire for color, for lightness", judges Hervé Navellou.

“How do you get testers in the middle of a pandemic? "

The makeup market has declined and the reopening of stores is not going to work in its favor. “How do you get testers in the middle of a pandemic? "Wonders Mathilde Lion.

Lipstick is the big loser of the health crisis. "Less 58% on online sales compared to April 2019," notes the expert.

The mask camouflaging the lower face, attention is focused on the eyes. "We hypothesize that the consumption of mascaras and colored pencils will increase sharply if the wearing of the mask continues," says Hervé Navellou.

"Trend towards the most natural"

In April, eye makeup registered "an increase of 116%, especially the queen category of mascaras which increased by 150%", explains Mathilde Lion.

Non-transfer products, which hold despite a mask, make a breakthrough.

"The light makeup (blush, bronzing powders, concealer) worked well, as did the tinted creams - combining moisturizing effect and makeup - which takes precedence over the more covering foundations", decrypts Mathilde Lion.

"Because of the wearing of the mask, long-lasting, transfer-free, water-resistant and perspiration products are meeting with great interest," confirms Make Up for Ever. The use of these products leads, according to Mathilde Lion, to a "tendency to the most natural, and less contouring".

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  • Makeup
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  • Coronavirus
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