Ever since the pandemic hit us in March, there has been a significant decline in the sales of lipsticks as half of our faces are covered by masks. The only area that is visible after we put on our masks is the upper half of our face which includes our eyes. In 2020, when we can no longer make assumptions on what people are like based on the color of their lip shade or their smile, so the old phrase, “Eyes are the window to the soul” today can’t be truer than ever!
If we think about it, our eyes do so much more than just looking at things around us, we are constantly expressing our emotions through our eyes, as we smile with our eyes, frown, wink, as well as cheer up others with our eyes. I personally don’t feel motivated to do my whole makeup process with foundation and bold lipstick, but since I know that my eyes will be visible, I make sure that my eye shadow is perfect and my eyeliner is on point!
Many cosmetic brands have confirmed to Allure that “their business has been hurt by the coronavirus pandemic, suggesting that people are reconsidering whether foundation or lipstick feels worth it anymore” (Retta, 2020). This is true because just like me there are other people who feel the same about eye makeup these days. Our makeup priorities are changing as before the pandemic, I could care less about getting that perfect wing or even doing an eyeshadow but now I do as other things such as investing in lipsticks and foundations feel like a waste of my time and money these days.
In March, when Huda Beauty launched its Mercury Retrograde eyeshadow palettes, the entire stock was reportedly “sold out in just one second” in the week of its release on “Tmall Global, China’s biggest cross-border e-commerce platform”. (Chou, 2020). This makes sense, as even though we are not going to attend parties anymore, and our most glamorous trip is probably a trip to a Walmart, there is one thing that we won’t compromise on is our eye makeup, the world is in a dark place these days, so it surely needs our eyeshadow shimmer!