The Lipstick Factor

A new phenomenon, called The Lipstick Index, is gaining headlines with the Wall Street Journal and The New York times. In the economic downturn since 9/11, spending on luxury goods fell sharply. The interesting factor is that lipstick sales went up by 11 per cent.

The answer being that when times are tough, women stop splashing out and treat themselves to a new lipstick instead. "When lipstick sales go up, women don't want to buy dresses," Estee Lauder chairman Leonard Lauder recently stated. Oddly enough, the effect is not repeated with other cosmetics - only a new lipstick, it seems, puts the smile back onto a woman's face.