Kylie Jenner beware? How lipstick is suffering amid face masks, but shouldn’t be counted out just yet

Although people are forgoing lipstick when they wear a surgical mask or face covering, some women will still apply some for Zoom and FaceTime meetings

A richly painted mouth has been a top make-up trend recently thanks in part to Jenner, but even her make-up line has taken a hit

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A plastic covers make-up products at a Sephora store in Paris, France. With so much of our face covered by a face mask, can lipstick sales survive the coronavirus? Photo: Reuters

Published: 3:15pm, 7 Jul 2020Updated: 3:15pm, 7 Jul 2020

“Lipstick is the best cosmetic there is,” actress Joan Collins once observed. Alas, not so much any more – not now when face masks are covering the lower half of our faces.

It could mean the end of lipstick as we know it. For millennia, lip cosmetics have been one of the ways for women and men to express themselves, to lift their spirits, to make their face stand out in the crowd.

Now we’re contemplating another unhappy consequence of the coronavirus: the possibility that face masks will wipe away the simple joys of lipstick for the foreseeable future.

Perish the thought, say lipstick lovers and cosmetic makers, nervously eyeing sales figures expected to fall this year, maybe as much as 11 per cent according to one market prediction.

Charlotte Tilbury Amazing Amal lipstick.

Lipstick fan Maya Allen, 27, the digital beauty editor for women’s magazine Marie Claire, whose lipstick collection tops 200, says there’s no doubt the pandemic in general and face masks in particular have stymied the impulse to buy and adorn ourselves in lip colour. But she’s not giving up on her favourite product.

“I don’t want to believe that the idea of lipsticks is fading into the background, not while women are still putting on their lipstick when they’re on a Zoom date,” Allen says. “Not now, when women are using beauty products as escapism and to resume a sense of normalcy.”

Kylie Jenner beware? How lipstick is suffering amid face masks, but shouldn’t be counted out just yet

Although people are forgoing lipstick when they wear a surgical mask or face covering, some women will still apply some for Zoom and FaceTime meetings A richly painted mouth has been a top make-up trend recently thanks in part to Jenner, but even her make-up line has taken a hit

Although people are forgoing lipstick when they wear a surgical mask or face covering, some women will still apply some for Zoom and FaceTime meetings

A richly painted mouth has been a top make-up trend recently thanks in part to Jenner, but even her make-up line has taken a hit