COVID-19 has affected the beauty business in ways that nobody could have imagined. Approximately 30% of the beauty industry was shut down where many of the stores and outlets will never open again. Those that have held on are being delayed and others have shifted completely to e-comm.

Socializing is extremely limited (remember the days of going to events, dinner parties, bars, music venues?), and that has affected the way women use or don’t use beauty products. 

Wearing face masks for health and safety has made some strictly focus on their eyes, while long-wear lip colors are the way to go for those moments where you can unmask while eating a meal. 

Personally, that was the first thing I thought about when I was first able to go to a restaurant with a friend back in July. I still wanted to look like my old self,  and lipstick was one of those things that made me feel put together. I immediately thought that all cosmetics companies should now focus on long-wearing, no-transfer lip colors. I figured between that and mascara sales, these companies would stay afloat– that all they would have to do is change their product focus.

All of these lifestyle changes meant something special for cannabis beauty. When everybody started working from home, some women’s beauty habits changed– they became more relaxed. However, there were two schools of thought when it came to work related video meetings– some decided to concentrate on skincare and wellness, foregoing color cosmetics while others maintained their full makeup regimen, with the consideration of camera-readiness. “Maskne”, the acne caused by mask wearing, a focus on skincare along with the overall stress of the pandemic has created heightened interest in cannabis beauty. Cosmetics infused with CBD provide more value in that it addresses many more skin ailments naturally, eliminating the need to buy one product each per skin problem. Small brands are opening up faster than we can keep up with, however those with longevity will remain to be seen once cannabis becomes federally legal and regulated. Once this happens, there will be a huge divide between those brands that adhere to regulations vs. the small homemade skincare brands which might not have the legal testing certifications required to sell in large e-comm stores. That’s not saying that the smallest CBD beauty brands won’t do well. If they keep their price points lower, they stand to do okay as long as they stay low profile. But it will still be risky, as the consumer will have no guarantee that there will be enough CBD in the product to have any real efficacy.

On the operations side, the use of augmented reality (AR) for testing discovery and customization accelerated as concerns about safety and hygiene fundamentally disrupted product testing and in person consultations. Thus far, even though the industry has suffered, it will remain attractive, as beauty has crossed over to “wellness” in some areas, and trends prove that people will continue to find comfort in that simple swipe of lipstick to feel put together.

@chlobo_ilo  #cheddarlive @huffpost