Lip Service: Lipstick wearers, makers swear by cosmetic staple

Monday, June 17, 2002 | 9:14 a.m.

To say that Erica Yates is a lipstick enthusiast is putting it mildly.

A self-described "makeup-a-holic" the 32-year-old Las Vegan never leaves home without something slicked across her lips.

"One thing I have to have is lipstick," Yates, a cocktail waitress at the Orleans, said. "It makes me feel more confident. It makes me feel prettier."

Rotating the new with the old, she keeps about 40 tubes of lipstick in her home, half of which are stored in her refrigerator to help maintain freshness.

Yates is always on top of market trends, eyeing the new colors that come out each season.

Lipsticks made by M.A.C cosmetics are her favorites, but sometimes she'll dabble in others.

"If I don't wear any makeup when I go out I'll at least wear lipstick and a liner," she said. "I feel not as naked with it on."

Yates is not alone.

Lipstick in the United States is a multimillion-dollar industry. It reportedly brought in $836 million of the $36 billion made by cosmetics (including make-up cleansers and anti-aging creams) in 2001.

According to Estee Lauder, which owns makeup brands M.A.C, Bobbi Brown and Clinique, among others, more than 97 percent of women between the ages of 18 and 34 wear lipstick.

The tubes of colored paste are credited by some for completing looks, producing attitude, cheering moods and even serving as a cylindrical beacon of hope in the dreariest of times.

To some wearers lipstick is the butter on the potatoes, the cherry on the sundae, the punchy kick they could never do without.

"It's a feel-good product," said Janet Bartucci, vice president of corporate global communications for the Estee Lauder Companies in New York. "It instantly changes the kind of outlook you put forward. It's a fashion statement. It's a real bold statement of confidence."

Lipstory

Though wearing color on the lips dates back to ancient Egypt, lipstick's commercial introduction to the United States is loosely documented in 1915.

Lipstick's popularity increased after World War I, when women were wanting the velvety and darkened lips of silent-film stars.

In the decades since, lipstick colors and trends have gone from the ruby reds of the 1940s to the pale lips of the '60s. Today the trend is a glossy, neutral-tone look.

"(Everyone) is asking for glossy and shiny," Elizabeth Howard, a makeup artist at Salon Bellagio, said.

"Glossy is so in right now," she said. "I rarely find anybody who wants a matte lipstick"

Howard agrees that lipstick is a feel-good product. "It just brightens things up," she said.

Nancy Etcoff's book "Survival of the Prettiest, The Science of Beauty," (First Anchor Books' edition, 2000) states that 1,484 tubes of lipstick are sold every minute in the United States.

And as the world continues to be increasingly Hollywood-ized, lipstick sales show no signs of slowing.

The product even sells well during economic recession.

The Wall Street Journal reported in November that lipstick sales rose significantly during the post-Sept. 11 economic slump.

Estee Lauder makeup brands increased between 12 percent and 24 percent in sales last fall. Sales of its Holiday lipsticks (colors specifically marketed for the season) increased five times from the year before.

"Lipsticks have always done well in stressful times," Leonard Lauder, chairman of Estee Lauder Companies, said in an interview last fall. "During past recessions, such as the one we had in 1990, lipsticks climbed."

Some attribute the jump in sales to the affordablility of the product. Tubes of lipstick can range from 99 cents to more than $20.

"If people can't afford a new outfit, they can afford new lipstick," Bartucci said.

And, she added, when people get really stressed out they turn to lipstick. Its red, wine and mauve colors have a cheering effect.

"Lipstick is one of those very approachable products that people gravitate toward," Bartucci added. "There is a familiarity and a comfort in the product."

Fashion passion

Makeup artists say lipstick trends are driven by the fashion industry, and sometimes inspired by celebrities -- no matter their reputations.

After watching Monica Lewinsky interviewed by Barbara Walters in March 1999 there was one overriding question asked by female consumers in department stores across the country: Where can we get that fabulous lipstick Monica was wearing?

Shortly after the interview aired, newspapers reported that the glaze-color lipstick made by Club Monaco was flying off store shelves.

Jeanet Hines, makeup artist and saleswoman for M.A.C cosmetics at Dillard's department store at Boulevard mall, witnesses part of the rush.

"(Customers) came to the counter and said, `I want that lipstick,' " she recalled. "That happens all the time. Right now Jennifer Lopez is really hot ... so everybody wants that look."

Lopez sports glossy, light and neutral tones. The look can be seen shimmering on models and other celebrities as well.

It's a trend that creates a fuller look to the lips, and makeup companies are increasing their lines of gloss to keep up with the demand.

The shinier the better, said Jeneva Hamer, stylist and makeup artist at A Robert Cromeans Salon at Mandalay Bay.

"Young girls right now want the fresh look, the `J-Lo glow,' " she said.

Hamer switched from wearing lipstick to gloss within the past year.

"It was hard for me to switch from lipstick to lip gloss," she said. "It felt like I didn't have anything on."

Now, she said, "It's hard for me to go back to wearing lipstick. Lipstick is hard and clumpy."

Lip options

At the M.A.C counter, Hines said that sales in lip gloss and sheer lipsticks far outweigh sales in traditional lipstick.

"Most women like sheer-type lipsticks," Hines said. "You see less and less color."

Though its been veering toward that look for a while, the trend for glossy with less color is common in the spring and summer, she said.

"In the summer women want to go softer with their lips -- with a lot of makeup, in general."

But, she added, "Most women have to have something on their lips whether it's lip gloss or lip stick."

Even women who don't wear other cosmetics on their face wear lipstick, Hines said. Lipstick's easy application is part of the reason, she said. Women who struggle with makeup application can manage lipstick pretty well.

The trend among women in their 20s and 30s is to wear neutral colors, she said. Women who are in their 40s and 50s tend to wear more dramatic color.

What women want

Types of lipstick ranges from sheer to creamy to matte. Many companies are competing to create a perfect long-lasting lipstick.

"Staying power is definitely something consumers look for," Bartucci said.

In a survey conducted by Estee Lauder, 95 percent of women listed color and staying power as important when selecting lipstick. Creaminess and moisturizing are also factors.

Only 3 percent said that price was a factor when selecting lipstick.

Yates, who will spend $2 to more than $20 on a tube of lipstick, said price doesn't always guarantee a better look.

"What works is whatever makes you feel beautiful," Yates said. "It's not how much you spend. It's how you make it look."