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On National Lipstick Day, are face masks leading us to kiss the cosmetic goodbye?

Linda J. Picard

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

It could mean the end of lipstick as we know it. And what would we do without it, especially on July 29, National Lipstick Day?

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 coronavirus: the possibility that face masks will wipe away the simple joys of lipstick. 

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

Since the pandemic (and mask-wearing) started, there’s been a dramatic drop in use of

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Fears About Transgender People Are a Distraction From the Real Struggles All Women Face

Linda J. Picard

In recent weeks, my DMs have been flooded with messages from well-meaning acquaintances, many asking precisely what was transphobic about J.K. Rowling’s self-published essay, “TERF Wars.” (In summary: a lot.) “TERF Wars” was, coincidentally, the title of a chapter in my memoir, The Gender Games. I wonder if she’s read it?

Her piece contained nothing you wouldn’t find in ‘gender critical’ forums and op-eds: that the freedoms of transgender women impinge on those of cisgender (not trans) women. In subsequent tweets, Rowling also compared trans-affirming healthcare to conversion therapy, and suggested that young trans men are merely confused lesbians. In all this, we are to understand that Rowling is not transphobic, but scared.

Rowling’s words were well-timed to coincide with a governmental review of U.K. legislation which allows transgender people to legally change their gender on their birth certificate. The Gender Recognition Act 2004 was — at the time

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Read Time : 1 Minutes

Are face masks wiping away the simple joy of cosmetics?

Linda J. Picard

“Lipstick is the best cosmetic there is,” Joan Collins once observed, shrewdly. Alas, not so much anymore – 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 coronavirus: the possibility that face masks will wipe away the simple joys of lipstick. 

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

Lipstick fan Maya Allen, 27, the digital beauty editor for Marie Claire, whose lipstick collection tops 200, says there’s no doubt the pandemic in general and face

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