Impact of Mask-Wearing on Japan's Cosmetics Industry

From March 13th this year, people in Japan were no longer encouraged to wear masks.

While many parts of the world began ditching their masks in 2022, the vast majority of Japanese chose to continue to wear masks into 2023.

Ever since the Japanese government urged people to wear masks at the start of the pandemic in 2020, most have gotten used to wearing masks every time they leave their homes. Covering up the bottom half of the face became the new norm, and with it came a huge impact on sales of cosmetics in Japan.

Masks and makeup

As the vast majority chose to wear a mask at all times in public, it seemed people began to put less emphasis on makeup, especially lipstick and foundation. And most stores even removed lipstick testers in stores to prevent infections.

 Lipstick sales in Japan 2012-2021, Data from Statista

In comparison to the 49.67 billion yen in income from lipsticks in 2019, 2020 saw a revenue of 22.21 billion yen, and 2021 only 12.78 billion yen, demonstrating a 74% drop in lipstick revenue between 2019 and 2021.

In comparison, mask sales in Japan rose by 325% in 2020 due to Covid-19 measures that included social distancing.

Overall sales in Japanese department stores saw an 85% drop in April 2020 compared to September 2019. This was also a knock-on effect of the  ‘state of emergency’, which encouraged people to stay at home and forced many cosmetics companies to postpone launch dates for new products.

Department stores overall cosmetics sales between August 2019 and February 2023, Data from Japan Association of Department Stores

Still, the circumstances prompted manufacturers to invent new products. For example, the Japanese cosmetics brand KATE rapidly responded by developing a “mask-friendly” lipstick that would not smear onto masks. The product sold relatively well throughout the pandemic.

Overall sales at department stores have not fully recovered from the pandemic yet, but the current recovery rate is 90%. A big contributor to the fast recovery was the easing of border restrictions in October last year, along with a record-breaking weak yen.

Sales of eye makeup, however, did not see the same drastic drop in sales compared to lipsticks, as people still wanted to highlight their eyes while wearing a mask. Lip balm and other moisturizing products even increased in revenue by 10% during the pandemic, indicating the need for products for acne or dried lips caused by the face masks.

Preparing to show a full face again

With the early announcement that masks would no longer be necessary from mid-March, sales for makeup in January skyrocketed in department stores and drug stores. Besides eye makeup, sales for base makeup products such as foundations, concealers, and sunblock rose sharply as people prepared to take off their masks.

After mainly selling eye makeup during the pandemic years in Japan, cosmetics brands are now profiting from base makeup products again, with foundation sales in particular seeing growth of 250% since last year.

By wearing masks on a daily basis, people were easily able to hide skin problems and save time by keeping their faces natural or unshaven.

Recently, however, sales of facial skincare items have surged dramatically, owing to both male and female consumers’ attempts to solve skin issues formerly hidden under masks. Men are also again purchasing more razors, scissors, and other shaving products.

Already last year, Japanese cosmetics brand Shiseido held a special event to show their newest and upcoming products in response to the anticipated loosening of mask requirements. The event drew over 6,000 visitors, many of whom were eager to remove their masks and start wearing makeup again.

Even though cosmetics brands worldwide faced difficulties during the pandemic, GlobalData expects the cosmetics industry to fully recover and continue to grow over the next few years. 

Despite having donned masks and hidden faces and complexions for over 3 years, people in Japan appear to be coming to terms with and showing enthusiasm towards wearing a full face of makeup again.

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