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Life & Style
life & style // no. 12 • COVID-19 has caused a pandemic in many people’s love lives • Holiday take out • Lavender syrup recipes ...and more
Masks make consumers change focus › COVID-19 transforms beauty industry Morgan Hannah Life & Style Editor n times of crisis, despite trying to save up financially for the unknown, we’re all known to indulge in simple comforts— some of us turn to baked goods, some to crafting, and others to makeup. Now that we are a long way from the beginning of the pandemic, most people have accepted that new standards of living life include wearing masks, eating on the go, and doing it yourself. Which means there’s a lot more reliance on the online community, and a lot more YouTube (cue DIY videos and homemade muffins, please). Entertainment has shifted gears and it seems everyone and their dog is posting reaction videos and makeup tutorials these days, but the funniest new thing is seeing a commercial or Instagram clip that takes COVID-19 regulations to heart, including masked makeup tutorials! So, what must this mean for the lipstick industry if no one is lining the perfect lip anymore? According to Fortune Magazine, the makeup industry has seen steady profit
Photo by Billy Bui
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margins since at least 2005, including during the global financial crisis. However, this pandemic promises to change the industry fundamentally with the consumer’s new focus on skincare creams and homemade beauty treatments rather
than rosy cheeks and luscious lips. With little to no reason to leave the house, the make-up industry has taken a hit—with lipstick sales falling 15 percent and prices falling 28 percent. The humble face mask covers half the face, so who has the
time bother? And those who do have to deal with smudging. The pandemic has, however, led to an increase in hair product and colouring sales at 172 percent, and nail polish sales at 218 percent. Even eye makeup sales are up! Does this mean it’s time to contemplate another sorrowful consequence of coronavirus? Do we dash away the daring colours we once placed on our lips? Not necessarily, as face mask wearing consumers are learning more about smudge-resistant and transferresistant lipstick options that they’ll still apply for FaceTime meetings and dates. Some brands worth looking into are Stila Stay All Day Liquid Lipstick, Lorac PRO Matte Lip Color, or N.Y.C. New York Color Expert Last Lip Lacquer. One way to look at things is that the coronavirus invites us to embrace change and to try on new looks! It’s time to take a leap and freshen up that hair with colours never thought of before, or some fun new nails and sharp eyes to stand out even with a mask!
A virus of breakups › COVID-19 has caused a pandemic Brandon Yip Senior Columnist
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ince March, many people have been staying at home. And this prolonged time with couples at home under stressful circumstances has put an emotional strain on some marriages. The irony appears to be that couples spending more time together at home should solidify and strengthen a relationship and marriage. However, that is not the case; since the emergence of COVID-19, there has been a rise in the divorce rate with married couples. In Canada, the divorce rate has increased since the start of the pandemic. Marcus Sixta, a Vancouver lawyer in an interview with the CBC, states that the sudden increase in couples divorcing is alarming: “We’re seeing an increase in inquiries regarding divorces and separation [...] the areas of domestic violence as well,” he said. “It seems that what happened in China [...] we’re actually seeing the same thing happening here. There is this ‘COVID bump’ in the divorce rate that we’re seeing now.” In addition to the divorce rate increasing, there has also been an increase in demand for private investigators to spy on unfaithful spouses. Adrianne Fekete, who owns Star Quality Private Investigations in Toronto, said she saw a 30 percent increase in clientele in April.
She states that COVID-19 has not deterred cheating spouses. “It just makes it more tricky and exciting for them,” Fekete told CTV News in November 2020. Trevor Haywood, president and CEO of a private investigation company in Toronto called Haywood Hunt and Associates Inc., has also noticed an increase in their services. “They see the telltale signs,” Haywood said to CTV News. “They’re hiding their phones a lot more. And the partner is asking, ‘If that call is work-related, why aren’t you picking up the phone?’” Divorce mediator Edit Farun has also seen a significant increase in the number of people seeking to legally dissolve relationships. Farun says that the pandemic has caused a lot of stress with many couples who do not want to stay together to work out their issues. “Typically, it’s natural for a lot of couples to have friends and to go out to socialize. And now with COVID, the pandemic has created a lockdown for many families, so people are either not going to work outside of the home, or they’ve been working at home. They’re actually in each other’s spaces 24/7. So, it’s been that much more difficult and that much more complicated for families." On the other hand, some experts, such as Toronto-based family lawyer Ron Shulman, say that marriages end because
Illustration by Sonam Kaloti
in many people’s love lives
they are put in a terrible environment like COVID. “Whenever we deal with separations and divorces, there are always underlying issues. It’s rarely triggered by one specific event that comes out of the blue. It’s usually a process couples go through until they get to the point where one of them realizes separation is inevitable,” he said in an interview with Global News. “With the COVID-19 crisis and everything that followed, everything got significantly amplified… that’s what we see from the increase of clients calling in.” Nevertheless, Dr. Theresa E. DiDonato, a social psychologist, states the pandemic has been stressful for many people. But she notes that people need to be aware that divorce, itself, is already a stressful event. DiDonato writes in an article published in Psychology
Today that “many people are not only managing the common stressors produced by the pandemic (e.g., isolation, work changes, health concerns), but they are also enduring one of the hardest life transitions, divorce. Divorce is extraordinarily stressful even in a calm world.” Finally, Dr. Sara Schwarzbaum, a counsellor with the Couples Counseling Association in Chicago, has advice for couples who are looking to divorce during the pandemic. “So, one piece of advice I’d have is don’t make decisions in the middle of a pandemic. You might change your mind,” she said in an interview with ABC 7 Chicago. “The best way right now is to communicate, communicate, communicate. Ask kindly what you need. Ask for help. Manage expectations.”