What Consulting Taught Me About Lipsticks

It was a random Sunday when I found myself staring at my lipstick drawer, annoyed. Half the shades sat untouched. Some I bought because of clever ads, some because friends swore they’d “look great on everyone,” and some because I was just… bored.

That drawer was my accidental case study. In consulting, we always asked: what’s working, what’s not, and why? And suddenly I realized my lipstick collection was giving me the same answers I’d give a client.

Consumers don’t buy products, they buy identity

That bold red I wore twice wasn’t a bad lipstick. It just wasn’t me. Brands that understand this don’t just sell products — they sell a version of you that feels aspirational but attainable.

Packaging matters

I avoided some perfectly good lipsticks because the packaging felt flimsy or uninspired. A reminder that design isn’t decoration. It’s experience.

Even great products fail if the story is wrong

One shade I loved but never wore because it didn’t align with how I wanted to present myself professionally. It wasn’t about quality. It was about context.

That tiny audit taught me more about consumer behaviour than half the white papers I’ve read. People don’t make rational choices — they make emotional ones and rationalize them later.

And maybe that’s the magic of strategy: realizing the clues are everywhere, even in the smallest, most personal corners of life. Sometimes the best insights don’t come from boardrooms or market surveys. They come from a messy lipstick drawer on a lazy Sunday.