Word: popular
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...earnestly at Moscow just now? Some West German analysts, noting a cryptic Ceausescu reference to "counterrevolutionary elements" being stirred up elsewhere "to rise against their governments," speculate that he may have uncovered a Kremlin-backed plot against him. Whatever the cause, Ceauşescu's performance has been popular in Rumania, which probably cannot divert more resources to its military without further straining a weak economy that already produces the East bloc's lowest standard of living...
Only one other? Perhaps in Elizabethan times, when cosmetics were just becoming popular. But a 1978 American Ophelia can make herself a different face for each passing mood, each fantasized role, even each time of day. At the office, she can sport the fresh, "natural" look of the career woman, by using a dozen shades and tints, from eye liner to translucent lip gloss, all supposed to make her appear as if she were wearing no makeup at all. Then, in the evening, she can switch to smoky mauve eye shadow and dark red lipstick touched with midnight blue, calculated...
...Revlon does stumble, plenty of competitors are waiting to snatch away its customers. Estée Lauder, a family-owned company that stresses a theme of understated elegance in its promotions, concentrates entirely on prestige stores and outsells Revlon in them 3 to 1. In the popular-priced field, Avon still holds a lead, though Revlon has been catching up. In the rush to sign up big-name clothes designers to put their names on perfumes, other firms have been quite as aggressive as Revlon. Revlon bagged Bill Blass, but Norton Simon Inc., parent company of Max Factor, got Halston...
Whatever happens to other sales, retailers and manufacturers happily agree that cosmetics will boom. Perfumes, bath oils, makeup kits and the like are always among the most popular gifts. Besides, says Eve Levinson, vice president of the California-based Broadway chain of 47 department stores: "There is this tremendous interest in self-gratification and ego satisfaction, which heightens demand...
Hype and hoopla apart, is there any difference between expensive and popular-priced cosmetics? Yes, there is some. High-priced eye shadow may contain fish scales for extra shine; prestige perfumes have more natural essential oils and fewer synthetic ones than cheaper scents. But Francis Le Cates Jr., a cosmetics analyst at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, estimates that on average only 80 of the cosmetics sales dollar goes to pay for ingredients. The extra cost of the better ones used in prestige products comes nowhere near accounting for the difference in selling price. The real difference is in fancier packaging, splashier...