Potions, lotions and lipstick: The gendered consumption of cosmetics and perfumery in socialist and post-socialist urban Bulgaria

SynopsisThis article examines the recent history of the consumption of perfumery and cosmetics in urban Bulgaria during the communist and post-communist periods. While the consumption of perfumes, facial creams and other cosmetics was heavily gendered during both eras, the production, distribution and marketing of these goods changed significantly after 1989. This article explores the factors influencing why post-socialist Bulgarian consumers have shown a preference for spending on products like shampoo, make-up, perfume and hair dye rather than on almost any other type of goods, and how these preferences intersect with shifting ideals of femininity and consumerism. Rather than merely giving women greater access to and a wider variety of products to choose from, however the post-1989 proliferation of cosmetics and the advertising used to promote them may have created new and almost impossible beauty standards that many women now feel they must strive to live up to if they want to succeed in the capitalist economy.