Reports of the death of the lipstick index are greatly exaggerated—at least for some beauty companies.

The tried-and-true economic indicator isn’t going away, according to e.l.f. Beauty CFO Mandy Fields, but it might be changing slightly in 2026.

First coined by Estée Lauder chair Leonard Lauder in the 2000s, the “lipstick index,” which posits that consumers will continue to spend on affordable luxuries like lipstick even amid economic downturns, was increasingly called into question last year, particularly as sales slumped at some bigger companies.

“Beauty generally is a resilient category,” Fields told CFO Brew. “It’s not going anywhere. It is one of those categories that has had consistent growth.”

But that doesn’t mean the lipstick index will mean exactly the same thing in 2026.

Keep reading.—NP

Finance leaders at smaller businesses may not be adequately prepared in the event of a bank failure. That’s according to new survey data from deposit protection firm Ampersand, which found that businesses could only survive an average of 2.9 months if their primary bank failed. And 29% of respondents said their organizations would only stay solvent for “up to two weeks” if their key bank collapsed.

The survey polled financial leaders in the US with decision-making authority over their organizations’ bank deposits, including CFOs, in December 2025.

Respondents represented companies in a variety of industries, including professional business services like construction, manufacturing, and retail. The organizations they worked for tended to be smaller: 80% had fewer than 500 employees and 44% had under 100 employees, and 21% of respondents described themselves as self-employed. Four in 10 (41%) of the organizations had cash deposits of less than $10 million.

Almost nine in 10 (86%) respondents said their organizations had balances of more than $250,000—over the FDIC insurance limit—at a single institution. That could leave them vulnerable should those institutions falter.

Keep reading.—CV

If you’re looking for a sign of hope from the labor market, don’t get too excited about January’s job gains.

The newest jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed strong job gains for last month, following significant cooling in 2025. But experts warn that some statistical wonkiness, and employment growth concentration in just a few sectors, is likely impacting the January jobs data. Let’s take a closer look.

Diving into the data. Employers added another 130,000 jobs in January, beating some pretty dour forecasts from economists. The unemployment rate edged down slightly to 4.3%, from 4.4% in December.

On the surface, experts who spoke to HR Brew said those top-line numbers were a pleasant surprise following a cooling in the labor market. January’s strong job gains could be a sign of stabilization, they said.

“This is an indication that the labor market may be stabilizing. There’s some normalization happening, there’s some thawing happening,” Raj Namboothiry, SVP at Manpower US, said.

But new benchmark revisions likely have created some statistical noise with January’s initial employment estimates…

Keep reading on HR Brew.—PM

Skip the noise and cut to the jobs that matter. CollabWORK curates openings from top employers and shares them directly in trusted spaces like CFO Brew—click here to see the full list for readers like you.

• Senior Director, Financial Reporting & Accounting Policy at Invesco, Ltd
• Financial Analysis Manager R&D Finance at Micron Technology, Inc.
• Manager, Internal Audit Corporate Programs and SOX at Allison Transmission
• Sr. Internal Auditor at United Site Services
• Senior Audit Consultant at Xcel Energy