Consumerism in the beauty industry is wild

you know what else is crazy? the amount of CLOTHING HAULS. influencers make it seem like receiving literal tons of clothes is normal. they want you to buy new clothes every week with their HUGE winter try on hauls from a different brand every week,
it’s not sustainable AT ALL! enables fast fashion, waste etc..

The industry is not selling makeup. It is selling a feeling. False anticipated ‘contentment’ once you have THAT product. Until the next one launches.

This makes me think of those "My makeup collection" videos beauty youtubers used to do. They had hundreds of lipsticks, eyeshadows etc and I would be so jealous when I was younger, but looking back that's really not healthy tbh

If you are craving new make up, I always recommend going through and wiping down all of your makeup packaging/containers/bags/brushes thoroughly. For me it literally makes it feel like I got new make up. Spritz powders with a little bit of alcohol while you’re at it, to sanitize it. Rearrange your single shadows and palettes with different color stories to become inspired again. Anything you can do to spark creativity and new ideas. If I see products with even the tiniest dot of pan, I get motivated to use it up completely. I try to keep project panning in the back of my head, but when you have a massive make up collection, I think it’s important to rotate your products out as well. Anything that’s not getting used and loved should be passed onto someone else who will love it or donated to women’s organizations.

It's a bit much for me and honestly I have cut all the way back on buying new makeup. I buy one palette per year. Period.

I wish more companies made their packaging recyclable and easy to be sanitized. There's just so much waste.

I'm not gonna lie, as an "outsider" I kinda feel consumerism is waaaay worse in America.
Love your content❤️

please start a podcast your voice is so soothing and helps my anxiety so much, watching your videos is like being on a call with a friend

Some tips to help buy less and still be happy:
1. When you want to buy something, put it on a waitlist, wait one month and then think about it again.
2. Ask yourself if this product will actually make your life more meaningful, or will the excitement of the product quickly fade away? Compare this feeling to products you felt the same way about last year, and if you still feel just as happy to have them now or if you dont regret skipping them.
3. Set a strict monthly budget and tell your friends about it. This will make you accountable to others.
4. Unsubscribe from content creators that makeyou want to buy things. Delete the sephora and ulta apps from your phone. Expose yourself to fewer new products, or find people that dont endlessly promote things.
5. Focus on curating, rather than collecting. Quality over quantity. Be careful though not to get sucked into the search for the perfect version of everything. Try to be satisfied with what you have and use it up before it goes bad.
6. Go through your current collection a few times a year. You can even make an inventory list each time and compare snapshots of your collection over time. This will help you understand you patterns of consumption, and it will help you appreciate what you bave and remind you of things you may have once loved but forgotten.
7. Wait for reviews of products before pirchasing. This will prevent you from getting swept up in the excitement of a launch and buying bad quality.
8. challenge yourself to use what you have in new and exiting ways! Instead of a new eye pallette, try a new way of applying the eyshadow (different colors in different places, single color, unexpected color combos, etc).
And if you're looking for a good book, I highly recommend 'Goodbye Things' by Fumio Sasaki. He is a hard core minimalist, and writes about his personal jouney and thought process. You certanly dont have to throw away all your belongings like him, or even become a minimalist, but his book is really good food for thought, and is good motivation to buy less but still be happy!

The issue is that the market is FLOODED with makeup and it seems like everyone and their neighbor has their own line and thus, it's getting more and more difficult for companies to compete for consumer attention - and consumer loyalty.

I've recently come to terms with my shopping addiction and it's been tough. When you only go to work and home and can't do much outside of that due to Covid, my serotonin and endorphins get low and the obvious cure was to buy pretty makeup stuffs and when it arrives...happy time! Then you keep getting packages and look at your credit card statements and the guilt outweighs the joy. Vicious cycle!!!

I remember when I was like 15 and got my first job as a waitress at a small diner, every pay day I would take a small amount of money and walk down to our local drug store and just browse all the makeup and buy random little things. Then I discovered beauty KRplus. And suddenly I was taking my whole pay cheque and my tips, and spending it all on makeup because the beautiful women I was watching on KRplus kept telling me the new things I needed to buy to be beautiful like them. It's crazy looking back and I cringe now 10 years later but I'm glad I went thru that and have learned better before I was any older or had a credit card or anything. It's so easy to get sucked in to thinking the next product you buy is going to change your life and make you look like a Kardashian, it never does, it just collects dust on the counter. I still love to buy makeup and skincare, but I think it's just like what you said, willpower is huge, it's so hard to not buy the shimmering glittery eyeshadow calling your name in the store sometimes, even when you know you won't wear it

anyone else ever feel like u need everything all of the time even though its such a waste and you’ll never actually finish it?! man im too broke and its so bad for the environment. consumerism scares me because marketing really works lol

I’d be really interested to hear you dive a bit deeper into the ideas later in this video; financial awareness, responsibilities, budgeting -just surviving as a younger person in this consumerism focused world!

I literally have taken a step back the last couples of years and realized, “I don’t need any of this.” I hardly wear makeup anymore and let me tell you I loooooooveeeee makeup and products etc. Love it all! I have come to appreciate my natural look so much more than I ever have before and I am a highly self conscious individual. If you can take a step back, really think and ask yourself, what’s the point? Do I need this? How much do I need? You will come to realize how much of this stuff you want to buy or own you really don’t need as much as you think if any of it at all. I feel so much better not having to look a “certain way” because of social media.

When I was a kid, and in middle school, we would go through an entire quad eyeshadow palette before buying something else. An entire blush, bronzer etc. these days when was the last time someone actually used up an eyeshadow palette?? I think that says a lot.

Would you consider doing a series of “Brandless” makeup tutorial videos? You’re already very good about not stressing a single product, but as a makeup hoarder it can be triggering to even hear the name of a product that leads to the mad dash to the Sephora page. But you know, describing things like “a pink lipgloss” or “a warm brown matte shadow”

I remember that I felt so jealous when youtubers showed their collection, but me, as a regular person wouldn't use that much make up, like I have 4 eye shadow pallets and I haven't use them fully 😂

They created the limited edition collections for this reason only, and in any case it creates such a high hype that you are not even able to buy the product on the day of launch, not even the day after because everything is sold out. Obviously it is impossible to wait until you have the money to buy, you have to buy now! I'm really tired of all this. In this holiday period, the amount of advertising everywhere, both on TV and on any platform, is tragic. I even turned off google remarketing because it was pissing me off. I'm not playing these games anymore.

This kind of ties into my theory that the middle class is actually much smarter with their money than the average rich person. We’re forced to NOT over consume or else we don’t have a savings, can’t pay our bills on time, etc. However, with after pay and higher credit card limits comes over consumerism and it really puts a lot of people in debt. We as a society need to stop glorifying these things, like high credit limits as a financial status. I keep my credit limit really low so that I don’t go crazy or I can’t ever pay it off. The reason why cars are so expensive is because of how accessible it is to get a car payment. That’s why when you pay for a car in cash you can haggle and make it a bit cheaper, possibly by a couple grand. It’s truly by design so that big corporations and banks make more and more money.

There is a concept called "planned obsolescence" that is used in many industries and I believe the beauty industry uses. Basically, companies market something as new and better so their last product you bought doesn't seem as good, and you desire the new ones. It's the same thing Apple does every time they release a new phone. It's branded as revolutionary, when in reality, the new phone isn't that much different at all.

This is one thing I love about getting older. I don’t care to keep up with every new trend / thing that comes out anymore. Honestly I’m at that age now where I would look silly if I did. Now I’m figuring out what I need. What is best for ME. Not everything is meant for everyone but the companies cranking out all this stuff don’t care. They just want to make as much money as they can. For you younger people out there, you need to be selective. Do YOU. Not everything is meant for you. F what everyone else is doing and buying. SAVE YOUR MONEY! Just be selective and buy what you LOVE and NEED.
Edit : jeez I sound like such a mom 😂
But really some day you’re gonna remember this and go dang! She was right! 💕

This perspective is coming from a 55 year old Beauty and KRplus enthusiast........make videos with the things you already have and show the consumer how they can use things that they already have, not all videos have to be about the new new. I still watch videos with the subculture palette. Don’t be afraid, set the trend ! Love ya !

I have a lot of thoughts. Let me begin by saying that I have spent quarantine watching an ungodly amount of beauty content on KRplus as one of my primary escapes. Which means I have also gotten excited about makeup, learned a lot about how to apply it, I now love makeup as an expressive, creative outlet, and I have definitely bought more makeup this year than in my entire life before all the influencer influence.
I have HAD to slow down though. It's gotten ridiculous. Kelly Gooch has an excellent series and a specific on shopping her stash, which I've found helpful. Instead of continuing to buy more, I'm making a point to rotate through a smaller selection every week or two and getting a lot of joy out of my collection. I limit myself to about 3-4 palettes per rotation, REALLY get to enjoy them, and then get super excited for the pallettes I get to chose next. I think I'd like to see more emphasis on this kind of idea from influencers.
Beyond that and much more importantly, one thing I'd especially like to see more of from influencers is a deeper understanding of where. the makeup. is coming from. Consider mica. The stuff that makes things shiny, sparkly, glowy. It's in most eyeshadows and highlighters (technology too, but different industry, different issue). It's mostly mined in atrocious conditions, in impoverished communities, and often by children. In a similar way that influencers have used their platforms to guide consumers toward cruelty free and vegan products, or towards black-owned businesses, I'd like to see steps taken to push the makeup industry to take accountability and responsibility for ethically sourcing ingredients. When you see video of kids covered in dust, mining mica to help support their families instead of being in school, somehow highlighter just isn't as beautiful any more.
I say this at someone who loves makeup. But the ugliness of the consumerist culture around it is much deeper than I think any of us realize. Please, influencers and consumers alike, let's start demanding better of the makeup industry. Especially the Revlons and Colourpops of the world who have the money to do better. Same goes for luxury brands frankly. If Pat McGrath wants to sell us eyeshadow for $125, I presume she's taking the time to source all of her ingredients in an ethical manner and that's what we're paying for? If that's what it costs to acquire fair-trade beauty products, I'm in. If not, that much money to perpetuate slavery and child labor is a con.
I've loved your channels, Alex. This is my very first comment on KRplus ever, and I want to thank you for the excellent content.

Love your original channel, but Alx Talx - SO GOOD - needed, necessary. I hope you're enjoying making the content as much as your audience in no doubt loving it. Stay real, stay amazing, and thank you!

Its so hard to even wanna be a minimalist at this point

I wish I remember who said this or where I heard it but it goes along the lines of "Living a balanced life is learning to say no to some good things and not only the bad." I think we all get so sucked into FOMO that everything becomes overwhelming. I stopped watching a lot of beauty channels because of this but also got rid of streaming services because I don't have the time. Its okay if I miss out on a new palette or a new movie, I am still living a good life.

Uuuugh- Jeffree Star. I can’t wait til he’s irrelevant. He is so toxic on so many levels

The last 3 months I decided to stop falling for all the bs. Ive been just "shopping my stash" and enjoying all the makeup I've purchased, tested, and then just just set it aside. Ive only been purchasing for holiday gifts, or if I run out of an item. (That has not happened yet. Why do I have 6 NEW mascaras?! 20 foundations!? ... It had to stop)

Sounds like fast fashion but with makeup 😂

Hannah Louise Poston has a video called something like "there's no such thing as a holy grail", where she talks about how the search for perfect products feeds into overconsumption. it was such a great video!

Love Colour Pop absolutely but, everything you are saying is a 100% accurate.

Beauty guru channels can feel like constant ads nowadays 😣 it wasn’t like this in the early days of KRplus

I've been trying to hit pan on things I have. Once I do, then I'm allowed to buy something new.

I’m so glad I found your channel. Each video makes Me feel like I’m sitting down to have a cup of coffee with a friend.

Alex: this is not foreshadowing, I have absolutely nothing in the works right now.
Me: *cry*

i really hate when people say its a passion and that they need to have everything what comes as new.. thats not true

I'll tell you what does annoy me (UK customer here) - when I place an order on a makeup sites like lookfantastic, cultbeauty or feelunique and they don't offer me any discount codes until AFTER I've placed the order. I get that its a commerce site and they want their customers to keep buying from them, but encouraging their customers to spend spend spend ("offer ends in 2 hours!") rubs me the wrong way. I wish sites would be a bit more generous with their codes and service idk.. 🤷‍♀️

People spend loads at an industry that works and survives on making their customers feel insecure and inadequate so they buy their products.

The brands has to stop and take their responsibility and we as consumers have to educate ourselves. This craze is unhealthy, both for us as individuals and for coming generations.

And I have friends that have fallen into the feeling like they have to “have” everything, and I feel bad for them. I know they enjoy just having the stuff, but they order entire collections and not touch them at all or but once or twice. That’s what my friend just said about he hello kitty collection she bought. She was like, “eye shadows is eye shadow, so I’m only going to maybe use it once or twice if even. I mostly got it because it was hello kitty. As a collector’s piece.” But she does this with all the palettes she buys every month! She doesn’t hardly use any of it! It’s just weird to think about buying something to not use it, just to possess it.

I have heard of people that say the buy entire huge palettes for just one eyeshadow that they like. They end up with so many products that don't use at all and then they forget they even have it. The amount of waste produced by the beauty industry is CRAZY! The pandemic has made me more aware of the things I truly need and now Im trying to buy just the things I now I'm gonna use but sometimes is so difficult ignoring all the new releases just for the exciting idea of using a product for the first time and having it sitting with all my other products, but do I need all the new releases? Of course not!

I wonder why is no one talking about Clinique. They stick to their classics and don’t launch often. They are so good and fragrance free. And most importantly never follow the stupid trends like “clean” and so on.

I think it's been normalized to buy something for the hype rather than thinking if the product aligns with our skin, desired look, or is even good quality. like colorful eyeshadow pallets are pretty but I only wear browns, so I'll refrain from buying something unless I can genuinely see myself using many times.

I cut back on buying new makeup when I realized I really didn’t need it. I still enjoy watching makeup videos, and I understand it’s part of the their job bring up different products, but I’m also not tempted to think I need to buy it like I was when I was first into makeup.

What is disturbing is a beauty guru's need to over compensate by saying that they LOVE a brand before a negative comment about the brand because people will attack her if she just makes the critique.

I absolutely agree we as consumers need to change our behaviors. I think demanding more eco-friendly packaging, offer trials/samples of their product, and supporting multi-use or intetional companies is a big thing we all can do.
I actually have a ton of little tips I've accumulated to help me balance shopping for new makeup. (1) I try to ignore the flashy colors in an eye shadow palette or the packaging, most packaging is cute anyways and I really don't need a coral palette of neutrals I already own and one bright coral shade 👀. (2) I have slowly been finding brands that support multi-use and embracing the idea of not needing a PERFECT product for each part of my routine, lipstick can be blush, bronzer can be an eyeshadow, etc. (3) AND THIS IS HUGE. I learned my color season and in general what my regular makeup style is. As much as I love these new eyeliner, Ariana grande inspired and warm sunset looks, I have a neutral-cool skin tone and SUPER hooded eyes with absolutely no lid space. Those aren't going to work for me and buying a palette of oranges or different types of eyeliner (for me) would be trying to buy a fantasy for me. (4) I don't buy in the moment. I really enjoy the idea of curating my collection so I think about what I'm missing, see if I can live with out a product (cough cough blush...) and if after maybe 2-4 week waiting period I still want that item then I get it with absolutely no guilt. These have all been helpful for my makeup needs, obviously someone who makes videos on makeup for a living has very different relationship with makeup than me and would need to have more products. I so so so appreciate this topic being spoken on ❤❤❤

I fell into this consumerism trap when I got into skincare. I almost feel like that industry is worse than makeup. It usually preys on people who are insecure about their natural skin or have acne. Every day some new product, THIS ONE, will heal you! It’s disgusting.

Adding to the issue is the question of whether makeup products really do “expire”. Most cosmetic companies will tell you three months max on most products, especially eye makeup. How does that message tie into what you’re saying? Btw, don’t even ask me how long I’ve kept some of my palettes!

Once upon time, beauty youtubers (if that was even a thing back then) would showcase a multitude of products, not for the sake of showing the newest, latest makeup in stores, but for having options to create different looks.
The same makeup products would be used time and time again. Now I feel you can watch an entire year of any given youtuber, an each video will show different products from start to finish.

This is also true for green beauty. And we all defend what we feel passionate about. No one likes to feel duped. Just imagine if we all walked away from beauty. Walking away from blushes, mascara, vitamin c, retinol, etc... Skin care is just as addictive. I want the latest botanical oil that will make my skin glow. After a while, a lot of natural things tend to do the same thing. As the saying goes, "Breaking up is always hard to do." Food for thought: We do form relationships with products. How would you break up with your things?
If we were able to achieve satisfaction, would we feel lost?

Next Topic Idea:
Thoughts on What you consider healthy/unhealthy relationships ?

I’m guessing companies will stop sending pr when influencers stop talking about their pr

Love this conversation. Personally I've been trying to focus on "essentialism" lately and just trying to figure out the things that are really important to me and then focus on that, and let the rest go. That's really helped me spend less on everything, including makeup. Colourpop does make it really hard sometimes though lol

oh my god YES !!! i've been waiting for someone to address this! i feel like influencers have normalized consuming so so much and it's not normal or reasonable for anyone outside of the influencer bubble. i see so many regular girls that i know spending hundreds of dollars on makeup each month and it's like ?!?!?!? how is that sustainable when being a beauty guru isn't your life? thank you for making me feel less crazy with this video

I feel like the major problem driving all this consumerism is the dissatisfaction with the products you own and the idea that there is the perfect product out there that will perform the way you want. Even if there was is it worth gambling $200 trying to find it? I wish you could test every product at Sephora.
The problem with "wanting things that make you happy" is that most of them don't make you happy. It's a very low return on happiness for your money compared to other ways you can spend it.

Tag yourself I’m the Ulta ad that popped up during the video about beauty consumerism and targeting

I lost all my makeup three years ago due to a fire in our house. It didn't burn, but the smoke created by the fire was so toxic that we had to throw everything plastic and all our cosmetics out. Let me tell you, going through my makeup that I bought with my hard earned money and that was barely used hurt so much. I had to take every item and look at it, note down the name and price for the insurance company and then throw it away. I had nothing of the scale influencers own these days, but it was still so much money! And mist of it was stuff that I used mostly at home because I wasn't confident enough to wear burgundy eye-shadow to work. After that was done, I didn't repurchase anything for the longest time. Eventually I bought a mascara, concealer, powder and a brow pencil. That's it. Just recently I started getting into makeup again and with every item I buy I sit down and look at what I have, does it really add anything or is it similar to something I already own?
Getting back into beauty KRplus and Instagram was a bit more tricky though. I would catch myself thinking about all the new things and thinking about buying them, but I'm not an influencer, I don't need to buy 25 blushes evey month. Nobody needs that much stuff!
What I find most ridiculous is watching declutter videos where the person talks how they love this and that palette, and when they show it it's barely used. When you have so much stuff that you forget that you own certain items, it's time to stop. Just stop buying.
And I don't think you should buy more stuff of brands that don't launch that often. That won't solve the issue.

Two years ago something changed me and I'm no longer interested in buying make up. If I use something up, I'll buy something new. I really can't describe what made me think or act like this. I think it's just FOMO and we have to get passed it.

This is the exact same w the fashion industry and the fact that they use a scarcity plan and only produce a small amount so that it looks sold out and then they end up restocking but you never know if they’re going to or not. So it makes you buy things a lot faster and you don’t get a chance to really think about if you actually want it or if it works with what you already have. I work in the fashion industry and it’s crazy. How fast the pump out product now like two drops a week is pretty much everyone’s go to plan. It’s just too much but people are buying bc it’s new and shiny and I fall victim to it too. This was a great talk I enjoyed this one

I have a great technique to restrain myself, I have a dedicated space for my makeup , like for example an acrylic organizer for my lip products two cups for other products and like a little ‘box’ for palettes and such and if nothing fits anymore I can’t buy more, I decluttered the stuff that was expired or that I never used and I follow those rules now :
1. If it doesn’t fit you don’t buy it
2. If you already have that at home you don’t buy it
3. If the colors don’t inspire you you don’t buy it
4. No pre release buying
5. Only colors you’re sure to wear
6. If you already have a palette with similar or the same colors don’t even think about buying it
7. You don’t need over 3 blushes
8. 3 highliters max
9. 1 or 2 mascaras max

i was buying more and more eyeshadow palettes and I had one rule- unless i can use EVERY color, do not buy it. That helped me a ton. Now I have 1 custom palette and the jackie aina palette and thats all i'll ever need. truly.

I unfollow accounts for a while and it helps me. Sometimes I feel like throwing 99% of my makeup away and literally just sticking to a small travel size makeup pouch. It’s overwhelming

In 2017 I gained Sephora rouge status in 4 or 5 months. Thinking about that now I want to throw up. I felt the NEED to keep up with the community for no reason. Why would regular people compare themselves to beauty KRplusrs/gurus who's JOBS it is to get and promote these products. I was in college. I had no job.
Today I spend way way less but it seems they shill out way more than ever. It's overwhelming

I've found that maybe I just need to embrace what I have and make the best of it , having said that , it can be hard. At this point I dont go anywhere , so make up has been put on the back burner, other than skincare that is def needed.

I've worked in the beauty industry for over 8 years in marketing and I can verify everything you've said. ColourPop will not stop churning out products because people are still buying, why would they stop? It's once they see profits slipping is when they'll pivot to another strategy. I LOVE makeup, but I purchase consciously now. I did come across a brand on instagram called Scrandie and their whole thing is about not having outer boxes and smaller sized makeup that you can get through before it starts to build up bacteria, which I thought was pretty cool! (you should always replace your makeup regularly). Anyway! Loving this channel as well as your other one, keep it up girl!

I was raised to be very frugal and don’t normally make purchases, from clothing to makeup, to a meal at a restaurant without properly budgeting for it first. To keep myself on track, I have a binder that has sleeves with labels for certain things. A family vacation sleeve, one for makeup, one for higher end skincare, one for new shoes, etc. that allows me to keep my purchases well thought out and planned. I don’t have a specific makeup item I am saving for right now, but I have the amounts I put in each sleeve from each paycheck specifically labeled, and that sleeve is labeled $5/ payday, so it will be a while before it has enough in it to make a bigger ticket purchase. I like to keep on track, and keep myself out of debt save for my car and phone bill, but those things were only created out of pure necessity. I like to treat myself sometimes, but I have money set aside specifically for just a day by myself to go shopping, get lunch, you know, the works. I like to keep on track, and when I have money leftover, I keep it in a separate sleeve from everything else so I have extra money in an emergency fund. Physical money is easier for me to handle because I don’t look at it every day, and don’t let myself know that it’s in there, like I forget about it until I actually need it.

I love what u r doing❤️

One thing that I have found very helpful with that issue is thinking of make up as colours and textures. This has helped me be more creative with how I use my products and way less wasteful. Using eyeshadow for lipstick and so on... The sad thing for me was realising that all those different brands from whom I would buy makeup
were all owned by the same company. For example L'Oréal owning Maybelline, nyx, urban decay etc. I felt like they were making me buy the "same" lipstick multiple times

Thanks for encouraging discourse on this issue. Consumerism and waste in the beauty industry is disheartening. I watched a decluttering video from Michelle Wang once, where she threw out all these barely-touched Tom Ford lipsticks because they had expired and started to smell. Unnecessary plastic waste on top of wasted money.

Honestly, quarantine has opened my eyes to my makeup consumption. I've worn less makeup this year than I have since I was like 13. How crazy is that? That's over a decade of feeling like I *need* makeup. Maybe not always to feel good, sometimes for creativity, but honestly mostly to camouflage my flaws. I moved earlier this year and I threw out bags and bags of makeup in the process and realised how little I actually used. I feel like quarantine has made me more used to my bare face and given me the time to reflect on how much time and money I have given the beauty community over the years and it saddens me. All that money I could have put into savings. I'm only going to buy the essentials moving forward and continue to take care of my skin (but slim down on buying new skincare because there's a hype factor there too).

I definitely see it as them using advertisement for a consumer to think “oh yeah, I do NEED that” when in reality.. you don’t. The aesthetics and colors all in front of you are meant to make you FEEL you need to get it. I’m definitely a victim to this and why I spend so much on makeup. It’s best to look at what you have and think if you really need that one product or collection and think if you will actually use it. It makes things easier to spend less.

Something that has helped me with not ordering coffee as often, which I think could also help with overspending on beauty products, is to:
1. Add up how much I’ve spent on it in the last month/6 months/year. It wasn’t pretty.
2. Going forward, every time I have the impulse to stop and order a drink that I know I don’t really need, I take what I would’ve spent and put it into my savings. After the impulse passes, I feel much so better than I would have after spending the money on a coffee.

I’ve definitely had a problem with buying too much makeup and clothes. The only thing that really helped was to stop seeing it constantly, so deleting shopping apps and unfollowing brands. Out of sight, out of mind. I also try to limit myself especially with skincare to only buy what I truly love ONLY when the product is completely used up. I work in a grocery store and I constantly see the new makeup displays and I have to tell myself NO! I don’t need another identical lipgloss lol.

I remember 6 years ago when things felt groundbreaking, unique like with the Urban decay Electric pallet ( which i still own) but now i dont feel that anymore. I used to want to follow every trend but it just became out of hand when every few months companies were launching similar products. You really notice how bad it is when you clean through your makeup and need to throw away things that you dont use and are no longer usable to pass on.
I now treat myself to one pallet every year and use up everything that i can, even though makeup is a big part of my job im just so sick of the YOU NEED THIS NOW BEFORE ITS GONE industry
Love your vids!

The thing with colourpop pumping out so many palettes and collection is that majority of them are limited edition and only sell for a certain amount of time. These limited releases are usually collabs with a licence property or an influencer and consumers buy them because they love that licence proptery or influencer and they find an excuse to buy it even if they hate the colour story.
I remember when Colourpop first collab with Disney and made a princess palette and people complained how the colour story was nuteral and boring yet on release date it sold out in minutes making the site crash. Then a month later I saw decluter videos and people threw thet pallete out and they say stuff like "I bought it because of the collab and the packaging, but I just never use it"

What I do to resist the temptation of buying more stuff is I unsubscribe from emails of companies that tempt me to buy things, I don’t follow them on social media and discipline myself to not impulse buy. I’m not perfect at it, but it’s helped me spend less on stuff that I don’t need.
I recently discovered Colour pop and love their eye shadow, since buying 1 palette from them I now see the ads and was surprised to see they release a collection almost every week. It’s insane! Colour pop and other brands should stop producing so much product.

LOL i just commented on your community post (main channel) on the upcoming QnA, asking what your thoughts are on consumerism in beauty industry!!

i love hannah louise poston for emphasizing her "beauty budget" and mindful consumption!

You said it: willpower, forcing yourself to use what you already have, using products that can multitask (for instance, a lipstick can be your blush), making things work, prioritizing what you really need and what you're really going to use. For me, it's skin care and makeup that I use up fast, like mascara, concealer, foundation. You don't need another eyeshadow palette (unless you only have one and you use it so consistently that you need to replace it). It's been I think two years since I last bought one! Don't be fooled by the industry; they create needs that you really don't have.

This is why I love Bare Minerals so much. In my opinion, they definitely don’t launch products left and right like their competitors. I’ve used their powder foundation for almost 10 years now and it’s still the same amazing product. I’ve went out and tried different foundations but I always go back to Bare Minerals. I don’t need a bunch of different foundations when I have one that works for me.
If these companies put more of their focus on the effectiveness of their products, they wouldn’t need keep dishing out new launches. On the bright side, we can credit the high competition in the makeup industry for its innovation and creativity. There are definitely some awesome products being launched. They’re just harder to find.

I remembered that I craved a Chanel palette, it was an autumn collection. Neither 2 months later, during the winter, Chanel lauched a blush and suddenly the previous palette seemed meaningless to me. And I asked to myself if I really needed those products. We are literally bombarded by products constantly, that all the effort and creativity put in every collection is going to be 'flushed in the toilet' - as we Italian say- creating the same basis of the fast fashion, but with makeup or skincare. You can still find some old collection on Ebay, that might be worthy if you are a collector, whereas it unvalues the real worth of the product itself. It was nice time when a spring collection was launched nearly near the season rather than 4 months before with 200 collections in betweens... One month and then we put that makeup in a corner for a new ones, barely used. This is so overwhelming...

God it was HORRIBLE when I worked in beauty retail and felt like I had to buy everything in order to know how to sell it. My worst years were 2015 and 2016 when I literally bought a new eyeshadow palette practically each month.
What helps me now is to purely slow. down. These days I’m more in tune with what I like vs what I don’t. And I’m not making purchases to “keep up” anymore. Watching anti hauls have been massively helpful too. It’s great to hear another’s perspective on why certain things are unnecessary money grabs that we don’t need.

Sometimes I feel so sad and depressed when I see beauty gurus with so much makeup overflowing and they don't even use half of them while I can't even afford to buy one good eyeshadow palette to start the carrer I've always dreamed of 😢

I love how at the end she says “great talk”

I get that same feeling that I can't keep up with today's fast-paced consumerism in every aspect of our lives - it's like Keeping Up with the Joneses. When lockdown first happened, it was very unfortunate but I had a sense of relief that it was finally okay to slow down. It put a lot into perspective that I accumulated a lot of stuff that I didn't really need (and the vast amounts of money that I've spent on these products is insane 😫).

This is why I love project pan videos/insta pages. You get excited when the people use up their products, or hit pan, or you see their progression on a product- rather than getting excited about purchases.
I did my first project pan this year as like a regular degular person, and it felt fun to gamify my makeup use. It also made it fun to pick up old things in my collection, instead of constantly distracting myself with a new purchase.

I never had so many ads on my Instagram explore tab until I got more into makeup and started paying more attention to makeup releases. When I did, half of it became ads from brands even though I'm intentionally keeping my collection small. I don't think I realized how much it was being shoved down my throat and how much it was influencing me to be on the lookout for new stuff. Since I want to keep my collection small, I'm very choosy with what palettes I buy, and ended up being on a quest where I would go down all these rabbit holes of looking at indie brand sites and every instagram ad trying to find "the one" palette when really, it's not that big of a deal. I can already create all the looks I want with the 4 palettes I already have.

I think self-awareness is the first step to change!

i used to work at sephora and when i left i realized how much i started like normalizing spending 20/30 bucks on products all the time. now that i no longer work there i’m able to find great alternatives at the drugstore i sometimes love more.

My makeup overspending habit changed when I started tracking all (and I mean ALL) my expenses. Hundreds and hundreds wasted on makeup, keeping me stuck in a job I wanted to quit. I have been using up things from my collection for years now, only restocking on mascara and things that go bad quickly like concealer. My beauty spending is down to about a hundred Euros a year. Last year it was about 60. Made me very, very proud. One thing I do have to say though, that once you stop spending, you really need to find a way to value yourself independently from your possessions. And that my friends, is a long and tedious journey.

It’s sooooo bad! I just honestly stopped looking at social media and started reporting/no interest ads of makeup or products I was so tired of seeing. Now I see other ads that are not as appealing.

I LOVE watching beauty KRplus and review videos and different things, but I almost never buy any make up. I only have 4 eye shadows palettes and two of them are from Walmart, and the other two I got them on sale for 30 bucks a piece. Everything else, I only have one or two of. I like being part of the discussion, but I just have to be realistic in that I don’t need multiple things in each category being a normal person who works a normal job. Would love to have a ton, but then again, would I utilize them all? Idk. Anyways, been loving this channel since it started. I appreciate you sharing your thoughts with us.

I watch several channels... until they start feeling like every upload is a commercial. That's why I love your channels. You've remained an educational channel.

I was overwhelmed by the beauty industry years ago. I just felt like there was so much coming out from so many brands. I couldn’t keep up. Finally I decided enough was enough. I unfollowed soooo many brands and influencers. I limited my time on social media. I also would not watch hauls or anything related to showing off mass amounts of new products. Now I am very selective about what I buy and I really stop and think if I have something similar in my small collection or if it’s something I will truly regret not buying. More so the first one because if I let myself think, “I’m gonna miss out” then I would still be in the vicious cycle of consumerism. I think we need to be our own advocates in this situation. Mute posts/stories if possible on Instagram. Avoid certain videos that will only drive you to want to spend all of your money. Be mindful of what you already own. Something I have begun to do is swatch my eyeshadow palettes when I see something new. Not only do I fall in love all over again with the ones I have but I also don’t feel the need to purchase a new eyeshadow palette that just released.

honestly i don’t really have this and i constantly deal with my parents or friends being like “oh you should buy more clothes you have a job now” but the thing is that i just can’t. i go through such a process every time i like something where i have to think whether it’ll be useful, otherwise just having it there not being used gives me SO MUCH ANXIETY!! i’m actually trying to buy more things instead of just saving money for the day i like something but never allowing myself the pleasure of getting it.

Omg YEESSS!!! I thought it was just me noticing that colourpop has no chill on their releases!!! And you're totally right! Everything sells out so fast that you literally HAVE to buy the things when they first show up if you think you want them but you never get a chance to enjoy or get excited about any of them!! They're force feeding you them before you can get hungry again! Not to mention some of the pallettes are like, exactly the fucking same with just a different name. Its ridiculous. I actually had to block their ads from showing up on my pages because it was TOO MUCH.

For the past couple of years I have had a very strict policy of only replace things in my makeup collection. I’m not allowed to buy a new concealer until I’m out of concealer. If I buy one I don’t like I still commit to using it up. That makes me more aware and selective of my next purchase. I’m just on a mission to use everything I have up before I allow myself to buy a new product. I like this system a lot more than just buying something on a whim whenever I feel like it.

Good chat.
I was buying a lot of makeup for a while & I found myself constantly dissatisfied because, yeah, I had these new things, but there's also 100 other new things I don't have. I made a few changes. 1.) I cut back on the beauty channels I was subscribed to. 2.) If I want an eye pallet I look at my existing collection & see if I can recreate that pallet with what I have & 99% of the time I can. 3.) I had a real chat with myself about what I need. I realized that I do not like foundation, I do not need contour, I do not like glitter, I can just wash my brushes, etc. 4.) If I *have* to have something I now only buy vegan, cruelty free, eco friendly & small business.
Because I cut back, I was able to splurge on a few things. I bought a $52 moisturizer & I NEVER would have done that before! And I'm so much more satisfied with it.

My rule of thumb is try to finish a product before buying a new product. This can be hard if you buy an item you end up not liking (which a solution could be giving it away to someone else.) For me personally I don’t see the point of having 20 different eyeshadow palettes and 20 different foundation etc. (Unless you’re a makeup artist and do many different people’s makeup.) I have one foundation and a couple eyeshadow palettes and so on and like I said I finish them up before buying more. The beauty industry consumerism makes people feel like they need the next new thing with the way they pump out products (making it impossible for someone to finish a product they just bought) which results in consumers almost having a mini store of their own of beauty products.