As someone who posts beauty reviews on various social media platforms, I became pretty overwhelmed with products I owned and products advertised to me, that I got rid of almost 80% of my hoarding collection.
I was moving last year and was packing up my beauty stuff when I realized…wait a sec…I don’t use more than half of this junk I wasted my money on. I purchased items either because I liked a review of it, it was on sale, or I liked the packaging. I ended up throwing most of it away and giving away the barely used items.
I made a goal of not purchasing products unless I ran out or am close to running out of a similar product. For example, I was almost done with my micellar water, so I went ahead and purchased a cleansing oil to try.
But, it’s not like I have 5-6 foundations to use, that all expire around the same time. I used to have a collection like that a few years ago…and guess what? I would just use my favorite one and basically wasted about $130 not using the others.
The overconsumption of makeup/skincare is insane. Please note: I’m not trying to tell anyone what to spend their own money on, but more of an observation and living through my own experience of it.
Some people have drawers full of makeup, and for people like makeup artist’s, creators, or really anyone who actually uses all of those items, that’s totally fine. But, just having the products to try once and then let it collect dust and expire in a drawer is so wasteful, not just of product, but of your own money.
If I could go back in time, I would totally slap my younger self and be like “Stop, you don’t need another foundation, what you need is to save for a house ☠”
From TikTok, commercials, Youtube, and just advertisements in daily life, we are constantly told to shop, capitalism is great for the economy. But, sometimes an eye-opening moment is looking at a trash bag full of products and calculating how much that is worth…a car payment?
I’m not going to pretend I don’t purchase products on a whim. I purchased a popular skin tint to try, but it’s the only skin tint I have. To me, the healthy way of purchasing beauty products is to purchase it, but don’t buy another of the same type of product if I already have one.
My face base collection is two primers that do different things, one foundation, one skin tint, and a concealer. It’s small, but I use all of it. There’s something so rewarding about finishing a product or hitting pan on a palette. It’s like I actually used what I bought and enjoyed it so much that’s done.
What are you thoughts on the overconsumption in the beauty industry?
AmandaSushma 