Greener Days Prevail

Like many millennials, I got sucked into the beauty guru world of the 2010s. If I close my eyes I can still see perfect flat lays on white backgrounds and IKEA Alex drawers bursting with makeup. On the top of the drawers, perched like some prized trophies, are more lipsticks and eye shadow palettes than one could finish in a lifetime. I was so enthralled by it all that I decided to even start a beauty blog of my own in 2014.

Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely loved my beauty blog at the time. It was a great creative outlet to have while I was in university, and I loved talking about all things beauty. I still do, just on a much smaller scale now.

However, after almost five years of blogging, something that used to fill me with joy was now filling me with dread. The lavish PR packages I’d see beauty gurus opening, all the makeup hauls and collection videos, and even my own collection of purchased and gifted products started to become overwhelming. I knew exactly why: overconsumption.

As defined by the Oxford English Dictionary, overconsumption is the action or fact of consuming something to excess. Even as a small blogger, I felt like I was consuming more than I could use. Beauty brands were also capitalizing on this and constantly churning out new products, and I just felt like I couldn’t keep up anymore—I didn’t want to keep up anymore.

So, instead, I stepped away from my blog. Behind the scenes, I’ve been doing a sort of ‘detox’ from the beauty world, and seeing it from more of a sustainable point of view. Like I said at the start of this post, I still love my beauty products, and I’ve really been enjoying finding and sticking with the products that make me look and feel my best. Like with everything surrounding the climate movement, I try to approach it all with mindfulness, so here are some ways I am being more mindful with my beauty products:

Using up what’s in my collection

For the last five years, I’ve been adamant about using up what’s in my makeup collection before buying something new. The amount of unopened and barely used products I had was too much for one face, so I did give away a chunk of it, and it feels good to be (slowly) using up the rest of it. Aside from the occasional treat, I only buy something new now when I run out.

Sticking with what I know works for my skin

In the height of the 2010s, beauty brands were marketing their products so well, that even something that I knew would likely not work with my skin type or complexion I still felt tempted by. The beauty market is so oversaturated with products that it can all feel very daunting, so it’s a great feeling to not feel tempted by the majority of what I see online anymore. Instead, I feel confident sticking with the products, ingredients, and shades that I know work best for my skin.

Prioritizing cruelty-free products with cleaner ingredients

A lot of what I use now is cruelty-free, and the products that aren’t I keep in rotation until I find a cruelty-free option that’s good enough to replace it. Most of my skincare and haircare are cruelty-free, as well as use cleaner ingredients, and as I use up more of my makeup collection I’m excited to start exploring cruelty-free makeup brands that offer ingredients that are better for both our skin and the planet.

Recycling my beauty products

When it comes to our beauty products, it’s hard to completely avoid plastic packaging for everything. Skincare and haircare containers are a lot easier to rinse out and place in our recycling bin in the hopes that they might be recycled (remember that only about 9% of plastic actually gets recycled, so recycling is not the answer in regards to the plastic crisis). However, makeup is much smaller and often contains mixed materials that can’t be separated making it more difficult to recycle. As I learn and explore more options surrounding this, I’ll be sure to share my findings along the way.

Overall, I’m excited to have a space where I can talk about beauty again, but with a focus on the environment instead of overconsumption.