I used to think makeup was woke and empowering cause I was celebrating overcoming my internalized misogyny and getting to control my face.
But also now that I look back, I also wish I told myself these things about the beauty industry:
1. It tells you that your healthy skin has “imperfections” when really it’s…texture or different coloration or something that has no effect on your physical health.
These things shouldn’t even be seen as thigs you need to fix or that decrease your beauty. Calling them imperfections is dumb.
I was obsessed with getting rid of every bump and couldn’t believe people who said I had good skin.
That’s how they get you to keep buying more skincare items. A tonic. A moisturizer - one for my eyebags, one for day, one for night, one for my face. A facial spray cause apparently I couldn’t live without one before.
Nah bitch! Your skin is actually just hormonal/healthy just not Photoshopped. Don’t buy a fucking gold mask. You know that wasn’t what God intended it for.
2. It makes you see an unamde-up face as “incomplete.”
Like your normal, actual face isn’t really your face. You have to pay money and invest time to put on your “real face.” You can’t just leave the house and enjoy yourself without thinking “I didn’t put my face on.”
3. You don’t see your normal face as good enough for important events.
Why shouldn’t it be? Men don’t have to do any grooming for any occasions. Sure you can shave or comb your hair but for the most part they don’t have to “fix” anything for formal events. Why can’t I feel confident doing the same?
4. Materialism materialism materialism.
You’re told that “everyone needs a ___ in their kit” and “every beginner should have a ___” and “for this minimal makeup look, you need to at least be wearing ____.”
Then the items pile up and drain your bank account and you keep buying for the thrill and empty promises of it, even though you know you won’t use it, but you tell yourself “This is the right way to do makeup so I need to have it to use it.”
Also the fact that spending hundreds to thousands of dollars on makeup is normalized and lowkey glorified by beauty gurus to their young and impressionable audience? Ew.
5. It’s making beauty expectations even higher and less diverse.
Teenage girls (especially young trans girls I bet) and expected to be better and to do more even though many are just learning or just realistically will never be able to curl their eyelashes without flinching (why the fuck are eyelash curlers a thing? Man that’s fucked up) or contour. And even though this shouldn’t be a problem, when they do put themselves out there to express themselves, they only get backlash for not conforming to the beauty guru face model.
6. More makeup =/= more good products, it just means more waste
Beauty companies didn’t use to release products as frequently as they do now. This just means fads come and go faster and people throw out tons more and waste more and all this is creating more difficult return policies and wasting more money and generating a bigger mess to deal with.
7. Beauty gurus REALLY just want your money
No industry explanation or whatever. It’s just the business.
8. Do not chase after limited editions or stuff with your favorite guru’s name on it.
It’s literally just going to be lower quality. They can afford to pull this shit when it’s limited edition AND they know a fanbase will eat it up no matter what. So don’t bother.
9. Don’t buy something just cause it is a dupe/you think you discovered a new dupe and want to be the first to know if it is.
You don’t have a Youtube channel. You are not a beauty guru. Unless you need that specific item for yourself, then don’t buy it.
10. This is the MOST important one that beauty gurus will NEVER tell you because it would destroy them.
Not because it would *expose* them, but it is literally what they base their careers on.
If you wanted something really bad and you end up not buying it, you WILL forget about it later and also you will NO LONGER want or need it.
Nothing will haunt you ten, twenty years from now.
The nature of the beauty industry is that, every few years or so, someone will accidentally duplicate something…again.
If an item has pretty packaging but doesn’t spark joy, don’t buy it.
If you want an item really really badly and it does spark a lot of joy but you already have one and you’re afraid it’ll be gone before you can buy it as a replacement, don’t buy it and more importantly don’t worry!
Either you’ll never finish the item you are using and be grateful you don’t have TWO of them lying around, OR you’ll finish it in time and be able to buy this, OR when you do need a replacement you’ll spot another item which ALSO looks really good and it will be far more interesting to you than whatever this one is.
The beauty industry relies entirely on generating FOMO. And once you manage to stop them from playing you, you’ll not only have more pocket money, but you also won’t have to pay money to enjoy your face.
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