Beauty minimalism is something I wanted to talk about. I think the definition of minimalism is very personal but is tied with surrounding yourself with things that you genuinely love. The way I want to talk about the idea of minimalism from a beauty standpoint is discussing release fatigue. Basically release fatigue is when you are tired of brands releasing and releasing product (looking at you Colourpop). This is my daily struggle: my content that does well is reviews and hauls, and what else do you review than a new product? However, I battle between wanting maybe one or two products of each makeup category to loving trying and buying new products. I wanted to share some thoughts I have about release fatigue and the over-consumption (me included) of the beauty industry.
According to an article I found on the Allure website- over 3,000 women were surveyed by skinstore and found that women in the united states spend $300,000 on their face over a lifetime. A LIFETIME. I have never counted or added up the value of makeup collection mostly because I could porbably pay a large chunk of my OSAP. When you are not into beauty or skincare to this number is probably terrifying and the amount of makeup I personally own is probably mind boggling – however it is my only hobby that costs me money so I think somehow it balances out! But, to think about numbers like $300,000 shows how much the beauty industry is growing.
I think my biggest gripe with the beauty industry right now is how much companies are releasing. If you take a look at Trendmood’s Instagram you can see photo after photo of new products and new brands – which is great but can be overwhelming. NARS, Colourpop, Morphe are a few of the brands that I’ve noticed have been releasing collection after collection, MAC has always done those limited collections so I don’t get sick of their collections because in my humble opinion I feel like brands have tried to emulate that. I think my main issue is it feels like brands are capitalizing on trends and targeting consumers so they will buy more and feed into capitalism (which again obviously I do this too). However, I think that brands that curate well (like Glossier) do so strategically for marketing purposes. I think Glossier, and Hourglass are a few brands do well with having releases every 3 months or so making it less overwhelming for consumers. When brands like Colourpop (who I will admit don’t compromise quality) release a collection every which way I feel like for the average consumer this can get overwhelming. Even for me, an avid lover of the brand, it can just get overwhelming.
When I say overwhelming I say this for one reason: that someone new to makeup is just going to buy this affordable makeup and then not realize what they actually like. Am I speaking from experience? Yes. Yes, I am. When you first discover the world of beauty YouTube you just want to try everything and that means buying inexpensive products that either don’t work for you or you bought to try because you saw your fave person using or like me you use it once and realize its not your makeup style. Now I’m not saying Colourpop doesn’t make some of my favorite products or in fact doesn’t make products I use on the daily they are merely a good example of a brand that releases collections twice monthly. In fact most of the time I find myself gravitating towards my colourpop items because they are so good – however it is the best example I personally have in my Instagram feed of new releases.
What is the point of this post? I think my point is that I strive to be more intentional with my purchases. At the beginning of 2019 I bought a million drugstore products that didn’t “spark joy” as Marie Kondo would say (still need to read the book and will do so this summer) and then finding myself not gravitating towards drugstore makeup but using my high-end and boutique makeup (like the body shop). I think the other thing for me about trying to not buy makeup is to not buy it as an excuse for “research” for the blog. I built the beginning of this blog on drugstore beauty which I will never not lover but more and more when I picture my “ideal” collection it consists of high-end makeup with some drugstore and boutique brands spackled in there. While I don’t ever see myself losing the drugstore/affordable side of my blog I do think that because the beauty industry has boomed so much I want to start doing quality over quantity as well as treating ALL my purchases with more thought.
I also think that I struggle with the fun of trying new makeup and being creative with only owning what I need. For example, as a blogger, I love finding dupes for holy grail products which then means I am feeding into the mass market to try new things to help my readers find alternatives! Alas, the balancing act continues!
What are your thoughts on beauty minimalism as a beauty blogger?
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thegordonedit.com 
I completely agree with you. I’ve started my blog after watching so many YouTube channels and wanting to share my own thoughts and opinions about hyped up products as well as hidden gems. However, to maintain that balance of using things you have and buying what you need as well as trying to keep my content interesting is difficult.
I try to stay off trendmood and all those instagram pages, because I am just a regular consumer and for me to see all those releases can be overwhelming and if anything it repulses me from using make up and doesn’t let me find my own joy with the products I already own.
I wish you luck in your journey and I am sure we will all eventually find that balance.
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Thank you for reading! Exactly – its such a balance and striking that is so difficult! good idea – I’m toying with also staying off trendmood for awhile and just doing back to the good old fashioned entering the store and seeing what’s new! lol! Thank you ❤
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I have totally opposite feeling, due to so many new releases I get overwhelmed and end up not buying anything 😅 Luckily, as I’m not in the US, most of the releases take time to get released in the EU so I tend to forget what I wanted to buy 🤣 I love looking for dupes and enjoy such content 💚 It’s great way to come back to old favorites and avoid buying the same thing in a new packaging/released by another brand 🤓
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Yah! I think that is also a huge thing like there is so much what do you buy? So true! YAS dupes are the best!! Exactly 🙂
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So true! I know exactly what i want/need and I’m not afraid to pay a good price for it. Then it lasts for a long time and I have a quality product. One product and that’s all. I just bought a new mascara, had been using the same Channel one for three years and it’s now empty. My eyeshadows are more than 10 years old but they aren’t finished and I won’t buy anything new until they are.
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That is awesome!! I feel that, I beginning to realize that quality over quantity for sure! You are so committed!! I need to be better about eye shadow and blush purchases for sure and just use what I have! So happy you’ve found that balance!
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Im on the way to become a makeup artist and im also kinda minimalist. Id rather stick to a few types of makeup at the same time, luckily i dont go with trend. Before buying a new product, I do careful research because I dont like to end up buying something Im not satisfied with. If I dont need something anymore, I pass it to someone who needs it (to get some small money back even).
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That’s awesome!! I love that! Good for you 🙂
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This is so true…. I literally want to try every product, but then getting what you really need is what matters for just any body but as a blogger who does product reviews you just have to get a lot of new release products, because you just have to review them, if you are not reviewing new products but a beauty blogger then it’s alright to get what you need the most.
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right!? It’s such a struggle!! and you only understand if you are in the beauty world!! Thanks for reading 🙂
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I totally agree that it can be difficult to balance the two! I go between wanting to look nice for my job and wear pretty makeup to the other end of the spectrum – just wanting to throw in the towel! Sometimes I want to just stop wearing makeup and let my face “heal” and be less greasy and less cakey, but I know that won’t happen. So, for now I’ll try to continue buying makeup minimally. I just wear foundation, powder, blush, and lipstick. I can’t wear eye makeup because I have such sensitive eyes, but it’s probably saving me a lot of money in the long run I would imagine!
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right!? I think that is the way a lot of us are leaning – continuing to buy makeup but do so more minimally, like not huge huge hauls and things that have value in your life! Thanks for reading ❤
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As someone attempting minimalism, and also someone that wears a full face of makeup every day, its easy to see the overlap of these two groups are slim to say the least. I think there are a few things that keep the balance between makeup lovers and minimalists in check. The first is viewing minimalism as live-giving through selective restriction. The second is to remind ourselves that makeup is a form of media for our art. Makeup is not an end of itself, it is a means to an end. The product is the art created not the products purchased. Consumerism fights hard in the area of beauty products. No doubt women spend so much. The key is to conserve time and energy to really enjoy what you have and to make greatness. Pallets with lots of variants and brush sets can be a great investment to last for YEARS! Sure they might set you back a 100 bucks, but for 10 years of use, that is minimal. And after all, that’s the goal! 🙂
Also, check out my blog 🙂 https://kaylaleannblog.wordpress.com/
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Thank you for your thoughtful comment! I love that line of thinking 🙂
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