The Cost Of Beauty

As a professional makeup artist and a professional person breathing air, I know that one thing we never stop caring about is our appearance.

With everyone being in possession of a personal brand (you) coupled with a litany of platforms to present that brand (aka your actual face mostly), I’m not sure we’ve ever been more beauty obsessed as a society, which is saying a lot because we’ve always been pretty obsessed.

We’ve come up in the world seeing cameras get some serious upgrades which for us meant “the whole world can see every single thing your face has been through or is going through!” Not to mention, everyone we know has a better camera in their phones than your family’s fancy camera from your childhood.

A simple brunch can turn into a photo shoot, and heaven forbid you are unprepared. If you’re the only one that didn’t at least highlight and bronze you could leave feeling set up and betrayed. Just kidding. Not really.

Enter the epic rise of “glam” in every day life.

Between celeb BTS of the process of getting a star ready for events and the online beauty community, especially YouTube, the average makeup consumer became so much more aware, educated, interested and most of all -hungry for more.

This is something I have personally struggled with, both as a consumer and MUA.

I got my start in theater and that means we use what works. Period. The only time we’d buy something we don’t normally use is because a company went out of business or we’re working on a new production with a unique/special design or if we needed to have additional hands on deck and needed to supply them with very specific shades of lipstick and eyeshadow. Theater makes you more disciplined. You have to be much more thoughtful around spending.

When I started to freelance I noticed something that didn’t sit well with me. It seemed buying products incessantly and unnecessarily was kind of the norm. You want to be knowledgeable, you want to be a source of information, so you try a lot of things. It’s part of your job. The things to try never end though. Now with very brand conscious consumers/clients you have an awareness and attention paid to what is in your kit that is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.

Of course people are curious and want to try new things, they want to know what you’re using and I love that exchange. Lately though there’s something else at play. Brands have become almost as important as the artistry even though the formulas are often the same.

New trends sweep the industry and you could be judged if you’re not using a $90 foundation.

I’m lucky because the people I work with are up on game, but it is out there.

I’m watching the re-packaging and re-branding and re-arranging of some of the same colors, the same ingredients pushed out over and over again.

Have you ever noticed that you bought the same shade of lipstick from like 3 different brands?

Are you reaching for 1 or 2 colors in an entire palette that you dropped some major coin on for so little use?

Trust me I get it. I love make up, I love doing make up, and I love buying make up. It’s fun! However I have had to develop some guidelines for myself to keep myself in check.

As I started to notice how much of what I’ve purchased never leaves storage, I had to get more clear.

I think with less and less friction between us and the BUY button, we just have to be more mindful and intentional.

I’m always going to be looking for something, but if I know what I’m looking for, the experience of shopping for beauty products gets a lot clearer & I’m not at the mercy of the latest releases.

Photo: @Aana.create