Buy Cosmetics Online more consciously: Less is sometimes more
Effective Ways to Buy Cosmetics Online
I’ve been enjoying browsing beauty bloggers a little and buying cosmetics online, since I started using Instagram. It’s always exciting to see when others buy and use them. However, one thing strikes me again and again: how many beauty products are stashed in this way.
There you see photos with boxes of shower gels, nail polishes, body lotions, etc. I involuntarily ask myself the question: When do you ever want to use it up?
But consumption is also a big issue. Monthly challenges are started on which products have to be used up and at the end of the month, it is evaluated whether the goal has been achieved. I think that makes using cosmetics a chore, but it should actually be fun and make us feel good.
A Couple of Numbers to Check Before Buy cosmetics online
I recently stumbled upon the blog post of a beauty blogger who had accumulated no less than 85 lipsticks. That means she can use a different lipstick each day for 2½ months without using one twice.
If you assume that you can use a lipstick 100 times until it is empty (and I suspect this is still a cautious estimate), you can bridge 4 ½ years with this amount without even having to buy a new lipstick. if you apply lipstick 5 times a day. If you consider that lipstick can only be used for about 2 years, that is quite a long time.
It is also interesting how much money you have to spend on this amount of lipsticks. Of course, the range with this product is quite large, because you can get very cheap lipsticks for around $2-3, but you can easily pay $20 for them. I just assumed a lower average value of $5 per lipstick, but that also leads to $420. Also, stay conscious when selecting cosmetic brushes. It is best to search for the best makeup brushes set online first before making any decision.
If only high-quality lipsticks were bought, which cost an average of $20, you even get a proud $1,700. A sum for which you can already have a great vacation.
The Seducers
Probably every one of us knows it: you go to the stores because you need toothpaste, for example, and come out with a full basket full of beauty products. We don’t really need most of it, but we buy cosmetics online anyway. But why is that often the case?
Basically, the economy lives from the fact that we spend money – preferably more than we actually have. The manufacturers use various tricks to get us to buy things that we don’t actually need.
A popular trick in the cosmetics industry is to keep bringing out new limited editions. Especially in the field of decorative cosmetics, there are regularly eye shadows, nail polishes, lipsticks, blushes, etc. for a limited period and in limited quantities. As a consumer, these limited editions quickly make you feel pressured. “If I don’t take this great eyeshadow with me today, it may already be sold out tomorrow or no longer in the range.”
Cosmetics Under Unusual Packaging
Pretty and unusual packaging should also appeal to us and entice us to buy cosmetics online. So something quickly wanders into the shopping basket that, with more careful consideration, you might not have bought at all.
While you probably only take one with you for eye shadow or lipstick, limited editions for shower gels and body lotion are sometimes even more tricky. If you like a scent particularly well, you quickly start to bunker. Instead of one shower gel, there are sometimes five or more in the closet. It could be that you won’t get it otherwise.
The thought that there are always great new editions, some of them even repeat themselves regularly, or that there are great things in the standard range, is then often turned off. In the end, it doesn’t end up with five shower gels in the cupboard, because you want variety and before you know it, there are 20 bottles or even more. These then have to be used up first.
Standard Oriented Price Range
But even if you are mainly oriented towards the standard range, you sometimes face the problem that proven products are suddenly discontinued and you have to look for a replacement. Sales have to be right, especially for their own brands in drugstores. If a product does not deliver the expected numbers, it will be mercilessly delisted. Stupid for the consumer if exactly this product was perfect for their own care, because now and then a longer odyssey begins again with bad purchases and frustration.
Another seducer is the special offer. There is once again a 20% discount on all brand X products and in no time you can buy products that you would otherwise not have bought at the time. Although you are not up for cosmetic brushes wholesale, it’s still cheap at that moment and before you buy it more expensive later, you’d better take a little more with you.
In principle, this is not reprehensible if you need and have bought these things in the foreseeable future anyway. It becomes problematic when it seduces you into buying products that you don’t need or quantities that you can no longer use.
As a cosmetics blogger, you are also in a quandary. Of course, you want to offer your readers added value and report regularly on new products. But that also tempts you to buy far too many things. In addition, you sometimes get PR samples that may not fit you at all and that are then lying around unused.
The Problem with Cosmetic Brushes Made in the USA
Of course, it’s annoying when you’ve spent an unnecessarily large amount of money on products that you don’t actually need. But the effects on our environment are much worse. Resources are required for each product, which in the worst case simply end up in the garbage can.
Conventional products are particularly problematic. On the one hand, many of the ingredients are synthesized from non-renewable raw materials and, on the other hand, many of the substances they contain are difficult to biodegrade (e.g. silicones). It is problematic enough in itself to use products with these ingredients. But if they are bought and end up in the garbage can unused, it is all the sadder.
But natural cosmetic products are also environmentally relevant since unfortunately most of them are in plastic packaging. Very few manufacturers rely on plastics made from renewable raw materials, on recycled materials, or even on reusable materials. This means that crude oil is used for every single bottle. If the packaging is not recycled, it harms the CO2 balance (e.g. if it is incinerated).
Best Cosmetics are Renewable Cosmetics
But even renewable raw materials are not available in unlimited quantities. There is only limited cultivation area and energy and water are also used for the growth of the plants. This means that you should also use renewable raw materials sparingly and carefully.
If you now consider that we regularly consume three piles of earth with our way of life, one should ponder a little. It quickly becomes clear that we only have one earth available and should therefore treat it carefully. Through our consumption, we have a direct influence on how many resources are used.
If you then go there because the inventory is too large and try to use up as quickly as possible at any cost, it means with a high degree of probability that you will be much more wasteful with the products. Again, it is particularly problematic if you use conventional shower gel, for example. These often contain microplastics and wasted use quickly multiplies the amount of this problematic substance that is released into the sea.
