Once upon a time, I turned to beauty vlogs to destress. After an exhausting day of staring at words, I used to feel the Zen wash over me as I watched that eyeliner flick itself into a perfect angle or that blush bloom over a primed cheek in three fluffy strokes. But over the last half decade of the internet, that joy has sadly evaporated, to be replaced by near-manic stress. The magical colour-changing blush, the cushion foundation that gives you Paris filter skin, the lip oil that every beauty lover worth their salt needs to be seen swatching—every evening I flip from Reels to beauty shopping apps, trying to fight my impulse to immediately add everything to cart.
The Hindu recently reported that India is the fourth-largest beauty market in the world, expected to grow by 40 per cent by 2026. Which means the current avalanche of ‘new’ launches will only get more overwhelming. This kind of news fills me with dread. Yes, I spend an inordinate amount of time looking at foundation tryouts, but I don’t want 20 different foundations, even if they’re specific to my unique needs. And as pretty as my 79 pink lipsticks look on display, they don’t help the crippling decision-making moment every morning.
Consumption is not a black-and-white situation. The industry producing that waste is also creating jobs and feeding families; and in a wider sense, it is empowering people who use those products and giving them an outlet for expression. But at the same time, the beauty industry produces 120 billion pieces of packing annually, of which 95 percent goes to waste. That’s a significant hit to environmental health. The mere existence of a beauty company or product, no matter how sustainably produced, packaged, and discarded, is wasteful.
So, with a heavy heart, I’m purging. After years of tagging many of the following as ‘must-haves’, in the interest of saving my mental health (and the planet), I’m revoking their tag. Would I love to have them in my make-up kit? God, yes. Do I really need them? I must decline.
Make-up primers
After years of watching backstage prep at fashion shows and cover shoots, I’ve realised good skincare is the primer you need. Your skin is unique, it will change from day to day, sometimes even through the day. No one product can work overtime as a miraculous base. That’s the job of your moisturiser—the one that, through many permutations and combinations, you would have zeroed in on. Sometimes it’s a milky toner for me, other times it’s a thick cream (think diaper rash cream). Depending on the time of the year and month, I have figured just how tacky it needs to be. And if I need to, I use a pressed powder at the end of it all. Oh, and pores? Love them. Their existence means that I am alive, and my skin is—as they say on the internet—skinning.
Setting sprays
Every influencer out there has heart eyes for one setting spray or the other. I’m not bothered, mostly because I never know at what point to use them—before or after mascara, after eyeshadow, after lipstick, before highlighter? It’s a minefield to navigate. There is some value in using a spray to counteract excessive powdering and bring in a dewy finish. But the jury is out on whether it affects the longevity of the make-up you’ve applied. Oil on your skin disrupts make-up, causing it to smudge, separate, fade, or appear overly shiny. Some setting sprays contain oils and glycerine, which do create a dewy look, but are counterproductive as they cause make-up to melt or disappear.
Lip kits
I am Kardashian-curious, but I refuse to worship at the altar of all their merchandise. The first product I’m breaking up with is the lip kit. Exactly matching lip liners are a dated scam. Lip liners are awesome—they help contain the colour of bright lipsticks (they tend to bleed if you have oily skin or eat fries). But I don’t need the exact Cotton Candy Catastrophe line for my pink lippies. A vague Pretty in Pink will actually work for most of the 79 pink lipsticks I have.
Multicoloured palettes
Unless you’re a professional make-up artist, you probably don’t need multicoloured palettes for lips, eyes, cheeks, or highlighting. Multicoloured face palettes exist to match various skin tones and undertones. Unless you’re vacationing and tanning, your skin colour isn’t going through such drastic changes that it needs this much variety. At best, I’ll allow multiple eyeshadow palettes because different moods demand different colour combinations. But six versions of pink and peach powder blush? Three cool-toned highlighters? I’m not sure I have enough drawers.
