Where is the point of when there isn't room for new ideas?
Often this question is asked for the entertainment industry, in light of the sudden surge of remakes of classics or unasked-for sequels. However, I want to present this question to the industrial and marketing juggernauts of makeup and beauty product companies.
As more and more people in the social media community begin to ask for the point of a new product, minimalism has become a topic of discussion. This is a stark change from previous years, where it was cool to have a massive collection of makeup for one person.
I, myself, have been mindful and trying to practice some minimalism in my life. I don't buy something unless it is a replacement for something I can't use anymore, or unless if I know I am going to get maximum use out of it. And I can be ruthless as f*uck. Sometimes I look at the amount of product there is available in the market, and can't help but spiral while thinking about the sheer amount of physical product and the amount of eventual waste, and I'm nowhere near being an environmental purist. This also opens the gate for questions about the environmental impact of having so much waste and so much physical product (not to mention the packaging that comes with it).
Maybe I've become a hyper-conscious and hyper-critical consumer. Which leads to me feeling heavy awareness for contributing to mass production or wastefulness as a modern woman; who is the target a lot of media adverting (even though I'm hardly convinced).
I ask because there are only so many colours available to make into eyeshadow or lipstick, or only so many ways colours can be put together in a palette. With thousands of new companies creating millions of units of all kinds of stock, there is a point where there is simply just too much in the market, and nothing feels innovative anymore. How many themes and colour stories haven't been done yet?
What started these thoughts in my head was a documentary that explored the process of creating a makeup product, and what the warehouse looks like. The companies need to order the amount of stock before selling it, and so they need to estimate how many people will want to buy it and keep it in storage until it is bought (at least in the case of most online businesses). Then I began to think, if there are 1 million units of stock for 20 different items, that's 20 million things waiting to be sold, and then imagine hundreds of different businesses doing that to some degree. That's a basic idea, with grossly underestimated numbers. At least in my experience, I have never completely used an entire palette of eyeshadow, blusher, highlighter, etc, and so the idea of using a decent amount of a product, and then throwing it away just does not sit well with me. I also think of millions of other people doing that as well, with much larger collections. So perhaps my problem isn't with the companies for providing too much material, but the fact that people tend to buy more than they need. Many companies rely on people seeing their new product and wanting to add it to their collection because it is very rare now for someone to not already own a product in the same category.
I'm not saying that multiple companies for the same market shouldn't exist. Competition is a good thing in business, and at the same time, there are beauty companies made to represent certain groups (like Black-owned businesses, and LGBT based companies). Also, more companies mean more jobs. Nor do I want any specific brand to be targeted for being wasteful or unconscious to environmental issues, business is business. However, they should only be called out if they are doing something blatantly wrong, and I don't doubt that the community is already well aware of that, given the prevalent dependency on social media.
As for solutions, I can think of one: the ColorPop method. The US-based beauty company ColorPop makes the product as per demand, there is no outsourcing or ordering stock beforehand. When items (like eyeshadow palettes) are made after a request is made, there is less waste because items are not left in storage to be thrown away if it is unsold. I have to disclaim that there is a chance that there are more companies that do this, but that is what ColorPop is known for, and has allowed cameras to capture.
As more and more things come out, one has to wonder how long it will be before the market finds itself running in circles, or, will creativity prevail. I suppose that will reveal the ingenuity of companies. Also, it will be interesting to watch companies when consumers become more and more aware of actions and the meanings behind them, but that is a different essay altogether.