Woman calls out influencer for promoting alarming shopping trend: 'I'd never even come close to finishing half of that'

No, you don't need more than 30 lip glosses in your personal stash.

While that may sound obvious, some beauty influencers are set on making you think otherwise. In a society that values stuff and displays of wealth, sizable beauty product "hauls" are the source of some serious envy. But one savvy TikToker is highlighting the actual cost of all that overconsumption, which impacts both your wallet and the planet.

In a sobering TikTok, user Lottie (@oatmilklottie) broke down the dollar impact of overconsumption. Lottie has a TikTok series on overconsumption in influencer culture, dueting influencer videos to critique their spending habits and to confront overconsumption.

In one such post, Lottie added up the cost of a lip product haul posted by a beauty influencer. In the dueted video, the influencer is shown holding a Sephora shopping bag filled with new lip products in front of the camera. The influencer then stocks a plastic lipstick holder with her entire lip balm and gloss collection, including new and partially used products.

In her video, Lottie calculated the total cost of all the products the influencer showed. Lottie found the prices for the 31 products ranged from $9 to $40 per product, totaling to about $900.

@oatmilklottie #duet with @nikicaoo ♬ original sound

While Lottie wrote that she means "no hate to the original creator," she adds that she's hoping to highlight the impact of buying things you think you need.

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"You don't need all the things you see online," Lottie captioned the video.

The TikTok video is a lesson in overconsumption, which is the act of buying and using more goods than are needed. Overconsumption wastes resources, time, money, and more — simply in the name of shopping in excess.

It's easy to blame influencers for promoting overconsumption. But the problem exists in a complicated web of aggressive marketing, corporate greed, social media culture, and a society that values displays of wealth.

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"Literally no one will ever finish that much product before expiration," one commenter wrote on Lottie's video. "Overconsumption is so bad."

"I'd never even come close to finishing half of that," another commenter added.

All that overconsumption takes a huge toll on our planet. It's estimated that more than 120 billion pieces of cosmetics packaging are produced globally every year, contributing to the loss of 18 million acres of forests annually. And that's only the packaging. According to Vogue, cosmetics experts estimate between "20 and 40 percent of beauty products, depending on the category, end up as waste."

Each beauty product you buy also requires resources for production. It's estimated, for example, that the beauty industry uses four million tons of water annually to create products. Additionally, only 13% of makeup and beauty products do not contain microplastics, while around 70% of makeup and beauty products contain palm oil. Then there's all of the dirty energy sources used in production, the creation of synthetic ingredients, the mining of petroleum-based ingredients — and that's only a portion of the beauty industry's planetary impact.

Commenters on Lottie's video thanked the TikToker for auditing influencer spending, saying the sobering totals encouraged them to confront their own spending habits — and work to deinfluence their lives.

"These videos always make me slow down," one commenter wrote. "Thank you."

Another added, "I'm currently not buying any makeup until I finish what I have and it's helped so much with saving money."
To be part of the solution against overconsumption of beauty products, you can opt for refillable products and purchase exclusively from eco-friendly brands. Mindful choices like these can go a long way.