Classic Beauty Industry Marketing Traps (and How to Avoid Them)
by Emma Cownley
Makeup has never been as popular as it is right now. We’re talking about it more, posting about it more, and engaging with the online beauty community more.
The emergence of this subculture has caused the beauty industry to explode over the last few years. It’s now worth £30 billion in the UK alone and there are new brands emerging all the time. To get in front of their target customer, these brands are turning to influencers — prized for their apparent honesty and the genuine connection they have with their followers.
Influencers can now command a very respectable living by posting sponsored product reviews, makeup tutorials, PR unboxings, or by simply uploading a picture on Instagram.
Although we humble consumers understand that the content of these posts are most likely a direct result of brand deal requirements, we still subconsciously try to emulate it. The makeup looks, the shopping behaviour, the need to own a trending product.
This is the culture of the online beauty community and if you want traction, you gotta drink the Kool-Aid.
Unsurprisingly, there’s evidence to suggest this kind of content could potentially have a negative impact on us and our spending habits. A 2018 survey showed that 53% of millennials have made a purchase based on social media advertising. In the beauty sector, the biggest spenders are women in the 16-24 age bracket, 30% of whom admitted to spending more now than they did 12 months ago.
As if the spending weren’t bad enough, beauty culture can also hurt our self-esteem. A behavioural scientist conducted research which revealed that 60% of people felt social media had a negative impact on their self-esteem. In a survey for Match, over half of participants said social media caused them to feel self-conscious about their appearance.
We’re spending more money, wasting more product, and trying to squeeze into one single beauty ideal.
But all is not lost.
There are plenty of ways to watch your favourite artists, save your cash, celebrate your unique features, and enjoy makeup without succumbing to the darker side of Instagram beauty culture.
Here are some of the most common marketing tactics and how you can avoid falling victim to them.
'Must-have' launch hype
Beauty brands and influencers are great at generating hype over the latest release and it's incredibly infectious.
Last year’s Shane Dawson x Jeffree Star Conspiracy Collection is a great example of this. The duo were so successful at building launch day hype (thanks to a six-part docuseries by Dawson) that Star’s website crashed before the products could launch.
Jeffree Star Cosmetics
For a typical launch, brands will send product to several influencers on their PR list prior to the ‘go-live’ date. This can give the impression that everyone in your feed is talking about the new, must-have item when really, it’s part of a much larger marketing campaign. Repeated exposure isn’t the only tactic at play here. Beauty brands sometimes employ scarcity marketing tactics to increase the likelihood of you making a purchase (and doing it faster).
A recent example of this is Jaclyn Hill’s recent Flash and Flare highlighter launch, in which products sold out in hours, only to be completely replenished in mere weeks. Kylie Cosmetics appear to use a similar strategy, releasing limited batches which sell out before a suspiciously fast restock. When you combine constant exposure with the illusion of scarcity, you have a recipe for consumer frenzy.
With such irresistible marketing tactics at play, how can you avoid making an impulse purchase?
Assess the offering
Sponsored Instagram posts are always going to make products look desirable because influencers are incredibly good at what they do (it’s why they get paid the big bucks, after all). Instead of allowing yourself to succumb instantly, take a minute to go through your makeup collection. Perhaps you already have something similar? Last week I stopped myself from buying a £20 Pat McGrath lip gloss because I realised I could recreate the same look by using two lip products I already owned!
Search for dupes
For every premium makeup product, there’s a dupe to rival it. Some high-street makeup brands deliberately mimic trending make-up products and have managed to satisfy beauty fans with the quality and price point. Before you drop your cash, do a quick search for makeup dupes to see if you can pick up something similar for less. Revolution are particularly good at creating budget-friendly alternatives to premium products. Don’t be tempted to buy counterfeit make-up, though — the horror stories speak for themselves!
Haul culture and overconsumption
Haul videos are fun to watch but they’re best left to beauty influencers. For muggles like you and I, this kind of buying behaviour could trigger a fast fashion attitude to make up — buy it, use it a few times, toss it and replace it. Not great for the planet or your wallet.
Not only this, but the introduction of buy now, pay later options help feed our desire for instant gratification and may pull us into debt over time.
Luckily, there are some wickedly fun ways to avoid dropping all your coin on makeup hauls…
'Shop my stash' videos
Some influencers are keen to go through their (epic) makeup stashes and work with products they already own. If you’re looking for inspo, you can search ‘shop my stash’ videos on YouTube or pick something you own and search for tutorials which specifically use that product. I’d recommend RawBeautyKristi or Samantha Ravndahl for this kind of content.
‘One palette’ makeup challenge
Could you only use one eyeshadow palette for an entire week? Some influencers like to challenge their skills by picking a single product and creating as many looks as possible with it for the duration of a week.
You’d be surprised at how creative you can be when you have a limited number of options! KitchSnitch has a whole playlist of these challenges on her YouTube channel, if you want inspiration.
Rearrange your stash for better ‘shoppability’
Often, the reason we aren’t reaching for a product is because we forget we have it! Try rearranging your whole stash so you can easily see what you have.
If there are products you keep forgetting to use, you can get crafty and make your own palette using a DIY method, by de-potting existing palettes from the same brand, or by purchasing an empty magnetic palette. You’ll be able to keep switching the shades out to create a new colour story whenever you get bored.
Repurpose/mix your products
Makeup is incredibly versatile and can be used in a ton of different ways. Eyeshadow shades can be blended or used as contour or blush. You can run a bronzer through your crease. You can even mix your lipstick shades to find the perfect complimentary hue for your look. You don’t need dozens and dozens of products!
It should be noted that there are some skincare products that can’t be mixed together, such as vitamin C and AHAS/BHAS. You can get a full list here.
The ‘Instagram Face’
The online beauty community loves one type of face and one type of makeup: the Instagram Face. To achieve this look, you’ll need to employ theatrical makeup techniques and borrow heavily from drag culture.
The aesthetic is designed to look impactful under bright stage lights or on camera, so every aspect is dialled right up. It's gorgeous but not necessarily practical for every day or inclusive of every face.
There are ways to disconnect from this homogenised beauty ideal and build your knowledge of makeup at the same time…
Learn the basics
Once you know the basics of makeup, you can tweak almost any tutorial to work for you. Dig out some makeup artist ‘how to’ videos and learn more about working with the colour wheel, different facial topographies, and various tools of the trade.
Wayne Goss has some great educational YouTube videos for aspiring makeup artists. By taking the time to learn, you’ll have the necessary skills to translate any makeup to suit your own features and skin type.
Which leads to the next tip…
Honour your unique features
In a recent video addressing the beauty community, content creator Eleanor Barnes (Snitchery) pointed out that commercial success in the beauty industry depends on having a certain type of face, and some influencers are happy to undergo minor cosmetic procedures, such as facial filler, to become bankable.
“When they get this filler, they have a more acceptable face in the industry, so all of a sudden now they’re popular and they’ve become one of these people that has the exact same face and does makeup in the exact same way. It just cycles and cycles,” says Barnes.
She continues, “the problem with everyone doing makeup in the exact same way is that things which started off being techniques tailored to one particular circumstance now become rules.”
Barnes encourages makeup fans to consider their own unique features and create makeup looks which suit them, rather than trying to fit into one singular beauty ideal. Embrace your bushy brows, your natural face shape, your freckles…they’re unique to you! Makeup is more fun when you use it to enhance your features rather than ‘fix’ them.
Take time to consider what actually works for you
My skin hates full coverage foundation, setting powder dries me out, and the cut crease technique just isn’t made for my hooded eyes. No bother! Over several years of trial and error, I’ve figured out what works for me. And I’m still learning!
Take time to think about which makeup styles you enjoy and what actually works on your own face, so next time you’re watching a tutorial, you can take or leave the bits you know won’t work for you. Similarly, if full IG makeup brings joy to your day and makes you feel sassy…keep on doing it!
At the end of the day, beauty influencers are at their best when viewed as a source of entertainment and inspiration rather than a template. No matter how you like to do your makeup, being mindful of brand marketing tactics could help save you a quid or two and might be a comfort when you’re drowning in a feed of super snatched faces.
Because you’re gorgeous as you are :)
Emma Cownley is a freelance creative copywriter and blogger, and founder of jot jot boom. Find her on Twitter.
