Hey guys – this is going to be a more serious post than I am used to writing, but it is something I have been thinking about a lot and wanted to share my thoughts about, and also to see what you guys think about this subject as well.

Today I wanted to talk about why I am over “beauty gurus”. If you don’t know, a beauty guru is someone who talks about makeup or beauty on social media who has a large enough following to have influence (otherwise known as influencers). Gurus mainly exist on youtube and instagram, and are often said to exist in this intangible “beauty community” that supposedly we are all apart of as well.

I wouldn’t consider myself part of the beauty community on youtube or instagram, but I am definitely a spectator. I don’t know if I shared this story or not before, but I pretty much always wore the same raccoon eyes all throughout middle school, high school, and then starting college. I saw someone talking about Colourpop Super Shock Shadows one day on tumblr, and it made me curious, but I had no idea how to use the products. This brought me to youtube, where I became completely entranced in this world of makeup. Soon I started practicing different looks, trying new products and techniques, and ultimately spending a lot of money to get to a place today where not only do I consider myself an avid makeup lover, but at least mildly qualified to talk to you guys about how to do makeup yourself.

There are so many influencers that I immediately fell in love with – they were sweet, and relatable, and explained things in ways that made sense to me. But the longer I’ve been on youtube, the more I’ve seen a shift. The beauty community seems to have gone from a bunch of people in their bedrooms excited to have someone to talk makeup with, to an almost “you can’t sit with us” kind of vibe that feels so unrelatable that I have become deeply disenfranchised with all of it.

Going to try and break this down a little more – The more I watch makeup reviews or tutorials, the more I notice you have to just know things before you click on, because no one is going to explain those things to you. You have to know about contouring, baking, highlighting, or about all these brands and their new releases. It’s kind of like we’re all supposed to know these things, but no one is explaining them, and you’d be stupid to ask.

I can only assume that this is because all these gurus started in a place of explaining. They had humble beginnings. They didn’t start off in front of a glittery background with high-end products in their LA apartments, they were like me and sat in their bedrooms just trying to educate a little bit and start a dialogue, and worked their asses off to get where they are. I love to hear these influencer’s success stories, because it makes you think maybe one day I could get there too.

That’s where my problem comes in though – emulation. Remember how I said it almost feels like a club you can’t get into, but desperately want to? That is completely fueled by the fact that major companies are enforcing these thoughts. I’ve spoken about it many times on this blog, but big companies have taken notice to the influence these gurus have, which is why they spend so much time and money throwing them events, sending them on trips, and giving them LOADS of free products. These companies have not only taken advantage of this influence, but have created a world on social media where now because these influencers make their living through YT or IG, they have an invested interest to play back into this narrative.

This is why if you follow any major influencer on snapchat or instagram, you are going to see loads of videos of them opening PR packages, going to events, thanking these big companies etc. I personally can’t relate to that. I can’t wait for a major company to send me things for free, I have to go out and buy it. These companies are creating a narrative of “Look at how much fun your favorite gurus are having, and how beautiful they are with these new products! Don’t you want to be like them? Also buy these products!” – except nobody bought those products…. they were sent to them, and then made money by suggesting the average makeup wearer buy them too, which, in my opinion, just makes makeup seem completely inaccessible – which is completely counterproductive to the whole point of having a beauty community in the first place.

I feel like this is where my thoughts start to get jumbled and complicated. On the one hand, I admire these people SO much for how hard they have worked. Nobody handed them anything, they are self-made success stories. Because of how hard they work, of coarse I believe they deserve to get paid. They are investing their time and money to use or review products to (hopefully) help us be better consumers (in theory).

On the other hand, though, I can intellectually work out this thought process in my head of “well someone is getting paid, take everything with a grain of salt” – but what about the young subscribers or the new subscribers who don’t understand how this magical beauty community works, and are going to be saving all their money to get these “amazing” and “life changing” products that everyone is “obsessing” over, because that is what they are being told they need to own to successfully wear makeup and be beautiful, just for something new and life changing to pop-up tomorrow?

I think more and more people are starting to catch onto this as well. This is why there seems like there is a constant battle between so-called “gossip” channels on youtube and these influencers. Gossip channels seem to have come out of nowhere to “expose” these “greedy” gurus, and believe the beauty community has changed for the worst. Beauty influencers then feel attacked and feel like they need to explain themselves and are constantly saying that they haven’t changed and you should still trust them.

That is my problem – I agree with both sides, and it is exhausting. All of this back and forth, combined with the heavy marketing that blatantly insults our intelligence as consumers, makes it so much harder to navigate where to invest our interests and our money. It makes us make stupid shopping decisions, it makes us fill our lives with things we simply do not need, and it makes us blind followers.

(Please check out Kimberly Clark’s Video on Consumerism for more info!)

At the end of the day, it is just not relatable to me to see makeup collections I could never own or watch people live lifestyles that are so lavish talking about products I know I don’t need but am told I should get. I am a college student studying physical anthropology and geology – I work for the state park service – my life is anything less than glamorous, but I love it and it’s okay to have a not-so-glamorous life, because that is the reality for most people.  That’s why I pose my product photos so often with my rocks and fossils, because that is a huge part of who I am!

(In Summary: Unrelatable, Inaccessible, Marketing Overload Content = I’m Over it)

It gives me hope, though, when I see influencers actively engaging with their audiences, taking the time to respond to comments, and just genuinely being appreciative. The other day one of my favorite influencers, Jkissa, responded almost IMMEDIATELY to an instagram photo I had tagged her in of a makeup look I did inspired by a look she had created.

I was literally so happy I was shaking, and very recently after she replied to a comment I had left on a video, which allowed other people to join in on the conversation and create a dialogue. To me, this is what the beauty community should be: an actual community of people existing to talk about makeup and help each other learn and give recommendations. Nobody woke up an expert, and it upsets me when I see people furthering the assumption that makeup and beauty is shallow, and making it an inaccessible thing that should exist for everyone despite gender, race, body type, or economic class.

At the very end of the day, this is the thought I am always going to have in mind when writing my own blog: that makeup is for everyone and learning is part of the process.

(I encourage everyone to take time out of their day to watch a few “Anti Haul” videos on youtube, because I think it’s an amazing way gurus are combating these very money hungry, consumer ideologies).

Like I said, I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic, and if you disagree with any of the points I made, please (respectfully) let me know why! I know this was kind of ranty and not my typical blog post, but it was just something floating around in my head that I wanted to get out.

As always, I love you guys and I hope if this didn’t help with anything, then maybe at the very least it got you thinking.

-Lacie ❤︎❤︎❤︎