As Sophomore Ilaria Bali scrolls through her TikTok page, she sees the influencers promoting a new lip product called Summer Fridays. Even after having more than 10 lip products, she excitedly goes to Sephora to purchase the new one.
“I usually get a new lip product when it comes out and I buy it right away if there are good reviews on it,” Bali said.
According to website Zero Waste Week, 120 billion units of beauty packaging made from paper, plastic, glass and metals become waste. The influence from other popular celebrities has make the overconsumption of beauty products grow. Lip products are not the only thing that is facing a popular demand, makeup and skincare products continue to grow. As the influencers push their products onto social media, younger kids become influenced to buy these. Young kids try to be in the current trend and the ones that are not get the feeling of being left out. Sophomore Anjali Mogallapu has been obsessed with skincare and makeup products since she was a young teenager.
“I became obsessed with makeup and skincare because when I was younger I used to watch YouTube tutorials and wanted to follow them,” Mogallapu said.
According to the website Resolve, social media is catering these brands towards younger age groups like those from 10-12 years old, making this follow them as they get older. Brands push these products towards the younger age groups because they know that they will be buying them. Drunk Elephant, a popular skincare and makeup brand, is one of the brands that has been trending leading to this overconsumption.
“I have about 15 products of skincare and makeup, and most of them are from Drunk Elephant,” Mogallapu said.
People buy these products because of the trend that is introduced, but once this trend dies down the product becomes unused.
“Sometimes I don’t use a lot of my products and they really are just for looks,” Mogallapu said.
Not only are excessive makeup and skincare products wasteful, but other trending items prompt overconsumption in young people. Owala water bottles became a popular product with teens as they blew up on TikTok. As these water bottles grew in popularity, people began to buy multiple at a time.
“I have a huge obsession with Owala’s because they are so colorful and they look really nice,” Sophomore Bella Earl said “I bought my first one last year when I saw how viral they went on TikTok.”
Although water bottles encourage sustainable practices, buying excessive amounts can have the opposite effect. According to NBC News, metal water bottles emit greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity loss and pollution. These categories lead to climate change and environmental degradation. The sustainable aspect of using waterbottles is not effective when they are highly manufactured to meet the demands of overconsumers. Although, there can be reasons why people buy more than one water bottle.
“I use them in rotation based on which one goes best with my outfit,” Earl said.
As trends change and new products gain popularity,old products are left unused. Hydroflask was extremely popular in past years but now has lost its luster, leaving old water bottles to waste as collectors move on to new trends. The unnecessary buying of products, such as the Owala can lead to an impact on you and the environment. Water bottles are supposed to help the environment by being an alternative to plastic water bottles, but now these metal water bottles are creating new issues. According to website, Jack Central, suppliers are making too many of the same water bottle to keep up with the market and these high manufacturing increases more carbon emissions. Instead of buying multiple of the same popular water bottle, using one or two reusable ones is more beneficial for the environment. Overconsumption leads to many negative impacts on the environment but can be changed if people are able to limit the amount of products they buy.
“A lot of people get influenced by people to buy these products, and I do too but people have to be aware of what they are buying and not just doing it to be trendy,” Mogallupa said.
