“Makeup is a way for a woman to look and feel like herself, only prettier and more confident”

– BOBBI BROWN

For all beauty lovers, second-hand has entered the beauty industry for the 2020s; how do you feel about that? Business of Fashion is highlighting the new trend happening across Japan and the US for pre-owned products, this is taking place via websites including Glambot and Poshmark. The category of beauty products is everything from makeup, skincare, electrical beauty tools like hair dryers and so on, although my first thought when I heard about this new so called trend went straight to makeup.

My personal views on this leans more towards the negatives side than positive. I have never bought any beauty products second-hand, based solely on hygiene and the unknowing of what the condition the product is in until purchased. Although on the other hand, if a makeup product was still ‘new’ and in the original packaging and hadn’t been used, then I could potentially see myself buying products that fall into this category due to being cheaper than the original retail price and pretty much good as new. Although I wouldn’t really take the same approach with electrical products, mainly because it could have been used without any knowledge which could result in it being faulty.

I’ve actually never thought about what happens to all of our past date and left over makeup, the majority of us are quick to just throw it in the closest bin. But think about it, that must add up to a great deal of waste which it adding to our environmental issues. Now that I’ve actually taken a minute to myself and thought about the amount of old makeup products I throw away each year, I can see why beauty has taken the road to re-use and re-sale. I think previously owned makeup should only be offered as re-sale as long as it’s still new, unused and unopened as this wouldn’t have any hygiene problems arise. Although I’ve seen a few examples of people collecting old left over makeup and turning it into art supplies such as crayons and paints which I think is a perfect way to reduce waste.

Overall, a change of packaging from the beginning could definitely help towards cutting down on waste, as reusable packaging could be used for a longer time period but getting them refilled when empty. Many brands including Mac, Olay and Bleach London already provide these opportunities to reuse the containers to get refilled at their stores when finished, which is an amazing step in the right direction for them. Everyone else including brands and us as consumers need to take this on-board and show dedication to helping our environment.

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“The best things in life are free. The second best are very expensive.”

– Coco Chanel

I recently watched an interesting documentary by Mary Portas, where she discusses events from the weather, politics, the Royal family and tv channels. The documentary opened my eyes to how anything and everything has an affect on our lives without necessarily  thinking about it. The one topic that spoke to me was a series that I enjoy to watch every year, Love Island, which I bet many of you have heard or even watch it too, am I right? Mary Portas talks about how the outfits being worn can be bought straight from the app as soon as it’s shown on TV, this is a massive opportunity for brands such as Missguided and most recently I Saw It First, who are partnered up with the show to raise their sales immediately. I am one of those people that when I see an outfit on someone walking past me or digitally I want to know exactly where I can get it. So, Love Island has hit the jackpot as it’s so easy to find out where the outfits the girls wear are from., giving me an easy route to purchase my very own.

There’s also another side to me when I shop, I am actually quite careful in terms of actually taking a moment to think about what I NEED and what I simply just WANT. As we all know these are different, but hate to admit it when we’re shopping. I love to always have something new in my wardrobe, a lot of the time I do tend to impulse buy as I say to myself that I’ll wear it and it ends up sitting in my wardrobe for a year or longer without even being touched. I bet a lot of the time your purchases are impulse too, and I bet you’re all sitting there thinking about how you shop now.

Honesty is the best policy, right? Well, I know fast fashion is playing a massive part to the environment and pollution but I haven’t yet started to make changes to the way I shop for clothing. Although I have made small choices to carrying my own reusable cups with me every time I go out of my house and take my own food containers to cut down on buying foods in containers. The next step for me is to start being more conscious about what I buy and only buy if I NEED, I do however use Depop to sell new or old clothing to try and get involved in the circular system.

“Buy Less, Wear More”

– Rent the Runway

A new pathway has begun for the fashion industry, if you haven’t already heard about it then it’s clothing rental. My initial thought of this is that it’s great only based from the fact that there is such a massive ongoing issue happening around us concerning the amount of clothing which goes to landfill each year, as stated on an article on The Telegraph “Around 300,000 tonnes of clothing ends up in household bins every year with around 80 per cent of this incinerated and 20 per cent sent to landfill.” Seeing the statistics puts it all into perspective of just how many clothes get thrown away without any thought. But apparently the process of renting clothing is going to take over fast fashion within the next 10 years, but obviously this is all down to us to make it happen.

I find this a very 50 / 50 topic as I love going out and trying clothes on, having a whole day of fun to build up some new outfits, although I do often get bored of the clothes I have after around 2 months of having it depending on what it is, but then I try to sell it on platforms like Depop rather than chucking it away if it’s still in good condition. Although I guess renting clothes for say a couple of weeks or a month could work for me because when I get to the stage of being ‘bored’ of the garment I could simply just send it back to be cleaned for the next person. Of course this process comes with a monthly fee, which I just don’t think I would be willing to get tied into, especially if I don’t actually want anything new for a long period of time it would feel a waste of money. So, personally I wouldn’t invest into renting clothing due to not wanting to have a payment being taken every month and not actually owning it as it wouldn’t feel as if it’s mine to wear.

I feel as if this process of renting clothes may only work successfully for specific reasons whether it be to rent a dress for a wedding or party, for women throughout their pregnancy stages due to only needing maternity clothing for a certain length of time and this would save them from just throwing them away. Overall, I don’t see it taking over fast fashion as it’s so convenient for load of people and more availability of items.

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“I like things simple”

– Valentino Garavani

By studying Fashion Marketing I follow several fashion related bloggers and as usual with everything I have my favourites based off their content, images, style of writing, layout and just an overall interest in the content of their blogs.

One of my favourites bloggers is, you might have heard of her blog already, it is known as ‘We Wore What’, if you haven’t heard of it before, take a look for yourself. This blog is so aesthetically pleasing to my eye, straight from the home page which makes me want to be on her blog even more as it isn’t cluttered or distracting. We Wore What as a blog focuses on all topics from lifestyle, outfits to interior, they consist of her own life and pictures of her own outfits and house. For lifestyle Danielle provides many guides for varies different occasions, providing ideas to her viewers in case they need ideas for a certain gift, etc.

We Wore What does inspires me due to having blogs for everyone whether you’re looking more high priced or affordable items, she covers it all and shares it openly. Also, mainly I feel inspired by Danielle because she has been doing what she does so well for 10 years and hasn’t just stopped there, she has also started her own line of swimwear and overalls from her success. Although her blogs are short and sweet, sometimes I want to know a little more information or her own feedback on the topic of the blog, this is the only little nit pick that I would have towards her blog.

Visual imagery is so important, but it has to be right and guess what, We Wore What does it right! Her photos are so pristine, clear and relate completely to what blog they are a part of. There’s the right balance of images and text throughout We Wore What and the layout works so well around them both. The writing style used is third person and this works much better as it is more relatable and easy to read as the viewer of the blog.

Since beginning my blog, I have been visiting We Wore What even more to get inspiration of how bloggers I like set their blogs out, making me realise what makes them work. Any images that I include in my blogs will be bright and pristine to catch the same attention that I give her blog and get the same response for my own.

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