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The Ugly Cost of the Beauty Industry
Your insta-worthy beauty “shelfie” is causing an ugly environmental mess.
“My favourite look I was a part of [this season] would be the look Sam Bryant created for Preen,” says Quelle Bester, 31, as she meticulously lays out her makeup kit. “The models were made into these living religious statues, so we gave their skin this hyper glow and then layered on gold leaf over their ears and faces, as if they had broken free of their plaster casts and come to life,” she continues. Preen was sponsored by MAC Cosmetics. The key products Bester used was Strobe Cream, which gave the glow she described, and the new Strobe Glaze and brow gels. She points out that with the exception of the gold leaf, which comes carefully sandwiched between paper, everything was packaged in plastic.
Bester’s primary makeup kit, with all the makeup inside, is laid open in front of an illuminated tri-panel vanity mirror. The bag is packed edge to edge with neatly organised makeup. Sixteen bottles of different shades of foundation are packed neatly to the left. Adjacent to them are sixteen compacts of pressed powder and eyeshadows that are nestled next to almost a dozen quarter-sized pots with varying shades of blush and glitters. That’s just the front of the bag. Towards the back, there are pump bottles, shades ranging from porcelain to espresso, small containers of disposable Q-tips and cotton rounds. Above, hanging from the lid of the carry case, pockets saddling four to five fistfuls of various tubes of concealers and liquid eyeshadows.
To the right of Bester’s primary makeup kit are three different bottles of makeup remover, two large pots of makeup brushes, two more pots filled with varying of red and nude lip glosses, four palettes of colour-correcting concealer and contour. A large pack of makeup-removing wipes accompanies them. There are two more smaller makeup bags filled with brushes and sponges. Seven tubes of lip gloss in this season’s “it” colours are laid out neatly in front of the case; three more tubes of mascara take their place right beside them.
This is the smallest kit she’s ever packed for fashion week.
Ninety-five percent of everything in and around Bester’s makeup bag is housed in plastic packaging that will take over 450 years to decompose. Something that hits you even…
