I have been troubled for quite a while now and it is messing with my karma! So, now I have decided to write it down and just put it out there to get it off the hamster wheel in my head. Here it is.
I want to talk about a cult.
A cult, I thought, was a religious following, but recently I heard the question ‘is beauty a cult?’ Well that made me stop and think! I looked up the definition of the word ‘cult’.
The Cambridge dictionary says:
‘a religious group, often living together, whose beliefs are considered extreme or strange by many people’.
The Oxford dictionary says:
1. a system of religious veneration and devotion directed towards a particular figure or object. “the cult of St Olaf”.
2. a person or thing that is popular or fashionable among a particular group or section of society. “the series has become a bit of a cult in the UK”.
There is so much buzz in the beauty industry over products and make-up. Instagram is over-whelmed with beauty images and products. YouTube is full of tutorials. So much so that I start to wonder is it obsessive?
Social Media
The hashtags on Instagram suggest that 2.6 million posts say that they are a #beautyjunkie, 4.5 million posts say that they are a #beautyaddict, 2.9 million posts say that they are a #beautyguru.
The top beauty YouTuber, according to Wikipedia, is James Charles Dickinson with 25.4 million subscribers and 3.2 billion views! These figures were produced when he was just 21. He will be 23 this year.
I find these figures astonishing. People obviously adore beauty, but are we being educated, influenced or being sold a dream?
Statistics
According to Statista.com, as at 2018 the global beauty industry was worth US$ 507.8 billion and is projected to increase to US$ 785.4 billion by 2025, which is only 4 years away. I wonder what that looks like laid out on a table in $1 notes? I would love to see it in hard cash – it would probably be bigger than Mount Everest!
The global online beauty and personal care productsmarket accounted for US$ 35.32 billion in 2019 and is estimated to be US$ 238.5 billion by 2029 according to information published by globenewswire.com.
Wow, all these figures are astounding. As with all industries, the internet has made the world and all its offerings so much more accessible. It makes the beauty industry seem swamped with products, colours and ingredients. I can’t wait to see the next beauty innovation. I wish I could come up with one that would fit in the market and be a success. As I said, there is so much out there already do we have room for another one?
With products selling out, endless limited editions and waiting lists with hundreds of thousands of followers, you have to think – is beauty a cult?
Let me know your thoughts as I am all mixed up.
Tracy x