For shopping addicts who also love YouTube, hauls (videos where people show off their recent purchases,) are the ultimate form of entertainment. There is something so satisfying about seeing what people have spent their money on from the comfort of your couch. There are all types of hauls to be found on the media platform, from home wares to fashion try-ons, but there is currently something of a revolution sparking around makeup hauls in particular – and one conscious drag queen is leading it.
Kimberly Clark, (a.k.a. Chris Giarmo,) posted her first anti-haul in November 2015, and has since sparked a trend on YouTube. A search for the topic yields around 862,000 results. The anti-haul is exactly what it sounds like: a video in which the creator talks about which makeup items they're not going to buy, as opposed to showing off what they already did spend their money on. Clark says she got the idea for the video series after having a "transcendent experience" watching reviews on holiday palettes. She discovered that she wasn't feeling compelled to buy much, compared to previous times, when she was excited about the prospect of spending large amounts of money on the new makeup products that were being released.
Clark, who says she learned all she knew about drag makeup on the internet, said that she started to notice an unsettling trend in many makeup-focused videos. "A lot of other videos were super product-oriented and had less to do with skill or craft," she explained to Allure via e-mail. "Most beauty videos are product-centric — 'monthly favorites' and 'hauls' are really just lists of products. There's something materialistically satisfying to watch people discuss products, and as makeup lovers, we truly value the cosmetics that we purchase and love to use frequently." But the problem? Watching those videos caused Clark to unnecessarily spend more money on makeup.
"I started doing drag and getting into makeup while I was on tour performing at regional theaters around the US. I had a lot of time and an unusually large amount of disposable income. When the tour ended and I didn't have that income anymore, I realized how much I had splurged on makeup, and how I needed to figure out how to create the same looks on a budget," she said. "This is something that I think a lot of drag mothers impart to their drag children, but YouTube was my drag mom, and, as we know, she doesn't often encourage fiscal restraint!"
And it's true – even I can admit that I've been influenced to buy makeup I would have never purchased were it not for the encouragement from YouTube gurus. It's a hustle they're are brilliant at, but it comes at a price, and it's the consumers that are coughing up the coins for it. "The economy of YouTube results in YouTubers constantly having to discuss new products to keep up with trends and maintain their high view counts," Clark says. "I think viewers are catching on to this and are becoming less interested in channels that just cycle through new products every week."
Like many of us, Clark is completely obsessed with makeup, but as an advocate of anti-consumerism, she realizes that sometimes over-indulging in the things we enjoy can have a negative impact on society at large. Clark isn't against shopping, nor is she against buying makeup. She just hopes that through her videos, she can inspire people to shop smarter and think more about how their money is being spent and who is benefitting from their patronage.
"Understanding how our own personal consumerist tendencies are directly related to the way our government and society deal with international and domestic conflict, climate change and social justice issues, we'll start to realize that our small interactions with capitalism really do have an impact on society at large and the lives of others," she noted. Buying from smaller businesses and artists is one way we she suggests we can combat the can negative effects of consumerism.
Clark's anti-hauls have gained quite a bit of traction in the YouTube community. Content creators, also weary of the "buy buy buy" attitude pervasive on the media platform, are creating videos of their own explaining what they're not going to buy. And for some content mavens, it's a hit with audiences.
Iowa-based YouTuber Samantha March has found that her anti-hauls are quite popular with her audience. "I started doing the anti-haul video as a way to show that even though I’m a makeup lover and addict, I simply don’t need everything, and beyond that, it’s okay that I don’t need everything," she explained. The anti-haul theme inspired her "Will I Buy It?" series, in which she contemplates potential makeup purchases while engaging with her viewers. She says the series is so popular on her channel because "viewers want to hear we don’t need everything... and I think [they're] finding that very relatable. I’ve received several comments from subscribers also saying they ask themselves the questions I ask myself before buying products, and that I’ve saved them money by encouraging them to think through a purchase – especially a high dollar beauty item – instead of being so quick just to hit check out now."
Part of why YouTube beauty gurus have become so popular and powerful is because of the connection their audience feels with them. Authenticity is what makes viewers tick, and for some, YouTube is simply too crowded with influencers telling them to buy stuff.
Julia Graf, who has her own beauty-focused channel, agrees that the climate on YouTube has become an issue, and calls anti-hauls the "voice of dissent" in the landscape. "an anti-haul video is like me balancing things out and letting my viewers know that they don’t have to buy every single thing they see. We need to re-evaluate our spending habits in the developed world because of the vast... detriment our materialism is having on the rest of the world"
Clark is pleased to see how the YouTube world is embracing the concept. "I get so many messages of thanks from fellow makeup lovers for saving them from specific purchases, but I'm most proud of the descriptions of how my anti-hauls help people in a more general sense — changing the way they interact with the world in regards to consumerism. When I hear about not only how much money I've helped people save, but also how much time and emotional space they now have, it truly brings me joy."
More on YouTube Beauty Gurus:
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- These Beauty Bloggers Destroy a Makeup Palette Every Week
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