Shadowing Practice: INFLUENCERS DISTORTING “SELF CARE” TO PUSH OVERCONSUMPTION & CONSUMERISM | Influencer Insanity Ep 11 - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Someone's gotta say it, who would want to submerge themselves in essentially red dye, not one, but two gigantic,
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highly scented bath bombs mixed with cherry blossom bubble bath and cherry soap, especially during that time of the month.
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Are you crazy?
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I'm getting a headache and an itchy infection from here.
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They discourage being thankful for what you already have.
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They are teaching us that the only way to be happy and to care for yourself is to buy more, more, more, more, more, more,
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and it's never going to be enough.
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Hello, and welcome back to another episode of Influencer Insanity, where we feature all the ridiculous things
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that influencers will post on social media just to bring ourselves back down to reality a bit, look at things through a critical lens,
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and really give ourselves a reality check as the viewers and consumers of social media content.
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Today's episode is in the same vein as episode one about restock influencers and episode two about the Stanley Cup phenomenon,
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on and how influencers are contributing to a grotesque level of overconsumption and consumerism.
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But today we're focusing on how that pertains to the self -care content
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that we see so much of
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and how apparently now self -care means having 101 skincare products and enough bath bombs to give you a raging UTI.
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It's no longer about actually taking care of yourself.
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It's about how many products can an influencer shove into a 60 second TikTok video to push
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you to buy something that you might not actually need.
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Everything is pink.
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Everything is curated.
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They're typically showing off some massive collection of skincare or beauty products.
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It's all the things you would imagine.
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Lotions, potions, candles, desserts, bubble baths, face masks, that kind of thing.
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And I think that all those things are super girly and fun and enjoyable,
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but they're also not the only way to take care of yourself. In fact, what's being featured in these kinds of self -care social media
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posts is a pretty superficial consumerism -centered depiction of what self -care is.
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And I think the influencerification of self -care is really skewing
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our perception of what it means to show yourself love and care.
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So I've got a lot of over -the -top, unhinged influencer examples that I'm gonna show you and we'll break those down one by one.
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And then later, I'm gonna give you a whole bunch of low -cost
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or no -cost ways that you can practice self -care in a way that is perhaps more beneficial than bath bombs galore.
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And I think it'd be awesome if we can use the comment section below to share even more ideas too.
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But first, I'm partnering once again with the Paired app on today's video
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and I think that's a perfect fit
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because we're talking all about ways you can take care of yourself
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and one way you can do that is to take care of your relationship too.
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Paired is a relationship app designed to help couples strengthen their communication and deepen emotional connection.
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Unlike other apps that focus on dating or conflict resolution, Paired is about nurturing and deepening existing relationships.
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It offers daily activities, interactive games, and conversation starters along with expert -backed advice, providing couples with the tools to stay connected and communicate effectively,
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helping them navigate the challenges that come with long -term relationships.
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The thing about the Paired app
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that really drew me in was the variety of topics available
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and how it's a great supplemental tool to keep the conversations going with your partner.
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My husband and I have been together for eight years
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and at some point you start to think
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that you know everything there is to know about your partner or like what else is there to talk about, you know?
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But there's always more to uncover, even things that you didn't even think to ask your partner about.
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There are so many topics through the paired app that I never would have thought to initiate conversations about otherwise.
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For example, share one way being with AJ has improved your relationship with friends or family.
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How would you feel if AJ became friends with one of your exes?
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How has he helped you reframe a negative thought recently?
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Matching couple tattoos, cute or cringe?
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And there are endless games, questions, quizzes about nearly every topic you could possibly think of.
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Communication, conflict, sex, money, work, family, parenting, the list goes on.
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The paired app is such a great tool to get you talking and encourage you to prioritize each other every single day.
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If you would like to maintain and deepen connection with your partner through the paired app, you can use my link in the description box below
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and that's going to give you a seven -day free trial plus 25 % off paired premium.
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Thanks again to the paired app for sponsoring today's video.
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Okay, let's take a look at some of the more extreme examples of self -care content that I've been seeing lately.
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Here's a creator that has made appearances in my restock influencers video and the lying influencers video.
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And here she is about to take us along her full day of self -care routine.
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I'm
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going to
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put it in the water.
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I'm going to put a little bit of water on the top.
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I'm going to put a little bit of water on the top.
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I'm going to put a little bit of water on the top.
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I'm going to put a little bit of water on the top.
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Thank you.
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That does look really relaxing.
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I can't even hate on it.
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I can't lie.
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It looks nice.
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I mean, who doesn't love a whole day of pampering and fun drinks and shopping and a bath?
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It's all pretty innocuous and to be fair, I like watching this kind of content.
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However, please remember this is a commercial
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This is a matter of flashing one product after another in rapid succession to communicate the message even Subliminally
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that these are the items you need to have to live a better life or to take care of yourself
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But ask yourself do you really think these people live that life or is it all for show?
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Is it all for the camera? is it all for the
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sake of showcasing these products to make the viewer intrigued so
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that they go to these people's Amazon storefront to buy it so they can make a commission.
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Forget TV commercials and billboards.
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These are the commercials of today's age.
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And they're deceptive because a lot of the time you might not recognize
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that you're being sold to because the sales pitch isn't coming from some highly produced commercial in some studio set.
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It looks like it's coming in the form of snapshots of somebody's real life.
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But what if we start to think about influencers' houses as the modern day studio sets?
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Do you really think that their houses look this immaculate all the time?
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Do you really think that this woman was just going through capturing little snapshots of a normal day so effortlessly?
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No, be real with yourself.
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There are likely tripods and lighting kits and multiple takes and thoughtful planning and execution and editing.
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It really is no different than a TV commercial if you actually think about it,
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but it's harder for us to recognize it for what it actually is because it's coming to us through social media.
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And we have this idea that social media is just for sharing whatever's going on in your life, right?
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So when we see videos like this of a perfectly curated, seemingly luxurious life, our first reaction is to go, oh my God, look at that.
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Everything is so perfect for them.
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Why aren't things that perfect for me?
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When really we should be going, oh, that was a really aesthetically pleasing commercial to watch.
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When's the last time you watched like a Neutrogena
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or a L 'Oreal commercial on TV and like felt bad about yourself
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because you were comparing yourself to it so much and oh my gosh, look at their lashes with that mascara.
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It's so beautiful on the TV.
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Why can't my lashes look like that.
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When you know that it's like CGI'd on or whatever, like super highly edited in a studio production,
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of course there might still be some comparison going on there, but it's easier to separate yourself from it when you're seeing a commercial ad.
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It's not as easy to make that distinction
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when you're just scrolling on social media and this stuff is being fed to you as if it is reality.
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And the more that we can train our brains to read between the lines
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and not take everything on social media at face value, then the healthier relationship we can have with it.
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And I maintain that it is awesome.
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If you enjoy videos like this, personally, I follow this creator.
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I like her videos.
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I like her stuff.
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It's my guilty pleasure to see what she's up to
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and what she's doing and what cutesy little gadgets she's got her hands on now.
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But it's okay to watch it and appreciate it for exactly what it is and just let it end there.
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We don't have to let ourselves fall into this negative comparison game or let these kinds of videos drive our compulsive consumerism.
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I promise you're still able to practice self -care even
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if you don't have a collection of Louis Vuittons in your closet to choose from,
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to then go out shopping on a shopping spree where you spend over $300 on home decor, to then come home
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and sip on fancy sparkling spring water out of a decorative
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champagne flute in the bath with your $450 red light therapy mask on, okay?
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You don't need all of this to practice self -care.
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This next video is titled
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Things That Make Self -Care More Fun.
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I'm standing outside I'm standing outside I'm standing outside I'm standing outside I'm standing outside
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I'm standing outside
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I do appreciate that this one at least is structured pretty explicitly.
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Like I'm going to show you a bunch of products that you don't really need and they aren't really necessary,
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but they might make your self -care routine more fun.
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I respect that because it leaves people know that they're being sold too.
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Some of the products she featured in here were an $80 bath towel warmer
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and then an $80 face towel warmer because apparently using the bath towel warmer for face towers would just be nonsensical.
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But you know what else would heat up your towels that you likely already have access to?
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a dryer.
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If you really, really want a hot towel after your bath or shower, you can hook yourself up with that pretty cheaply and easily.
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She also features a $50 facial light therapy tool.
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And my personal favorite, although it's not expensive, is this little gadget that suds up your face wash for you.
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So rather than just emulsifying the cleanser in your hands,
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you're now purchasing a gadget that you're dirtying up every time you want to wash your face.
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So many of these things are just straight up unnecessary and wasteful, like these single use towelettes that she's showing.
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But here's where I give my disclaimer that I don't want to talk down on anyone's good time.
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Okay.
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I fully support you spending your hard earned money on things that you genuinely love and enjoy.
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And if having warm towels is something that makes you feel loved and cared for, and it's something that you enjoy doing,
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then do it, go for it.
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I support you in that.
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That's kind of how I feel about my Nespresso machine.
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A little bit of a side tangent.
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The machine itself was a few hundred bucks.
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It was a gift from my husband for my birthday, but the pods that go in it are this recurring cost, right?
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It's not that cheap.
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And having our old drip coffee machine was way more cost effective.
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But you know what?
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I use that Dagnus Fresno machine every single day.
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I look forward to it.
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I go to sleep thinking about it.
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I wake up thinking about it.
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It adds so much joy and dopamine to my life.
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I will never give it up.
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You can't tell me nothing about my coffee machine, okay?
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I don't care that it's expensive.
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I don't care that it's impractical.
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You cannot put a price on the happiness it brings me.
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So point being to that whole tangent is that products in the realm of self -care, we naturally have this tendency to feel like,
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oh, we can splurge on that because it's going to make me happy.
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And I think there's totally a time and place for that.
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I would be lying to you if I told you that I didn't look into getting a towel warmer at one point.
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I got as far as to like actually go in my bathroom and I'm looking around at the configuration.
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I'm like, where are the outlets?
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Where would I put it?
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And I ultimately decided that the only place it would fit in my bathroom was really inconvenient.
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I would have to like drip across the whole bathroom floor to go get the warm towel.
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You know, I just knew that I would buy it.
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It would be a waste of money.
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I would never actually use it, but it looked really, really nice in these self -care videos.
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So in saying
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that, I would urge you to try to avoid impulse purchases in the name of self -care
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or indulging in something nice for yourself, just because you saw an influencer featuring it, or just because you saw an ad on social media.
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An influencer's job is to showcase products and to demonstrate how they would add value to your life.
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So hopefully you feel convinced by that and you purchase from them.
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But sometimes what's being promoted to you might not be practical or realistic or actually necessary.
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And it's so easy to go, oh my gosh, I need that towel warmer.
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Look at how fancy that is.
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That would improve my life so much.
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And in those instances, my best piece of advice would be to just bookmark the link somewhere.
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Tell yourself if you really want it in a few days or next week, then you'll buy it.
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If it's in the budget, of course, but the odds are you're gonna forget all about it.
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The temptation is gone.
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It's not a thing anymore.
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And guess what?
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You saved all that money.
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Congrats.
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But if the temptation is not gone, if you're still finding yourself thinking about that thing day after day,
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week after week, then maybe it is worth splurging on for you.
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But at least if you put a pause on it, if you wait, if you think about it, if you budget for it,
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then at least when you do purchase it, you know it's something you actually want and would need and would use.
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Point being, there are so many ways to take care of yourself
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that don't require spending money and they don't require these big expensive gadgets.
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If they make you happy and you feel like they add value to your life and you can afford them, then great.
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But generally speaking, we shouldn't tie up our happiness or our worthiness in material possessions.
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In fact, a form of self -care could actually be setting boundaries, preventing this impulse buying.
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Pausing to reconsider purchases is a great way to take care of yourself and your finances.
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Now, this next example is just kind of comical if I'm being honest.
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Part of me feels like we shouldn't be taking it all
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that seriously because it almost has like a rage bait vibe to it.
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Episode five of this influencer series was all about rage baiting.
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If you wanna learn more about that tactic, the caption on this says that time of the month bath time.
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And I guess we can take her a little bit seriously
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because she's making sure to let us know that all the products she's showcasing here can be featured in her Amazon storefront.
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So she's definitely trying to sell us on something, even if it's in a more shocking way.
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Here's what I mean by that.
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Thank you.
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you Someone's gotta say it,
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who would want to submerge themselves in essentially red dye,
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not one, but two gigantic highly scented bath bombs mixed with cherry blossom bubble bath and cherry soap,
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especially during that time of the month.
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Are you crazy?
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I'm getting a headache and an itchy infection from here.
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The pad and tampon shaped bath bombs are clearly rage bait,
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making it look like you're bathing in blood is a little over the top if you ask me,
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but these are strategic things that creators do to encourage people to become angry so that they leave angry comments.
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It's a tactic to increase the engagement on the video to push it out to more viewers
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so that more people see the products, more people buy the products, the creator earns more money and commissions.
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And I went to her Amazon storefront and I found as many of the items from this TikTok video as I could,
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and I totaled them all up.
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Do you wanna take a quick stab at how much all of this costs?
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I'll give you a second.
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Are you ready?
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A thousand dollars, you guys, a thousand dollars for everything shown in this video.
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And that's not including the cost of all of her snacks, like the ice cream and the crumble cookies.
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That box of crumble is like $25 in itself.
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The $500 portable projector accounted for most of that cost.
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$1 ,000 for a cold bath by the time you finally get in it.
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Congratulations.
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This is the kind of overconsumption that drives me nuts.
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Look, I'm all for a nice bath.
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I am known to have dessert pretty much every night of my life, but this is getting to a gluttonous level.
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It's the multiple bath bombs, the multiple soaps, the Stanley cup ice molds as if regular ice cubes don't work just as well.
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The platter of like six different desserts.
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At what point are we just doing too much, you know?
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And probably the funniest thing about all of this to me is that when everything is said and done,
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I'm just trying to picture her sitting in her cramped lukewarm bath, eating her pint of ice cream,
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like craning her neck to try and watch the Netflix show on the wall next to her.
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Like girl, just have a nice bath, come sit on the couch,
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eat a pint of ice cream and watch a movie like the rest of us.
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That qualifies as self -care just as much as this whole charade.
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And it's a lot less expensive and a lot less effort.
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Truth be told, I would be willing to bet money that she didn't step foot in this bath at all.
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Because like I said earlier, it's a commercial.
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It's a fantasy.
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This is not practical.
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I'm almost positive that it took her at least an hour to set this whole thing up, get the camera, get the angles,
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just to pull the plug on the drain and let everything flow out and clean it all up.
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This is not someone's actual period self -care routine.
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This is just content.
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This is her job that she makes an income off of, and that's fine.
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No shame in doing that.
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That's just the nature of the job of an influencer.
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That's how they make a living.
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Cool, let them go about their lives doing that.
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But as the viewer of it, please just know what you're watching.
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This next one made me laugh so hard when I first saw it because it is a hand care routine.
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This is genuinely, swear on my life, never something I have ever thought of doing in a million years.
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Sure, my hands get dry sometimes.
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I'll put a little lotion on.
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Sometimes it's nice to get your nails done or something, but this was so comically over the top i could not cope
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million people in the crowd but i only see your face in all the line
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i don't really care about love i don't really care about happy ever
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Something about you gives me hope.
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Something about you, yeah.
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When the sun goes down and the night sky is falling, do you believe in a one -time love?
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Cause deep inside of my wildest dreams, you'll be by my side.
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When the sun goes down.
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My first thought is, oh my god, could you imagine how greasy your hands would feel after all of this?
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I can barely stand the like sticky, greasy feeling of hand lotion, but this woman just used 10 layers worth of lotions,
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oils, and treatments on her hands.
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It's just so ridiculously excessive and like a sensory nightmare for me personally, at least.
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And again, I found her hand care page on her Amazon storefront
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and I totaled up everything featured in the video and it comes out to be about $380.
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The big ticket items being this $80 light therapy tool
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and the $65 paraffin wax machine and then a couple hundred dollars worth of lotions and potions for your hands, for your hands, that's it.
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I just have never in a million years thought to give that much attention to my hands.
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Maybe I should, is this a thing?
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Am I missing out on something?
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I've heard that it's a good idea to put sunscreen on your hands to prevent aging,
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but past - that, everything seems completely unnecessary to me personally.
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It's one of those things where it's like, if this makes you feel pampered and cared for, then go for it.
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But you're not going to catch me adopting a $380 hand care routine.
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Uh -uh.
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And kind of in that same vein, I've recently gotten into skincare.
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I've nailed down a four -step skincare routine that I loved.
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I've been using it for the last three months.
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It's great.
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It's working wonders.
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However, four steps even feels like a lot.
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I do be feeling like a little grease ball, which is why I do my skincare right before I go to bed because again,
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it's like a sensory thing.
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So videos like the hand care one or the one I'm about to show you, they truly perplex me in terms of cost,
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time, and the seemingly overkill nature of it all.
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And I'm going to blur her face on this clip because I believe she's a minor.
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I think she's still in high school, which almost makes this more troubling.
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How much does my skincare routine actually cost?
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First is my Cervi cleanser, which retails at $17 .99.
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Next, use my essence toner and this retails at $38.
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And I absolutely love this product.
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For my next step, I like to use the watermelon toner and this smells absolutely amazing guys.
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Next I like to use my dew drops and guys I am all out like I'm literally so sad.
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This is usually my first step but I'm using the Caudalie Face Mist which retails at $12.
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This is the Laneige Water Bank Serum which retails at $45 and I get so many comments about this product.
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Next I use a lip mask and I'm going to be using the Laneige one which retails at $24.
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This is the Ordinary Berry Support System which retails at $17.
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Next I'm using my CeraVe Moisturizer which is $17 .99.
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This is my favorite product if you guys can tell next is the innisfree sunscreen
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which retails at 17 as well
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and guys this leaves no white cast this nyx fat oil retails at nine bucks
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and here's me doing the deck lips guys this is the eyebrow brush slash pencil from morphe
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and i believe this retails at 12 total cost is 276 dollars
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and 98 cents i think i counted 10 skincare products plus two cosmetics after
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that totaling almost 300 this is a genuine question
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because i'm pretty much useless when it comes to skincare i I don't know what I'm talking about in that realm.
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So at what point are there too many layers of things on your skin that it just doesn't even matter anymore?
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I would imagine that after like the fifth or sixth layer of goop
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and oil and moisturizers that anything you put on top of that is like impenetrable.
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It's just going to waste, right?
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It just seems so excessive and like a waste of time and money and energy for pretty much no payoff.
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And here's the thing that's always confused me about skincare.
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If you're having 10 layers of stuff on your face,
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how do you know if none of it is working or if all of it is working, or if you're getting good results,
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how do you know which one is to blame?
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If you're getting bad results, how do you know which one to blame?
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That kind of thing.
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Like it just, it confuses me so much when people are like, I love this product.
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This is the best.
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This works wonders.
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It's so great.
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People ask me about it all the time.
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And I'm like, okay, but that's one of the 10 products you put on.
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How do you know?
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How do you know?
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I don't know.
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I tend to believe that less is more or simpler is better when it comes to skincare routines, because how are you supposed to know
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if all these products are actually doing what they claim to do? if you're mixing them all together.
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And that's what kind of bothers me about these self -care type videos in
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which skincare is so heavily focused on because you'll see these people's massive skincare collections.
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It's like an entire cabinet or a whole vanity covered in them.
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And in this video, she added up the price for all this stuff.
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We know how expensive it is.
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And it's just reinforcing that message that if you want to take care of yourself or if you want to pamper yourself,
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then you've got to splurge on like hundreds of dollars of skincare.
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And I think that's such a superficial, consumerist view of what self -care is.
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And perhaps even the more upsetting aspect of this video in particular is that she is a high schooler, you guys.
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This is kind of beside the point of this video and I'm going on a little bit of a tangent,
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but this kind of thing is so dystopian to watch.
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It's like the Sephora kids trend that we were seeing at the beginning of this year where young,
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young, young, literal children are becoming obsessive over things like skincare and makeup at an age where it's not even necessary,
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at an age where they can't even afford it.
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So they're begging their parents to drop hundreds of dollars on these products for them.
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And then they're sitting at their vanity and and they're obsessively coating their face with a dozen products, and they're making TikTok videos about it.
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Like, this cannot possibly be good for the mental health and the self -image of young girls, right?
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Like, what kind of message are we sending as a society
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that we now have literal children becoming obsessed with preening themselves in front of a mirror using products
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that weren't intended for them?
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I'm in my late 20s, and I just nailed down a skincare routine this summer.
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I was using freaking
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Clean & Clear Morning Burst and St. Ives Apricot Scrub when I was her age.
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And you know, mistakes were made.
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You live and you learn, we're moving on.
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But point being, I don't remember an emphasis on skincare being placed on girls my age
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when I was a preteen or in high school.
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And this is clearly a trend that is reserved for children of parents who can afford to buy them this expensive skincare.
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And I'm sure this is contributing to the popularity
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or the coolness disparity that we see among school -aged children as the result of these really expensive trends.
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If you're a young girl and you're watching this, I want you to know that you are perfect and beautiful just the way you are,
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and you are worthy of everything wonderful in life, even if you don't have 10 layers of skincare on your face right now.
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It's easy to see what some girls on TikTok are doing
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and be envious of what they have or what their parents allow them to have, but I'm here to tell you that life is about
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so much more than your material possessions and self -fulfillment and self -love has to come from the inside.
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You're not gonna find it in a bottle of moisturizer.
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In fact, that's a great segue into talking about some no -cost or low -cost ways to practice self -care,
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because I would love if we could pull away from this idea
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that self -care equals bubble baths and face masks and a cabinet full of skincare products.
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The definition of self -care is the practice of taking action to preserve or improve one's own health.
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The practice of taking an active role in protecting one's own wellbeing and happiness, in particular during periods of stress.
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And I love this definition, specifically the part about how self -care is protecting your own wellbeing.
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You may have heard of this in terms of protecting your peace.
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Bubble baths and face masks are fun and they're a temporary way to make yourself feel pampered,
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but what other things can you be incorporating into your life to take care of yourself and to encourage peace, happiness, and health.
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Some of the very first things that come to mind for me are about our digital and social media use.
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A form of self -care could be to practice deleting a
392
social media app from your phone for one day a week or one hour a week even.
393
Or maybe you consider turning off notifications,
394
protecting your peace, removing those annoying notifications that are constantly vying for your attention and pulling you out of the present moment.
395
Go on a social media unfollowing spree.
396
Unfollow any accounts that you find yourself obsessing over or they make you feel bad in some way.
397
Maybe you take a break from looking at the news for a couple of days, not because you don't wanna be informed,
398
but because the news is freaking depressing.
399
Or you could try
400
and go screen -free for an hour before bedtime just to give your brain a chance to wind down.
401
Some non -digital ideas for self -care could be to go outside, as cliche as that sounds.
402
Go sit in the sun, lay in the grass, go for a walk, just sit, just be, just exist.
403
You could call a friend, maybe you journal or you read or you do an adult coloring book or a craft of some kind.
404
I was super into those diamond painting things for a while.
405
They were so soothing.
406
I would just sit there and I would place the little gems right on their little color -coded spots.
407
And it was an opportunity to just be and to just shut my brain off and do something completely pointless but soothing.
408
And that is a form of self -care.
409
I know some people really like to create vision boards or have a gratitude journal where they list everything they're grateful for.
410
And as silly as that sounds, that's one of my favorite stress -relieving exercises is because I will literally put on the list,
411
I am grateful for the roof over my head, my husband, my daughter, my cats, the bed that I fall into every night,
412
air conditioning in the summer, heating in the winter, the hot meal I had for dinner.
413
Like there is so much to be grateful for.
414
And by intentionally focusing on those things and listing them out on paper, it's really soothing and satisfying.
415
That's a form of self -care to ground yourself in reality
416
and to acknowledge all the things you do have and not always be yearning for more. And
417
that kind of leads me down the path of how romanticizing
418
the mundane tasks in your life can also be a form of self -care.
419
I got really good at this after becoming a mom because my list of priorities is completely flipped on its head now.
420
So taking the time to shower every day and wash my hair a couple times a week, that counts as self -care.
421
Cooking a nice dinner, watching an episode of my favorite show, working out consistently, eating dessert,
422
washing my sheets and shaving my legs on the same day.
423
If you know, you know, that is self -care, peak self -care right there.
424
You know, maybe it's that you spend some time meal planning
425
so you don't have to stress about it the rest of the week.
426
That's taking care of yourself.
427
I've been practicing painting my own nails recently because who has the time or money for a salon these days?
428
And when I list all these things out, I wonder like, does that sound pathetic?
429
Like really, you showered and you ate dinner and you washed your sheets today and that's your self -care?
430
Yeah, yeah, it is.
431
It really is.
432
And once you start reframing your mind to see these mundane tasks as ways that you are choosing to care for yourself,
433
you start to take pride in those little luxuries.
434
You start to see them differently.
435
The alternative is that you don't eat a good dinner.
436
You don't take a shower today.
437
You don't clean up after yourself.
438
So by choosing to do all of those things, you are practicing self -care.
439
You deserve to pat yourself on the back.
440
You're taking care of yourself.
441
And also reframing it, like how lucky and fortunate am I that I had a hot meal,
442
a hot shower, and a bed to fall into tonight.
443
I think that self -care and gratitude go hand in hand, which is why I find these self -care videos by influencers on social media is
444
so problematic because they are driving a wedge between self -care and gratitude.
445
They discourage being thankful for what you already have.
446
They are teaching us that the only way to be happy and to care for yourself is to buy more,
447
more, more, more, and it's never gonna be enough.
448
These videos teach us subliminally that the only way to care for ourselves is through material possessions, and that's just not healthy, and it's not true.
449
Maybe splurging and buying something nice for yourself can be a self -care treat, but only if it's done on rare occasions.
450
Purchasing new products loses its allure if you've made it an expectation that you're gonna buy yourself something new
451
Every time you want to feel good
452
and I hope in this video I've given you some things to think about when it comes to self -care
453
And I hope we can use the comment section below to share some other ideas of what self -care means to you
454
Because while these over -the -top videos on social media are entertaining and they're fun to watch and they're satisfied
455
They're not a depiction of reality and they're not something you should be comparing yourself to So tell me down below.
456
What's one thing you're going to do for yourself
457
that constitutes as self -care today for me
458
I give myself a self -care night every single night every night after
459
I put my toddler down for bed I do like a 30 to 40 minute workout just for like the mental purposes
460
Honestly, it's such a nice way to like clear my brain after the long day and it doesn't have to be hard
461
It doesn't have to be strenuous just doing something physical then i'll go
462
and take a shower I'll shave my legs if I'm really feeling like it.
463
And then I go and I park my butt on the couch
464
and I watch trashy reality TV and I eat snacks until bed.
465
And that is totally self -care for me.
466
And I love it.
467
I look forward to it every single day.
468
And it doesn't have to be complicated.
469
It doesn't have to be expensive.
470
So that's everything I have for you for today's video.
471
Let me know how you're taking care of yourself in the comments down below.
472
And thanks again to Paired for sponsoring today's video.
473
You can use the link in the description box below for a seven day free trial plus 25 % off Paired premium.
474
Thank you so much for watching.
475
I really appreciate you.
476
Take care of yourself and I'll see you in my next one real soon.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “INFLUENCERS DISTORTING “SELF CARE” TO PUSH OVERCONSUMPTION & CONSUMERISM”. This video has 476 sentences and 6203 words to shadow. The speech runs for 30:55. The speaker talks fast, about 201 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 83% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| bath noun | /bɑːθ/ | A tub or pool which is used for bathing: bathtub. |
| towel noun | /ˈtaʊ̯əl/ | A cloth used for wiping, especially one used for drying anything wet, such as a person after a bath. |
| routine noun | /ɹuˈtin/ | A course of action to be followed regularly; a standard procedure. |
| layer noun | /ˈleɪ̯ɚ/ | A single thickness of some material covering a surface. |
| mask noun | /mæsk/ | A cover, or partial cover, for the face, used for disguise or protection. |
| bubble noun | /ˈbʌbəl/ | A spherically contained volume of air or other gas in a liquid, commonly a soapy liquid. |
| happiness noun | /ˈhæpinɪs/ | The emotion of being happy; joy; elation. |
| nail noun | /neɪl/ | The horny plate or appendage at the ends of the digits of various animals, including most reptiles, birds, and mammals (both nonhuman and human). |
| cherry noun | /ˈt͡ʃɛɹi/ | A small fruit, usually red, black or yellow, with a smooth hard seed and a short hard stem. |
| dessert noun | /dɪˈzɝt/ | The last course of a meal, consisting of fruit, sweet confections etc. |
| viewer noun | /ˈvju.ɚ/ | Someone who views a spectacle; an onlooker or spectator. |
| topic noun | /ˈtɑpɪk/ | A subject; a theme; a category or general area of interest. |
| meal noun | /ˈmiːl/ | Food that is prepared and eaten, usually at a specific time, and usually in a comparatively large quantity. |
| encourage verb | /ɪnˈkʌɹ.ɪd͡ʒ/ | To mentally support; to motivate, give courage, hope or spirit. |
| possession noun | /pəˈzɛʃn̩/ | A control or occupancy of something for which one does not necessarily have private property rights. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| go down verb | To descend; to move from a higher place to a lower one. |
| look forward to verb | To anticipate, expect, or wait for, especially with a feeling of approval or pleasure; to be excited or eager to. |
| add up verb | To take the sum of; to total. |
| clean up verb | To make an area or a thing clean; to pick up a mess; to tidy. |
| go out verb | To leave, especially a building. |
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. |
| heat up verb | To heat, to cause to become hotter. |
| show off verb | To exhibit the best attributes of something. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Why aren't things that perfect for me?
- I'm like, where are the outlets?
- Where would I put it?
- Maybe I should, is this a thing?
- Am I missing out on something?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on | I've been seeing · I've been using · I've been practicing |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is curated · being featured · being sold |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have been · has improved · has he helped |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | ball, which is · Moisturizer which is · hand, which is |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 149 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, you're, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: bath /bɑːθ/, thankful /ˈθæŋkfəl/, sixth /sɪksθ/, worthy /ˈwɝ.ði/, soothe /suːð/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: possession /pəˈzɛʃn̩/, essentially /ɪˈsɛnʃəli/, sheet /ʃit/, infection /ɪnˈfɛkʃən/, notification /ˌnoʊtɪfɪˈkeɪʃn̩/
- Long words — get the stress right: essentially /ɪˈsɛnʃəli/, communicate /kəˈmjuːnɪkeɪt/, unnecessary /ʌnˈnɛs.əˌsɛɹ.i/, genuinely /ˈd͡ʒɛn.ju.ɪn.li/, notification /ˌnoʊtɪfɪˈkeɪʃn̩/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like bath, towel, routine.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.