"New Makeup Releases" Videos

I've been inadvertently developing a habit lately of listening to "new makeup releases" videos to fall asleep. At first I would just turn on something from my Watch Later playlist, but after a while I realized I was still trying to pay attention to the content instead of going to sleep. (Now, I know the best answer to this dilemma would be to listen to something like white noise instead of speech, but that's not relaxing to me right now.) With the makeup releases videos though, I rarely am interested in the content, but I'm familiar enough with the YouTuber's voice to tune it out. It reminds me of when I was in high school and used to fall asleep listening to Aladdin or Hercules.

Part of me feels weird using these videos to fall asleep though. Makeup isn't nearly as big of a hobby of mine as it was a few years ago, but I feel like I'm still trying to cling on to that last bit. I still read Reddit, and I still watch YouTube videos, though the type of content I've been watching has changed drastically over the last few years. I remember a time when I was so excited to watch a video discussing new releases. But now? It seems like barely anything interests me. Maybe it's because I tend to like safe and boring makeup, and that's rarely the type that's discussed on the channels I watch. (I'm okay with that though, because I know I don't need constant encouragement to go buy things. I watch much more for the people than I do for the product reviews.)

But as someone who participates in the beauty community, how do you stay involved when it feels like the majority of people just want to talk about what's new? I feel like so many YouTubers fall into this trap of rushing to get new products to review to grow their channel. Even Hannah Louise Poston, who built her channel last year on not buying things, has shifted in reviewing products that are both new and new-to-her. It's almost like you can't be fully accepted into the community unless you have opinions on what everyone else is talking about.

I've never tried Colourpop, or Modern Renaissance, or Morphe, or Shape Tape, or so many others that have appeared to be must-have products according to beauty YouTube. And, you know what? I don't have any interest in trying them. I think sometimes people in the community get so caught up in what others are buying or what others want to see reviewed that they lose part of the fun of makeup in the process.

I would so much rather watch someone talk about the two things they bought during the Sephora sale than the twelve that are the most popular on YouTube at the moment. I want to hear someone talk about the stuff they use everyday because they love it that much, not just the stuff that they were sent to review.  To me, a monthly favorites video should be three items, not ten. So many products are being released now that's it hard to keep up. So why do so many people keep trying?