Four British people in their twenties with different attitudes to make-up visit America to explore the multi-billion-dollar beauty industry. Meeting manufacturers, influencers and critics, the group uncover the secrets lurking within their make-up bags.
In this episode, we meet the group as they arrive at their luxury villa in the Hollywood hills. They each reveal their relationship with make-up and what it means to them. They begin their investigation at Beautycon, one of the biggest beauty events of the year. Attended by over 30,000 beauty fans and the world’s biggest social media influencers, it quickly becomes clear how this industry is undergoing a shift in how beauty is marketed and sold.
The group have the chance to meet and question beauty influencers including Bretman Rock, one of the biggest stars and YouTube royalty. After meeting social media influencer Kenneth at Beautycon, two of the group meet up with him again, this time at his house for an ‘unboxing’ session. They have the chance to see the sheer amount of free boxes he gets sent every week, and to learn about the amount of money he can make online.
Later, the group visit ColourPop - the internet’s most popular beauty brand. As all their products are developed and manufactured under one roof, the group have the opportunity to learn how they can create new products within 24 hours and see firsthand how thousands of products are made an hour on the factory floor. It’s an eye-opening visit for the group and they begin to wonder if this is an industry very tightly controlled by PR.
Having been confronted with the sheer scale of the industry, the group are becoming concerned about the amount of plastic the beauty industry is producing. It prompts the group to take a look at their own products, and they realise they have no idea where all the plastic and packaging ends up. Two of the group visit a recycling facility in San Francisco and learn some shocking truths about how little plastic is actually recycled, and how the beauty industry is one of the worst contributors to unrecyclable plastic. Spurred on by the revelations at the recycling plant, one of group goes one step further to explore the affect the beauty industry is having on the environment. By descending deep into the sewers of San Francisco, she learns how waste from the cosmetics industry can end up polluting the water system.
Others in the group are spurred on to look more closely at what is inside their everyday make-up products. Two travel to rural Mexico to investigate how a vegan and so-called ‘ethical’ product is produced, raising concerns about supply chain and exploitation issues in the industry. Show less