I feel like this may be a pretty controversial thing to say on a blog that has a beauty focus. But I stopped accepting PR from the big beauty brands. I can remember when I started my very first beauty blog back in 2013. God, I was desperate for the big brands to recognise me and sign me up to their PR lists.
I was spending a fortune of my own cash and I was breaking my back promoting their products. It was a long old slog to finally get on the PR list for some of the biggest beauty companies out there. I will always be so grateful for the items that they have sent me. It was time for me to make a change and I emailed all asking to remove me.
The main reason why I decided that now was the time to make this change was because of the sustainability issue. This year, I am making a very conscious effort to cut down my carbon footprint. To be more mindful about what I am putting out into the world. And the amount of rubbish and particularly plastic that you get from PR gifts is just unbelievably vast.  If I do not get all of my PR regularly and it builds up. I literally have that much rubbish that I cannot fit it in my household waste and I have to load the car up and take it to the local tip because there is just that much plastic and cardboard, which is crazy. It got to a stage where I just dreaded receiving anything because I didn’t want to have to deal with it.
The second thing really is that I am just not into makeup as much these days. Even though I do love wearing makeup and seeing how transformative it is on the skin. I don’t collect it or hoard it like I used to do when I first started my blog. I think that is just me growing up a touch. But I now no longer feel like I have to get my hands on every single item that is out there. Especially if I am doing it simply to get a new blog post out of it. There is probably somebody else out there that would be much better at receiving the PR than I am because I just got lazy with it. Plus, I was not sharing and that is not what the brand wants, so it may as well go to somebody who deserves it.
I did try to do some good with the PR which I was getting and not using. I was taking it into work for people to have a good rummage through and steal whatever they wanted. In the end, I started taking it to a women’s shelter. I will admit that it was great to do this because I was giving back and helping somebody else out. Especially for items that are normally considered luxury items. But in the end, it was just the work that came into it for me. It made sense for me to put an end to the PR instead of having to go to efforts to dispose of all of the rubbish and drive for a good couple of hours each time I wanted to unload.
I know that some people out there will probably think that I am crazy for doing this. Especially when it is an aspect of my hobby. But, I want to make sure that the products that I am damaging my carbon footprint that I own. Are items that I actually like and that I want to use all of the time. Make sure to leave me a comment down below and let me know what you think. Have I done the right thing or am I mad? Should I have stopped accepting PR?
