BEAUTY | Content Goals for 2026

I am a little late in finalizing my thoughts for what's to come for me and the blog this year, but I feel like from watching YouTube videos of both past and present creators I have been following that "having less" and focusing on things of value is the theme for 2026! For me, it was a already a theme for 2025 with trying to cut down and track my spending and what started with watching finance content eventually evolved into the algorithm recommending minimalism videos. The above photo is an example of a hobby that I kind of went crazy with in the last year, but what I like about it is that even though I have spent like $4000 on Pixyls since 2024, it's a hobby that stores neatly and the only "equipment" you need is a pair of sharp tweezers. I store most of my completed pieces in a big art notebook and that's it! Anyway, here is what you should be seeing from me and Cosmetic Proof this year!

 

1. Focusing on my Bounty

This has been sort of an ongoing theme for the last few months and yes, I have been purchasing makeup products from Dior, Holts and Sephora, but the purchases are definitely more intentional and less frequent. I'm really only shopping at Sephora during the VIB event and my main makeup brand is still definitely Dior. With the exception of Dior, I'm going to see how long I can go without purchasing both makeup and skincare from other brands for this year. I have already resisted a few Black Friday "restock" situations where my favourite serums/cleansers were 40% off so my plan is to re-evaluate the restock situation every 6 months to see where I'm at or maybe even on Black Friday if I can wait that long!

2. Something New? Share It!

This was the sole reason of my Sephora VIB purchases in November. If I wanted something, I am at least going to make a blog/social media post about it just so I can get it OUT of the box and USE it and feel like there some form of additional value in my purchase. Ideally, I would write a blog post about it so that I have a "journal" entry about the product which leads me into my next content goal...

3. Being Nostalgic

This is another theme that is getting popular again on the beauty social media scene (I wrote this post in December so before the whole 2016 trend on IG!) and that's taking it back to less about the newest products and consumption and more about beauty looks and being creative with products you already have. For me, this is also about going back to singular product reviews of things I have really been loving/hating. I also want to write about discontinued products that bring back memories of the beauty blogger era at its peak circa 2013-2019. YouTuber Kelly Gooch does a great historical recap of each year of beauty since 2014 called "Yearly Lore" and it has been so much fun to watch how beauty and social media has evolved over the last decade!

4. Showing my Face Again

Not sure what happened here, but I just kind of stopped doing a lot of makeup reviews with full glam on and I'd like to try to attempt to make this happen again! No promises, but I kind of want to document how my face changes as I age. I also miss getting all glammed up!

5. Less PR, More Self Purchases

This might take until 2028 to fully move through, but since the pandemic really, I have started accepting less PR mainly because I realized I didn't have time to write or feature everything and that I just physically found the amount of product I had really overwhelming. I also have gotten older and since I am a "hobbyist" content creator, I don't feel the need to keep up with the new generation of beauty influencers and am more than happy to do things the OG way. I feel like reviews seem more fun to write, especially if a product review is negative, then the passion REALLY comes out! Also, we say that there is no bias when we are sent PR, but we all definitely watch our language a bit more with our content especially if we would like to continue working with the brand. I mean, it makes sense right? Basically, I want to be more liberal with what I get to say about a product so I am super selective now of what brands I do receive PR from. Since I have such a backlog of PR, you will probably see that "Press sample" label on a lot of my posts for the foreseeable future, but I am also not on any of those press lists anymore so I will be speaking about them more freely!

I will hold a seasonal check-in here to see how I have been doing with my goals as we all know that by the end of January, many people abandon them!