Another Sephora Order: Packaging, Packaging, and More Overpackaging

Recently I ordered another few items from Sephora online. Naturally, there was packaging, packaging, and then overpackaging.

I only ordered a Becca blush, a Lancome eyebrow gel, a Claudelle oil for my mother, and an Anthony face gift kit for my husband. There was a bonus code for samples, this was on top of the regular three samples that are sent with every order.

These bonus samples came in yet another cosmetics bag. How many cosmetics bag does one person need? What happens to all of these cosmetics bags. I've seen lots of them in Value Village and the Salvation Army, but when these don't sell, where do they go? Do we ship them in barges off to other countries with all of the clothing that we're only wearing a few times and then casting off?

A pretty big box for only four items and some samples.

Box, packing paper, packing printout, plastic gift bag from Sephora on top.

Unpacking the box the samples and sample filled cosmetics bag took up a lot of room.

The bonus code at the time I placed my order was for a Sephora cosmetics bag full of samples. The cosmetics bag was packaged in a plastic bag and wrapped in tissue paper. It seems like packaging overkill.

The cosmetics bag came wrapped in a plastic bag and tissue paper. Why is this extra packaging necessary?

Inside the cosmetics bag were the following samples, all with their own packaging.

One of the regular samples (they include three with every order normally) was an Atelier Cologne sample which came in a tissue paper envelope with a postcard. The perfume was in a glass bottle top with a plastic stopper. So many materials and packaging going into just one sample.

Tissue paper envelope, postcard, and the perfume sample itself.

The Lancome eyebrow gel came in a glass jar with a metal lid, but the jar was also in a shiny cardboard box. Why not just put a sticker seal on the jar and leave the box out? On a positive note, the materials are easy to recycle, the lid and jar are made of separate materials, but since they come apart, it's easy to put them in the appropriate recycling bins. And there's no mirror stuck to the lid which interferes with recycling and is basically useless, because it's so small anyways (my last eyebrow powder from Anastasia Beverly Hills was a compact that was mixed plastic, metal, and a glass mirror making it very difficult to recycle).

The eyebrow gel came in a cardboard box.

Why is it necessary to put a jar of gel in a separate box? Why not just put a sticker seal on the jar?

The Becca blush came in a cardboard box. The blush itself came in a compact with mixed plastic, metal, plus glass (the mirror).

Why is a box necessary? Why not put a sticker seal over the compact instead of the big cardboard box?

Compact and cardboard box.

Inside the compact is a mirror and a plastic piece that goes over the blush.

The Claudelle oil that I ordered for my mother came in a ziploc bag, in a plastic and cardboard cylinder with a ribbon at the top and an attached card. Inside the cylinder was the small bottle of oil itself housed in plastic. It was an incredible amount of packaging for just one small bottle of oil.

So much packaging for one little bottle of oil.

Why is a plastic bottle housed in a plastic and cardboard cylinder?

The facial gift set from Anthony that I ordered for my husband was housed in a mixed plastic and cardboard box. Inside were the three bottles of facial wash, facial scrub, and shaving cream. I'm not sure why the box housing the three items was really necessary or so big. If a box is necessary, why not make it of only cardboard so it's easier to recycle?

The three items in plastic bottles were housed in a mixed plastic and cardboard box.

All in all, one Sephora order created a lot more packaging than one would think for ordering just four items. How can our world survive if each one of us is buying various items every year and each item is overpackaged or packaged in mixed materials that are hard to recycle? I know that consumers are part of the problem, but surely companies can get with the program and start being less wasteful in their packaging. Sure, the packaging might be uglier, but at least it would be easier to recycle and less damaging to the environment and would deplete the world's limited resources at a slower rate.