Sephora's Lashstash 2016

The packaging for this year's "Lashstash" from Sephora, that includes ten mascaras (eight sample size and two full size) is less elaborate than some of the previous years, but still very, very bulky. Why does the box have to be over a foot long (12.5 inches x 7 inches x 2 inches or 32 cm x 18 cm x 5 cm)? The ten mascaras (eight of which are only sample sized and therefore about the half the size of a regular full size mascara) could easily fit into quite a small box. This giant box is made out of holographic cardboard with highly coloured printing on it, so it must have taken a fair bit of resources to create it. I'm not saying don't make it look nice at all, just perhaps make it more compact, so as to waste less resources so there will be some left in the future for the next generation.

In addition, the packaging is mixed materials. The box is lined with a plastic insert that the mascaras are slotted into. This makes recycling more challenging (and it's hard to pry the mascaras out of the plastic insert too). Recycling should be easy so that as many people as possible will do it.

Behold it in all of its holographic beauty (12.5 inches x 7 inches x 2 inches).

Eight sample and two full sized mascaras in a giant mixed materials box.

The different types of mascara in the box are listed on the box.

I love that they call it a "wardrobe of ten mascaras."

The mascaras are housed in a huge cardboard box with a plastic insert into which the mascaras are wedged.

Closeup of the individual mascaras.

And of course all of the mascaras have mixed materials in their packaging, making them more difficult to recycle too (plastic and metal and in some case some sort of rubber material on brushes).

While my sister and I love trying out the different mascaras every year from Sephora's "Lashstash," the packaging is definitely overkill and can't help but make one feel like ever more of a wasteful consumer. I would love to see the size of the packaging go down in future years, not remain the same or grow. And I don't see why a plastic insert is necessary in the box. Maybe Sephora could get "Lashstash" 2017 into under a foot long box?