From plastic gems to the latest fast-fashion trends, TikTok influencers and self-proclaimed ‘cool girls’ seem to have found the secret to being the latest ‘IT GIRL’: overconsumption.
For years, we’ve been influenced by celebrities, a generation raised by the desire to be Emma Chamberlain and on Vogue Beauty Secrets, guiding us on which skincare and makeup products to use and showing us that mascara eyebrows aren’t just a hack used by us normal people. While there has always been an element of overconsumption and fast fashion to this habit, it seems to have grown from resourceful ‘big sister tips’ to plastic waste.
The age of social media has paved the path for those raised on such behaviour to become the new influencers, without famous parents and without the L.A mansion, these have become known as ‘Cool Girls’. The phrase once applicable to anyone you passed on the street who woke up and effortlessly put on your dream outfit and hairstyle now belongs to carefully curated shopping addicts.
From a quick TikTok search of this season’s buzzword, the top results pulled up: cool girl outfit, cool girl nails, cool girl trainers, hairstyles, Halloween costumes and Christmas wishlists. The era of cool girl influencer content has officially taken over every aspect of our lives.
Within five minutes of the latest influencer posting their favourite ‘cool girl’ find of the moment, the t-shirt released six months ago is suddenly sold out everywhere, retailing for £500 on resale platforms, and you’re left with the sinking feeling, if everyone else has this, then £500 for a resale doesn’t seem too bad – anything to fit in.
In March 2026, Rhode Beauty shared their spring marketing campaign, at the centre, Hailey Bieber in a face mask applied with a comb. Something so simple, so bizarre and the last trend even the best marketers and fashion journalists could have predicted, but it was everywhere. Suddenly, the comb mask application was in.
Bieber, the ‘ultimate cool girl of the moment, also started a domino effect movement of eating sushi while wearing a face mask. The Medicube PDRN pink collagen gel mask, to be exact, is now impossible to get your hands on due to the overconsumption of impressionable young minds, most of whom don’t even need or know what collagen masks do.
It seems this generation has forgotten how to think for themselves; forming a personality and interests is a thing of the past. Niche interests we once encouraged to thrive have been traded in for herd mentality.
Although truly bizarre, comb-applied face masks and face mask sushi might not be the worst side of the ‘cool girl effect’.
Summer 2026, the hottest summer on record in the UK, became known as the summer of ‘whimsymaxxing’ or, for better description ‘, landfillmaxxing’. It saw a need to experience whimsy in every aspect of daily life.
It isn’t enough to own every polyester ‘MUST HAVE’ item on the list. The latest step to being the ultimate cool girl means bedazzling every plastic item you own in single-use plastic gems, from face masks to AirPod cases & medical supplies.
There is a conflicting message emerging from the ‘cool girl’ movement that success and societal standing come from contributing to environmental detriment and overconsumption. While this trend has overstayed its welcome, it has still found its way into the microtrend hall of fame.
The same generation we gawked at for buying expensive skincare on mass at 12 years old are the exact same audience we now convince need every product possible to fit in with their peers.
While there are several arguments to blame the corporations hopping on such marketing trends and encouraging the further influence on impressionable young girls, Forbes found the influencer industry to be worth an approximate $250 billion in 2024, a figure predicted to rise to $500 billion by next year.
Personal accountability, combined with the rising worth of the influencer industry, means it must come into play at some point. Our consumption of such trends only fuels these campaigns and trends further. When we create an audience, we also create demand.
