Social media has never left us alone for long. From one super specific aesthetic to the next, “Consumertok” is one of the many places that always keep us locked in a loop of buying and scrolling. Then along came #ProjectPan, where the latest challenge seemed to be… using the things you already bought.
Ground-breaking stuff, I know.
The Tale of Two For-you pages
To understand where we are, we have to look at the two sides of our feeds. On one end, we have “overconsumption core” — a relentless culture of mega-hauls, TikTok Shop impulses, and accumulating aesthetic clutter.
On the other end, we have Project Pan, a community driven challenge where beauty enthusiasts commit to using up existing products before buying anything new. When done right, it teaches us actual contentment instead of treating a new product like the answer to all our problems.
The original intent behind Project Pan was pure: sustainability, mindful spending, and saving our bank accounts from an early grave. Meanwhile, overconsumption was sold as “self-care” and treat-culture. It drains our wallets, clutters our spaces, and treats the earth like a landfill — all for a two second dopamine rush.
Watching someone squeeze the absolute last drop out of a moisturiser or hit the metal bottom of a decade old eyeshadow palette is weirdly satisfying. It forces us to appreciate what we already own, cuts down on waste, and cures that nagging buyer’s remorse.
In theory it should’ve been the ultimate antidote to overconsumption.
But it gets weird…
That said, we need to talk about how Project Pan has mutated into its own kind of toxic internet culture.
The internet loves an extreme, and it didn’t take long for both movements to curdle into hypocrisy. Suddenly, creators are online judging everyday people for owning a collection of makeup, completely ignoring the fact that it was the exact same algorithm pushing haul culture down our throats in the first place.
It quickly became normal to shame people for owning too many body scrubs from Lush to count, but giving multi-million-pound beauty brands a free pass when they send influencers an entire PR package featuring a full fifty shade foundation range.
Another noticeable change was that instead of naturally using something until it runs out, some creators have turned it into a race and are now frantically burning through expensive products just to hit “pan” for the aesthetic.
I’ve genuinely seen creators finish expensive products in under two weeks before immediately buying a new one. I’ve been using the same lip oil that for the last 8ish months and was actually shook when I saw an influencer finished the exact same thing IN 10 DAYS!
And don’t even get me started on the ‘empties’. Watching someone proudly display everything they’ve finished can be satisfying in some situations, but when people start buying acrylic storage boxes specifically to display their empty products, something has gone slightly wrong.
Like babe, come on. It’s empty. Put it in the bin.
beyond the trends
When you step back from the scrolling, the irony becomes obvious.
Both of these movements come from the exact same place — social media’s obsession with using everything we own as content. Overconsumption tells us to buy more, while Project Pan tells us to use more. One encourages constant purchasing, but the other can turn consumption itself into a performance.
Perhaps the answer isn’t choosing one extreme over the other. It’s simply buying things we actually want, using what we already own and remembering that not every new TikTok trend needs to become our entire personality.
Because apparently, in 2026, using the stuff you bought is revolutionary.