The Price of Pretty: Exploring the Cost of Beauty Standards

The Price of Pretty: Exploring the Cost of Beauty Standards

From She's On The Money by Victoria Devine

June 2, 2026 · 38 min · Season 7

About this episode

The episode explores the financial and emotional costs associated with beauty standards and their impact on self-worth and spending habits.

Skincare, makeup, and beauty treatments. When did they first pop up on our spending radar and why? This week’s Deep Dive gets a little… deep. Bec and Jess discuss the cost of beauty standards: who sets them, sustains them, and how we might look at the whole topic with a raised (and sometimes fluffed) eyebrow.  Because, whether you overtly subscribe to them or not, beauty standards don’t just affect folks who love a trend, they have the tendency to impact our spending habits and perceptions of value, and even our self worth. And it’s not just women either, just consider the whole looksmaxxing thing.  Between the double standards, unrealistic expectations, and self-expression of it all, how have our perceptions around beauty shifted and what are we really buying into? From body hair to full-coverage foundation and the rituals of getting ready, tune in if you’ve ever wondered what we really think about the price of pretty, how we’re feeling about ‘preventative’ measures, and which standards we’re willing to bin at our next earliest convenience.  Should we share what our community actually spends on beauty…

People in this episode

Host: Victoria Devine

Guests: Bec, Jess

Topics covered

  • beauty standards
  • spending habits
  • self worth
  • looksmaxxing
  • body image
  • makeup
  • skincare

Keywords

  • beauty
  • spending
  • self-worth
  • makeup
  • skincare
  • beauty standards
  • looksmaxxing

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: She's On The Money

More episodes of She's On The Money

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the She's On The Money podcast page.