As one of the best-known beauty gurus in the Netherlands, Mascha has been receiving packages continuously for years. And she still gets questions about it to this day. ‘People often ask me how much free stuff I get sent to me. Previously, that was a minimum of five packages a day. Maybe one or two of these were from brands I know, but also a lot of packages from companies I’d never heard of. For example, Polish deodorant brands, of which I thought: how the hell did you get my address?’ she writes.
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In the beginning Mascha really liked all those packages, but soon she started to think differently. ‘Nothing is for nothing. They always wanted free advertising space in return, and often an email followed shortly after whether I was going to do something with it. Sometimes it was even more compelling: ‘When will it be in your vlog; where is it?’ Fuck off, I didn’t ask for that stuff at all, did I?’ said the influencer.
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Sometimes, she said, there were quite valuable products among them. ‘Sometimes I was sent exclusive perfumes for 450 euros. And I once accidentally received twice the Christmas collection worth 5000 euros from a luxury beauty brand. The worst part was: I couldn’t use most of the stuff I got sent to me. Then I would fish out three products and the rest ended up in big boxes that went to friends, family or charities.’
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Because Mascha often had press trips abroad during that period, she was not always at home to receive the packages. ‘At one point I even found an angry note in the mailbox from my postman: don’t order if you’re never home! I didn’t want to feel obliged to show products in my vlogs all the time. I am then a thief of my own wallet, because those companies can also advertise with me. I also felt increasingly concerned about the major impact that all those packages have on the environment. I then decided not to accept anything that I get sent randomly.’
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Mascha previously also announced that the influencer life is not always a bed of roses:
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