The "tiktok purchases" trend is very much happening, people are posting hauls, confessions, testimonials, all of it, and I have been watching it from the very specific vantage point of someone who has made purchases she was not entirely prepared to defend. The TikTok algorithm got me. Multiple times. In multiple product categories. And I think the honest thing is to sit here and go through the receipts with you, category by category, verdict by verdict.
I'm not gonna pretend I'm immune to the dopamine of "this product will specifically solve this problem in my life." I know how these videos work, the problem framing, the before and after, the specific testimonial from someone whose life circumstances mirror yours enough that you think: yes, that person is me, and their problem is my problem, and their solution could be my solution. I've watched the video. I've purchased the thing. I've had feelings about the thing.
Here is my full confession audit, with verdicts. Some of these are embarrassing. All of them are true.
The Music/Studio Category: Split Record
A portable audio interface that was going viral because it was cheap and people were claiming it sounded almost as good as the more expensive one I already owned. Verdict: it did not sound almost as good. It was fine for casual use. Not fine for tracking vocals that I'm actually going to keep, which is what I wanted it for. I use it sometimes for demos I'll immediately throw away. As a demo-trash interface it serves its purpose. As a meaningful upgrade or replacement for my main setup, it was not the product the TikTok presented it as. My main interface still runs everything that matters.
A cheap microphone stand with a clip-on phone holder, which was all over the creator TikToks as a two-in-one solution for people who film themselves recording. Verdict: actually good. Not great, but good. The stand is stable enough for what I do. The phone holder is slightly flimsy and I don't fully trust it with my better phone over a hard floor, but for filming with the backup phone at a low-risk angle it's been reliable for six months. And the price was low enough that "reliable for six months, maybe replace it annually" is an acceptable outcome. I'd buy it again.
A tube of a very specific guitar string lubricant that someone in the recording TikTok world was claiming changed their string life dramatically. Verdict: I cannot definitively confirm or deny the effect on string life because I replace my strings on a regular schedule anyway and my baseline is probably different from the person in the video. It doesn't hurt anything. Sunday smells slightly different now. Whether the lubricant is doing something or whether I'm just maintaining strings the way I was maintaining them before but with an extra step and an extra product, I genuinely cannot tell. Neutral with a slight edge toward waste.
The Lifestyle Category: Mostly Guilty
A ceramic mug with a very specific feature, a lid that seals properly and a handle designed to reduce spilling, that went viral for people who drink coffee at their desks and have been traumatized by keyboard spills. I have been traumatized by keyboard spills. I bought the mug. Verdict: the lid seals fine. The handle is comfortable. I have not spilled on the keyboard since I started using it, though I can't be certain this is the mug's doing versus me just being more careful because I now have a mug I'm conscious of. It fits in my hand well. The coffee stays warm longer. This is a win. I'm keeping the mug. The mug is named Terrence and Terrence has never let me down.
A pack of very small adhesive hooks that went viral as a studio organization solution, you put them on walls and surfaces and hang small items from them. Verdict: transformative in the most mundane way possible. I have seven of them now. My headphone cable hangs from one. My tuner hangs from one. A small pouch of guitar picks hangs from one. I stop looking for these things ten times a day, which means I save approximately one hour per week of low-grade frustrated searching. The hooks cost six dollars. The value-to-cost ratio is off the charts. This is the TikTok purchase that I'm most evangelically in favor of.
An enormous water bottle with time markers on the side telling you how much you should have drunk by each hour of the day. Verdict: I hated the time markers immediately because they made me feel judged by my own hydration container. I put a piece of tape over them. The bottle itself is fine and holds a lot of water. The motivational copy on the container, "drink up! almost there!" does not motivate me; it annoys me. I am not here to be cheerled by plastic. The bottle now just holds water with the tape covering the markers and my feelings about it are neutral.
A set of "mindfulness" flash cards with prompts and quotes. Verdict: I used three of them and put the rest in a drawer. The ones I used were fine. The quotes were not offensive but were also not revelatory. The exercise of reading a flash card and reflecting on it is not compatible with my working style, which is basically "hyperfocused for six-hour stretches and then completely unresponsive to any stimulus that requires stopping and being reflective." The cards are in the drawer. They'll probably move to the donate pile. I paid eight dollars for this lesson in my own psychology.
The Clothes/Accessories Category: Mostly Miss
A pair of chunky-soled boots that went viral because they were at a price point that seemed impossible for the look. The look was exactly the aesthetic I wanted. I ordered them. Verdict: they look right and they are actively uncomfortable to wear for more than three hours. The sole is so thick that the flex is wrong and after an hour my feet are fighting the shoe rather than moving with it. I wear them for TikTok videos shot from a standing position and I take them off immediately after filming. As a prop they're fine. As footwear they're a betrayal of the promises made by the video.
A wide-brim hat that a musician I follow was wearing in a video, which she mentioned was from a specific viral listing. Verdict: perfect. Bought it. Love it. It fits well, it's made of material that doesn't crumple weirdly in a bag, and it looks right with my whole thing. This was an impulse purchase that paid off, which happens occasionally and keeps me from fully curing myself of impulse purchases.
A skincare thing, I'll be vague because the specifics matter less than the lesson, that was being positioned in a viral video as a "dupe" for a very expensive version of the same product. Verdict: the dupe was fine in the way that most dupes are fine, which is to say it did approximately the thing without doing it as well, which is what "dupe" means and I knew this going in. If the original is a nine and the dupe is a seven, and the price difference is significant, seven might be acceptable. In this case the price difference was enough that I'll keep using the dupe and not feel bad about it. Functional purchase. Not exciting. Does the job.
The Verdict on TikTok Purchasing as a Practice
What I've learned from this audit is that TikTok purchase decisions sort into roughly three categories for me. Category one: things that solve a real problem I actually have, at a price where "it's fine but not transformative" is still an acceptable outcome. These are usually the good purchases, the hooks, the mug, the hat. Category two: things that solve a problem I was convinced to have by the video itself. These are usually the mediocre purchases, the mindfulness cards, the hydration container with motivational time markers. Category three: things where the video made something look significantly better than it is in real life. These are the bad purchases, the boots, the interface I didn't need, the humidifier from last month's list.
The algorithm is very, very good at category two. It learns what you've watched and what you've engaged with and it builds a picture of the problems you can be made to feel, and then it serves you the solutions to those problems. The solution is not necessarily wrong. The problem might even be real, now that the algorithm has named it. But the first question, did I feel this need before I watched this video, is worth asking every single time.
My success rate on TikTok purchases is probably around fifty percent, which sounds bad until I consider that my pre-TikTok purchase rate on impulse buys was probably similar and I just wasn't tracking it. The tracking is the important part. Know what you bought. Know if it worked. Let the receipts teach you something about yourself. I'm learning. Terrence the mug is on my desk right now and everything is fine. The flash cards are in the drawer and that's fine too. The boots are in the corner looking dramatic and that's their whole job now.