October 2014 No/Low Buy: Hugs, Commiseration, and Confessional

[TooMuchElectric]

- Nail Polish: Late 2013/Early 2014 I slightly lost my mind and had a bit of a nail polish binge. As in I went from maybe two polishes that had been around since high school to over 200. Yeah. So I am finally embarking on a project to cut back on polishes. I'm going to start by working my way through wearing each of my minis and see what to keep, what to trade, and what to trash, then work through my Juleps, then the rest of my polishes. I'll keep my tools since they don't take up too much space and will always be useful, but the horde I've got going on has got to go.

Um, yes, hello, we are nail polish twins. From 2 to over 200 starting in November 2013, when I signed up for Julep.

Edit: I've cut back my polish purchasing, but only very recently.

 

[goldendarter]

Um, yes, hello, we are nail polish twins. From 2 to over 200 starting in November 2013, when I signed up for Julep.

Edit: I've cut back my polish purchasing, but only very recently.

We really are twins! Julep was my first step down that road too! I will say that once I noticed I was buying repeat colors that I already had a version of I stopped pretty quickly. Indie polishes are still a weakness, but I just don't keep up with them anymore so it's easier not to be tempted. Not to mention nail polishes are kind of hard to store, what with the weird bottle shapes (I'm looking at you Sally Hansen), so once I ran out of storage space I had to make myself stop, ha.

 

[tulosai]

So I am working my way through my samples ( a good thing!) but think I've found a new HG product and REALLY want to buy it (a bad thing). 

Sigh.  No buys are hard.  I will probably let myself purchase it in November.

 

[tulosai]

Woo hoo, solved my problem by trading for enough of the item to get me through to November!

 

[JuliaGhostx3]

I'm having a dilemma. xD 
I had this English teacher once, my absolute favourite teacher of all time. 
He's a huge zombie fan. 
And I found this thing that he would probably really appreciate.

Spoiler

http://www.demeterfragrance.com/757765/products/Zombie-for-Him.html   

But I don't know if I should do it or not. I could probably find other cooler zombie-themed items in the future when I actually have a job. 
What do you guys think? Don't do it?

 

[saku]

I'm having a dilemma. xD 

I had this English teacher once, my absolute favourite teacher of all time. 

He's a huge zombie fan. 

And I found this thing that he would probably really appreciate.

Spoiler

http://www.demeterfragrance.com/757765/products/Zombie-for-Him.html   

But I don't know if I should do it or not. I could probably find other cooler zombie-themed items in the future when I actually have a job. 

What do you guys think? Don't do it?

could it be that you're just finding an excuse to spend? not saying you are, but that happens to me - i think of things to buy people so i can spend. for me, it's because it's hard to get rid of the habit of constantly purchasing.

just a thought.  /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

 

[tulosai]

I think gifts should not be counted against a no buy BUT I think it is important to ask yourself the question mentioned above: Am I getting this just to buy something or am I getting it because I genuinely want to buy this person something and it would be appropriate to do so. 

 

[Elena K]

Confession: I placed an order for bunch of stuff I don't really need (but want, and it was on sale). And this stuff wasn't even limited edition or anything like that. My only redemption is that I'm starting a new job next week, which somewhat alleviates tight budged problem. Plus I spend the half a day shopping for new work clothes, and I hate shopping for dress pants with passion, as nothing ever fits right. So, I felt that I deserve the reward, and this stuff was sitting in my cart for a few days. Still I spend $40+, and I feel bad about it.  /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

Also, I had a dilemma about buying pricey "thank you" cards at Papirus today...I ended up buying the cards, I think it was a right thing to do. They are for people who were my references, and I want them to know that there help was appreciated. 

@@goldendarter, @@TooMuchElectric - I went from 2 to about 30 nail polishes this summer, when I decided to do my own nails, and I thought that was bad  /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" /> 

 

[DragonChick]

Also, I had a dilemma about buying pricey "thank you" cards at Papirus today...I ended up buying the cards, I think it was a right thing to do. They are for people who were my references, and I want them to know that there help was appreciated. 

Nono, getting the cards was definitely the right thing to do. It's amazing what thoughtful gestures like that can do to people.

 

[jaylilee]

Thanks guys! It's good to be back.

As of last post I acquired an item...though it wasn't via purchase. I swapped away a brush I didn't necessarily enjoy for mac's soft and gentle, which I've wanted for years. it's quite beautiful but now I wonder if I need it? I already have nars albatross and the mari lou-manizer highlighter.. i guess i'll be highlighting my face for the next 5 years non stop XD!

 

[eastofthesun]

 I want to do even more and do a stash purge/clean out.

I am still doing the envelope method, and I'm doing pretty well, but a friend of mine had a jamberry nail party and I wanted to order some to support her- so I spent $40 there. For the same friend I placed an order on Sephora for her birthday present.

That'll be a total of $58 for October, if I count the jamberry wraps. I actually might sell some of those on Ebay because honestly, I'm not a fan of how they feel on my nails.

So, I made my returns, well, almost all of them. The things I ordered that I knew would be going back are actually eyelash curlers- and there's a reason I ordered them with the intention to return. I can never find one that fits my eye without pinching. So I ordered 5 different kinds. I'm going to see which one fits, keep it, and disinfect and return the others. They may or may not resell them... but I wish they would have eyelash curler testers so we could see if they actually fit our eyes before buying! I know it's still bad to do that, but I can't try them on in store so... there it goes.

If the

Spoiler

Lorac Mega PRO

were to go on sell right now, I'd snap it up despite my no-buy. However, it's out of stock, and may or may not return for sale until later this month. Also, I've been fairly good at talking myself out of buying things recently, so maybe by then I'll do the same thing with this.

I want to share with you guys a new thing I've been doing to keep my impulse purchases at bay. I'll get it together soon and will share!!!

How's everyone doing? It's the 17th! So we're a little over halfway through the month! I hope everyone is staying strong!

Keep in mind that pretty soon there will be some holiday deals trying to pull on our purse strings.

Spoiler

Sephora will have blitz bags, Black Friday sales, 20% off sales, Advent calendar stuff

so just keep that in mind- it will be a temptation so just be prepared.

Stay strong everyone!

 

[eastofthesun]

Sorry for the double post!

 

[saku]

baahhhh i have to buy a replacement gimme brow but can't pull the trigger! i don't wanna spend! lol

 

[CurlyTails]

I'm still doing good. I was at the mall today to pick up something and decided to go to Sephora. I wasn't even tempted to buy anything. Right now I'm really focused on organizing and using stuff up.

 

[tulosai]

I'm still doing good. I was at the mall today to pick up something and decided to go to Sephora. I wasn't even tempted to buy anything. Right now I'm really focused on organizing and using stuff up.

Way to go!!! Me too!!! I am clearing out my stash and I feel SO MUCH BETTER

 

[wadedl]

I bought the Wine and Cheese Memebox, bah! The only other purchase was something holiday which was planned and it is already sold out at least for now.

Spoiler

 GUERLAIN METEORITES PERLES D’etoiles, I have always wanted to try the Guerlain Meteorites and from the moment I saw them I knew these were the ones. 

 

 

[miss lawson]

Over halfway through the month! I am ashamed to admit that I fell off the wagon, but I actually am in love with everything that I did purchase. It's all limited edition holiday stuff: 

Spoiler

I got the Buxom Lip Gloss Roulette thing and the Under the Mistletoe set from Too Faced. The lipsticks are flattering and fabulous and I'm in love with the formula, and the lip glosses have made me realize that Buxom has become my go-to gloss brand. I tend to fly through these fairly quickly, so hopefully they won't linger too long. I'm feeling this weird mix of guilty and pleased - guilty because I do not need more stuff, but pleased because I've been enjoying everything and using it quite a bit.

Whew, glad to have that out of the way. I kind of slunk away and hid for a while because I was so guilty and embarrassed! I'm glad I came and confessed, though. I do feel better.

I've been reading into-mind's stuff quite a bit and I have to say, I'm really digging that kind of minimalist lifestyle, especially when it comes to fashion and beauty. Definitely, absolutely when it comes to makeup. Her seasonal makeup kit is so small, but it's so incredibly versatile. I've added that kind of makeup kit to my list of goals because really, it's what I think would work best for me. While I was cleaning things out, it became pretty clear that I tend to go for the same types of products and colors, I'm not particularly adventurous when it comes to colors and looks, and the things that had dents in them are the things I use to create more minimalist, bare-faced looks.

Now, I need to just stop buying crap and work on whittling down my collection so it's much, much smaller.

It is a very daunting thought.

 

[West Coast Beauty Addict]

I sorted through my stash which was mostly accumulated through subs and mystery sample boxes.

I canceled all my subs except Fortune Cookie Soap.

I will probably cancel after the winter box.  

I will likely resub to birchbox with a code as I just spent all my points on a gift for my mom.  I am only 50 points from Aces and I will do a bunch of Christmas shopping with them as they are one of the few places I can get free shipping on the BKR bottles that I am giving several people for Christmas.

I swatched the hourglass blush palatte at Sephora last week and I must be the only person who doesn't like it.  It didn't do anything different than a drugstore blush would.  So I am sending mine back.  

Spoiler

I have been looking for a plum type blush. I probably won't wear it often so I am going to look at Ulta or CVS and see what I can find. It seems silly to spend $30+ for a blush I won't wear much.

 

[West Coast Beauty Addict]

@@miss lawson

I tend to favor 2 types of eyeshadow nude and purple.  I even had a brand new unopened palette

Spoiler

The ELF Good Vs Evil Disney Palette with the 2 sets of eye shadow 1 eyeliner and 2 lippies

My brother was over and he picked it up and said don't you have all these colors already.  That was kind of an eye opener.  That one is going back now.  

And will not buy any eye shadow for myself until after Christmas unless I run out of my base cream shade (not likely as I can probably find a dupe in my stash).

 

[Oshare-girl]

I sorted through my stash which was mostly accumulated through subs and mystery sample boxes.

I canceled all my subs except Fortune Cookie Soap.

I will probably cancel after the winter box.

I will likely resub to birchbox with a code as I just spent all my points on a gift for my mom. I am only 50 points from Aces and I will do a bunch of Christmas shopping with them as they are one of the few places I can get free shipping on the BKR bottles that I am giving several people for Christmas.

I swatched the hourglass blush palatte at Sephora last week and I must be the only person who doesn't like it. It didn't do anything different than a drugstore blush would. So I am sending mine back.

Spoiler

I have been looking for a plum type blush. I probably won't wear it often so I am going to look at Ulta or CVS and see what I can find. It seems silly to spend $30+ for a blush I won't wear much.

Good job on canceling your subs for now. You can always resub later. I too was in Sephora today swatching stuff and tried the Hourglass blush palette. I am SO glad I did because now I have no desire to get it. The plummy color didn't show up at all and the other two looked the same on my skin. Phew, so glad I didn't buy it. The palette is super pretty to look at but I know I would never reach for it.