No spend beauty 2019

[Bellsandwhistle]

So after Liberty and M and S advent calanders plus a few presents I’m gonna attempt a no beauty spend 2019. Will eventually need deodorant and shampoo I guess but will see how far I can get before spending....

I am getting a great buzz from finishing stuff. Deeply satisfying..... And yes the smugness is a nice side effect!

Unexpected empty - neals yard beauty sleep concentrate. It looks like there's some left at the bottom but I can't scrape it out so onto the next.... Which is another beauty sleep concentrate that I got at Christmas it IS my favorite.

So I finished a hyaluronic acid serum the other day and decided not to bother buying another for a while.... Tonight I was digging in my bathroom cabinet and what did I find? A random hyaluronic acid serum from The Ordinary. Literally had no recollection of it!

So I guess I've got a replacement?

I bought a sweatshirt in the sale, down from $40 to $10. Am going to wear it on my return to UK next month - think it may still be chilly then. Definitely not needed here at the moment as it is 30C.

Elspeth do you use the acid serum regularly? I have never used one and perhaps I should .............................

I have been using it the last couple of years. Its just a moisture booster so it's not really essential. It's good when you get out of the shower and your skin is like paper. It drinks it up and amps up your moisturiser a lot. It's also good in hot sticky weather to use alone under sunscreen when it might be too claggy to use moisturiser. But it's nice to have, not necessary to have.

I also like hyaluronic acid serums - they are really great for dry skin to boost moisture. I'm using a superdrug one atm (it was very cheap on offer) & it's very good!

Another unexpected empty here _my burts bees tinted lip balm. I use this every day as its so lovely to add a bit of easy colour! Lips balms & lipsticks/glosses are something I have far far too many of so I'm going to resist buying another one for now & attempt to use some other options.

Thank Elspeth and tiny - I will put it on the list of 'essential purchases' on my trip back to UK.

A bit of a confession post here.

I have purchased a mascara, lipstick, eye cream and toner. My mascara is almost finished so that’s a replacement. Ditto eye cream. Toner not strictly necessary yet - travel size one as I finished one yesterday - but I was going through airport and buying eye cream and spotted it so it’s ready for next time I travel.

The lipstick was definitely not necessary! It’s a Bobbi Brown one . Tried it in Selfridges before Xmas but they didn’t have it in stock. Have been trying to wear a very similar colour that I have - a Stilla lip stain thing - but it’s very drying and I really don’t like the feel of it so I’m about to junk it. The Stilla colour is not great on me anyway - it’s not quite the same as the Bobbi Brown one - darker and more orangey. I did really like the Bobbi Brown one when I tried it and it was 20% off!

Over the last week I have used up a travel sized toner, body butter, shower gel, cleanser and a sachet of pro collagen marine cream.

This week I will try and finish up a hair product and a body lotion.

As long as you dump one you're not accumulating!

I dumped my Naked palette yesterday. I had been wavering for months but yesterday I sat down and swatched it on my arm and realised there was a reason I'm not using it. It just doesn't suit me, it's too warm toned and half of it is too dark. The light shades are very generic. So into the bin it went!

Whilst I was on a roll I dumped my Mac Burgundy X 9 palette. It's very pretty but I don't use it.

Feels very liberating. I now have only a Wet and Wild neutral quad and my Mac made up palette which has several shades I could bin, actually.

What's the point of keeping shades I don't use? They just used to sit there and berate me for my boringness, but fuck it this is who I am!

Completely agree with not keeping shades you don’t use. I should do the same. Have a Mac one I never use.

Just been putting some make up in and remembered I used up a Laura Mercier eye shadow stick yesterday. And I put on a lip gloss that is pretty much finished binned that too.

Used a hair mask in the shower to try to use it up. And got out a tub of Body Shop body butter and slathered myself in it. DH went through a stage of getting me loads of Body Shop stuff each Xmas and I still have arouund four unopened pots.

Even with recent purchases which are mainly replacements I do feel I’m getting through stuff. Slowly. Very slowly!

Well done on your progress! I have almost used up that dratted shower gel now...but got 3 more, fruity 50ml ones for Valentine's Day/my birthday, plus a 30ml hand lotion and two 50ml perfumes. Sigh. I do love the perfume though, it's lilac - my favourite scent!

I think will try to use the shower gel as bubble bath for me and for ds, although he says the lemon-lime one is 'yucky'!

Used up a bar soap, so down to 294.

Things are sloooow now and it seems like it will take years for it all to be used.

Nooo, you've used 6 products already! That's a fast start!

If you really want to make a dent, start sorting into a) duplicates and b) unwanted beauty gifts you don't even fancy using and C) samples. Then have a hard cull!

Two empties, at last that 4+ year old shower gel is gone!!! Plus a shampoo + conditioner.

Used up a leave-in for curly hair, so i'm down to 293.

Elspeth - I'm planning a spa day in which i want to used up ALL my samples! I don't have a lot, so it's doable plus i'll be the most hidrated woman on my city.

moimichme - Do you have a lot of same type of products being used at the same time? Is that why you had 4 year old shower gel? Sometimes it's a good tactic to consolidate all leftover shower gel and shampoo in a single pump bottle and use it as hand wash.

We're all on a roll!

I've finished my desk lip balm - which was a tropic one (relatively nice, wouldn't buy again.) Have so many lip balms & I thought I'd put one on my desk & apply liberally every time I saw it, which worked! Now going to replace with a nivea tin one from my stash.

Also finished up a lily Lolo mineral powder foundation (a staple/favourite in my makeup bag) but I have an almost full tropic mineral foundation so I'll use that up before repurchasing the lily Lolo.

This is my flesh coloured eye shadow - Brulee from Wet n Wild. I've had it about a year but only hit pan about 3 months ago. And look how fast it went! It was really soft. Even though there's bits around the edge I genuinely can't pick up much anymore so I think it's done.

Very exciting to be using up a whole eyeshadow!

I've also this week used up a Vitamin C Serum (Garden of Wisdom, sticky, didn't like) and a Mac cleansing oil. I have other cleansers so won't repurchase the oil as I don't think I need one. I don't think I'll buy a vitamin C Serum again, they never feel great as they're so unstable once they hit the air. Either sticky or grainy or both.

This is what I'm replacing it with - a Mac shadow also called Brulé! It's a few years old so has to go. The photo is shit but it shows it does have a dip in it already so I'm hoping it will be gone by May or so!

I’ve finished a small night cream or overnight hydration therapy as espa like to call it! Just applied a glamow mask in bath but it’s got a couple more uses left. It’s not doing much - it’s the firming one. I prefer the mud one. Also just used brow oil - this will take an age to use up and seriously has anyone ever seen a difference?!!

Brow oil? That's a new one to me!

Can we all just agree that body butter is the devil's paste? I've got heaps of it hanging around, I keep getting it in gift sets. I use it on four very sunny days a year.

I've swapped to using ameliorate body lotion and now all other body moisturisers are redundant to me as they don't actively lift dead skin cells.

Would the charity shop take unused stuff?

Bells is it the pink glitter one. Quite like this as it's peeling

Well I just spent €60 on:

Uniform trousers, several bits of running gear and a pair of slippers. Oh and a multipack of knickers. Actually not bad for the amount I got - about 8 items - but it's still a lot.

I did require all of it (as much as anyone can require running gear tbh, I could theoretically run in jeans, right?) and am throwing out an old pair of house shoes to compensate for the slippers.

No beauty purchases at all still.

woodhill no it’s a purple tube and goes on silvery colour. Nice enough but no noticeable difference whereas mud one clears skin well.
Brow oil from an advent I think and a waste of time really! Can’t say I’ve seen any difference apart from greasy eyebrows in bed!
This is why adverts etc whilst lovely when opening are a problem as you don’t really need the stuff. I’ve about a dozen diffeeemg face masks when only really one I’ve used makes much of a difference. I still dream of a slimmed down collection amc I will get there!! Eventually!!

Inthetropics I just seem to have loads of (quite nice) beauty products that were gifts that I don't use on a daily basis. E.g., I use soap usually rather than shower gel, or my favourite perfume instead of others I've been given. But I'm making an effort to work through them now, seeing as they are piling up and won't last forever.

Morris I concur! I often use body butter after shaving my legs, but it still seems to last ages! Some charities may take it, if it's clearly unopened, still in the gift set packaging...?

A conditioner used up and DH bought a replacement (we don't have a lot of extras in that category).

Well done all on making progress! We will whittle it down!