Hello everyone! Happy New Year!
I just went back through this thread to reminisce on my posts and...I never really posted. I guess I really kept it to my bullet journal for the most part. So, even though I haven't kept y'all updated on how things are going, I still wanted to participate in an end of year recap!
2017 Recap:
I did a lot of life things in 2017. I got married. I went to multiple friends weddings. I went on a few small trips. I went on my honeymoon.
In regards to makeup, I spent a lot of time during the first half of the year trying to figure out what I wanted my wedding makeup to look like and then finding suitable products. I did my makeup and hair myself because we got married in a different city than where we live, and I had no opportunity to have a trial with anyone. This lead to some spending that I would say is out of the norm for me since I wanted "special" products, and I also was trying different things to discover what would work best for me.
My honeymoon was in August, and my husband and I had saved up quite a bit so that we would be able to do as many fun things as possible without feeling guilt or like we needed to hold back. We had an amazing time!
After the honeymoon is the period of 2017 when I really started to evaluate my relationship with shopping. I did a lot of self reflection and found that I do think I had some kind of shopping problem. I say this because I've never really stuck to any sort of budget that I have laid out for myself. I've never gone so far as to be in debt because of it or cause any real and serious issues, but I do realize that it could become an issue. I think the shopping problem used to be much worse. I do think that in 2017 I improved and I know that in 2018 I improved even more. But, I still decided to do a replacement only no buy in 2019.
Along those lines, I also feel like my idea of what is "normal" or "okay" to pay for cosmetics has become way too inflated. I've spent enough time shopping at Sephora/Nordstrom/Neiman's that I no longer have sticker shock over things that I probably SHOULD still have sticker shock over. I'm not saying that luxury products aren't ever worth it to me or that I don't enjoy indulging. But, for me personally and where I'm at in life, I shouldn't look at luxury makeup and not pause and want to know why it's that price, what makes it special, etc. I would like to reset my mind back to how it was before I became desensitized to certain prices.
I also decided in 2018 that I needed to stop flitting all over the place when it came to skincare. I feel like watching YouTube and browsing Instagram has normalized a 10 step or greater skincare routine. And often the morning and evening routines are comprised of entirely different products, and sometimes they even change day to day. In late November I severely cut back on skincare and I also chose one skincare brand to primarily purchase from. It was kind of exhausting to try to mix and match various brands, figure out if ingredients would clash, try to determine if the products could be used together or if I was duplicating steps, etc etc. I am way happier with my skincare now, and I feel like it's been more effective.
I also went on a no buy right after Black Friday for 1 month. I took one day off the no buy and bought 3 things - a new eye cream (I ran out of mine shortly after my no buy started) and 2 of the Tarte Chrome Paint eyeshadows (they had been on my wishlist for months, and I decided to go ahead and get them before my year long no buy started). I debated purchasing the Natasha Denona Gold palette, but I came to my senses and didn't buy it.
And with that, I am transitioning to the 2019 thread to post my specific replacement only no buy rules.
/ In Heavy Rotation:
@
