@charlotte366 Great job downsizing! I'm the same way with those mini lip sets.. I usually get sucked into the Bite lipgloss sets and then by the time I get through them I'm sick of the scent. I do like having the variety of colors though.
October has been going pretty well for me:
I haven't made any makeup purchases this month.
I finished all of the lipsticks I wanted to use up.
I tossed the rest of the items that I wasn't wearing on a weekly basis.
I started wearing eyeshadow more often.
I finished my inventory and now have only 35 products total, which I never thought I'd be able to do again!
I think everything could actually fit in one makeup bag now, which was my hope over the past two years.
Inventory
Face (7):
1 foundation
1 primer
1 finishing powder
1 concealer
2 contour powders
1 blush
Lips (14):
2 lipsticks
1 lip exfoliate
1 lip balm
10 lip gloss minis
Eyes (14):
1 eyeshadow primer
1 eyeliner
1 mascara
11 eyeshadows
Going forward I might purchase one or two more things in the blush/lipstick/lipgloss categories.
Blush - I have 1 rose blush (it's the same color I turn when I'm really blushing) that I now wear everyday and I'm actually seeing progress on it already. I would love to just wear 2-3 blushes and use them up regularly. I'm planning on purchasing a peach one and maybe a nude one.
Lipstick - I used up the rest of my lipsticks and purchased 1 dusty rose and 1 wine colored purple, both of which I'm really loving for Fall. I'm thinking about getting a nude, pink, and coral for Spring/Summer.. but I might just wear my lipglosses in those shades. Not really sure yet.
Lipgloss - I have 10 minis left from the Bite set I got in the Spring and I'm enjoying wearing those. Once they're used up, I'm going to try and resist getting another set and just buy a few of my favorite colors in full sizes.
As for eyeshadows, I think I'm okay for now. I'm considering a second palette of 9 but I want to at least hit pan on a few in my current one first. As long as I stay under 20 I think that's reasonable for me.
This is sooo impressive to me! My voice of reason is telling me that this is just a perfect, streamlined kit, containing only things that you love. You can use hings up regularly and repurchase/add items without any bad conscience. I kinda wish I could snap my fingers and suddenly have a collection like this.
Last week, I failed miserably, because I purchased two Paintpots and a Patentpolish from Mac's fall collection, adding them to the palette and the lipstick I already purchased from the same collection the week before. Re-reading my posts here where I stated I wasn't going to splurge on that collection, I'm feeling ashamed because I didn't even stay true to my own words. Two carefully picked items are okay-ish, but five aren't in my case. And darn, around 130 Euros for things I honestly didn't need (cannot return them because of the policy here). At the moment, I'm having a very stressful time at uni and I'm working 2x the amount of my regular shifts at my job till the end of the year, so I must have lost my sense somehow when I purchased those things. I'm also catching myself stress-eating sweets and crisps so many times. Don't wanna moan, but I clearly see that all that stress triggers my behavior.
Therefore, I'm starting a no-buy on color cosmetics until the end of 2015 (I said it! I said it!). I tended to to that "2-3 pieces per collection" thing way too long. But at the moment, I need to face a challenge, I think. A shopping fast is gonna be good for me, I hope. This way, I hope to
use the stuff I already own, I mean, I don't even get the time to use the things I got when there's new stuff flooding in regularly. Even two or three new items are too much when one's already got a lot of stuff waiting to be tried properly. I'll also have to cope skipper's remorse, I think (holiday collections - unsubscribing from certain threads asap), but it'll make me strong after all. The only things I'm allowed to buy are powder/concealer/foundation because I know I'll run out of them, and skincare (face). Since my 2 foundation brushes are shedding like crazy, I might repurchase 2 reasonably priced ones. The only real exception to me is gonna be an (one!) item from the UDxGwen Stefani collection, which I'll put on my christmas list.
My stash is pretty big and would be a dream come true for so many people, and I feel like it's time to
really appreciate it. Therefore, I'm changing my former approach. 10 weeks until new year's eve is not super long, and I'm sure I'll be really proud and happy afterwards. Besides, christmas time will offer me lots of distractions (baking, shopping for gifts, social events) as an outlet for stress. It really bothers me how I always give in to those triggers and get tricked to buy stuff, because I actually know about the psycological processes behind everything.
I've also made a list of 10 items I plan to finish until 2016:
- Bare Again Lipstick
- You've Got It Cremesheen Glass
- Dirty Blonde Fluidline for brows
- Nightshade Fluidline
- It's Physical Fluidline
- Blacktrack Fluidline
- Benefit They're Real liner
- Dainty Blush
- A Wish Come True eyeshadow
- Pure Flash Electric Cool Shadow
Concentrating on so many liners at once might not be the best technique, but It's Physical rather suits me as an eyeshadow and Nightshade is super patchy and won't turn opaque most times, so I'll try it some more times to see if it's worth keeping at all. If one item gets crossed out, I'll add another one to the list.