Banned!

Good Day Everyone,

As we’ve come to the end of March, I'm now half way through my six month makeup purchasing ban and so I thought I’d let you know how I’ve got on thus far. I had several reasons for imposing this ban on myself. Firstly, I’ve probably bought more makeup in this last year than in the last decade. The main reason for this is now that I am no longer working I have a lot more time on my hands to explore and play around with products. As I had a few special occasions last year that I decided to do my own makeup for, I went on a bit of spending splurge to update (or rather create) my makeup collection. This ignited some kind of suppressed passion for makeup, especially eye shadows and products that make my skin glow. When I had my career I didn’t work a nine to five job. I worked pretty long hours with a fair bit of overseas travel and whilst airport duty free might seem like an ideal place to indulge, I was usually sat in some coffee shop tapping away on my laptop trying to finish a presentation and never had the time to indulge.

Birthday makeup

Secondly, makeup isn’t (always) cheap and as we have a few big expenses this year I wanted to try and save our pennies by spending less. It’s a little ironic that when we had a higher disposable income I was too busy with my career to have time to enjoy makeup and now that I have the time we obviously don’t have the same kind of disposable income with me not working. 

Thirdly, the thing with makeup is that I rarely finish it. My collection only ever grows because most makeup products are rarely completely used up, and the more I have the less likely I am to finish something. Therefore I wanted to try and use up what I have.

Fourthly, I was getting to a stage where I would sometimes forget about a makeup product that I really loved until I accidentally came across it again. I think that’s more likely to happen when I have more and so I really wanted to take time out from buying new products and simply appreciate the ones that I have.

Also, a girlie chat with my best friend back in December scared me a little... in that I had a realisation. I was talking to her about the Revlon Lip Butters (reviewed here and here) that I’d bought at Singapore airport and how I loved the three colours I’d picked up, but now being in England I’d seen a couple more shades in Boots that I really wanted, but had to stop myself as I already have five Lip Butters. My friend looked a little aghast and asked how many different colours of lip products could I actually want / wear as she just has two – a pink and a red. When I sat there with her and easily recalled twenty different colours just of the top of my head and explained that I had a makeup bag full of just lip products she asked whether I have some sort of makeup addiction. I explained I don’t, just a passion for pretty colours. My friend laughed and said that I could try and justify it however I wanted but seriously what I had could easily last me for several years. Of course I knew she was right and so the seeds of a makeup ban were sown into my subconscious… thanks Lucy!

So those were the main reasons for my self-imposed makeup purchasing ban. Within a few weeks of the ban I noticed that Sephora in Singapore started to stock Tarte products and there was a blush that had my name on it... literally...glisten, which clearly is meant for me but I have stuck to my ban and resisted. I also recently discovered theBalm cosmetics in Singapore for the first time and they had 20% off but again I stuck to my guns. I think one of the reasons I’ve managed to stick to the ban is because my husband is convinced that I will cave in at some point. Now I see that as a challenge and I like to rise to a challenge... or he might just be being clever and using reverse psychology to get me to not buy anymore makeup ;o).

In all seriousness though, I have really enjoyed just using the makeup that I have. I recently reorganised the way I stored my makeup and in the process had a bit of a clear out and got rid of things that I’d had for way too long. Just that process of having a tidy up gave me a better handle on what I actually have in my collection. I now have things organised in a much better way and have pulled out some products that are close to finishing that I am focusing on using up. 

I had noticed that I was falling into a bit of makeup rut where I would use the same products again and again and so with my recent tidy up I now also have a bit of a rotation system going with some of my products just so that I get to appreciate a little bit of everything that I have in my collection. 

Finally I guess another factor that has made this little makeup ban more bearable is that fact that I’ve had my birthday since the new year and obviously got makeup as presents, including my first ever Dior lip product (review) as well as the Urban Decay Naked 3 palette. So I guess I’ve not really gone cold turkey as such, although with no special occasions coming up in the next three months, plus the fact that I’m going to be transiting through several duty free airports, now is when my will power really will get put to the test. Let’s see if I continue to rise to the challenge!

Have you ever imposed a makeup or other kind of purchasing ban on yourself? How did you get on?

Love Sheen xxx