As you know, I decided to go on some sort of a beauty spending ban this year so that the whole going overboard with advent calendars situation does not happen again. It probably will as I will somehow make sure that I will have the allowance for it, but that at least means that I used up some products. Using up products seem to be my biggest problem. I decided to to go on this shopaholic style ban not only after seeing the amount of products I amassed from the advent calendars on top of the filing up two underneath the bed drawers that I got from IKEA mid 2019, but also because I realised that I did not finish a single product in the whole of 2018. That is no okay!
I have to admit that I did make some purchases before I actually had an allowance, but it was some sort of s special situation. I know this sounds like an excuse, but I promise you it is not. I really did not have a shampoo that worked well on my hair at the place where I spend most of my time these days.
Which brings me to my list of purchases:
- 6 star bath bombs from Sephora – £1 each – total £6
- Nivea Micellar Detox Shampoo – £2
- Elseve Oil Shampoo – £2
- Hollywood Skin Boob Sheet Mask – £5
- Sephora Pillow Talk Mousse Hand Wash – £3
- Sephora Snowglobes bath bombs – 2x£4 so a total of £8
- Dior Glow Lip Oil – £28
- Sephora Penguin Bath Salts -£2
- Sephora Mountains Bath Salts -£2
- Sephora Watermelon Stick Mask -£8
- Pupa Cleansing Balm -£9
- Nail Care File System – £8
- Miniso Cotton Pads – £2
- Miniso Brush -£4
- Pure Hydrating Toner – £10
- Corn Micellar Water – £1
- IGK First Class Detox Dry Shampoo -£23
- L’Occitane Purifying Shampoo -£20
- L’Occitane Purifying Shampoo Refill -£10
Total amount spent: £153
List of empties:
- Dior Hydra Life Balancing Hydration 2 in 1 Sorbet Water – worth £28.50 so £14.25 allowance
- Hollywood Skin Boob Sheet Mask – worth £5 so £2.50 allowance
- Dr Dennis Gross Alpha Beta Ultra Gentle Peel Daily Peel – 30 treatments worth £89 – used 2 treatments each worth £2.90 so £2.90 allowance
- Nivea Cotton Rounds Pack – used 1 pack worth £2 so £1 allowance
- Sephora Little Start Bath Bombs – used 2 worth £2 so £1 allowance
- Sephora Snowball Bath Bomb – one box is worth £4 so 1 is worth £1.33 thus I get £0.66 allowance
- Drunk Elephant Protini™ Polypeptide Cream – a 50ml jar is £57 so my 5ml is worth £5.7 thus I get an allowance of £2.85
- IGK First Class Dry Shampoo -£11.5 allowance as I got a replacement for £23
- Skin Laundry Hydrating Facial Sheet Mask – a box of 8 is worth £38 so 1 is worth £4.75 and since I used one I get half that as allowance thus I am getting £2.37
- Christophe Robin Cleansing Purifying Scrub with Sea Salt – £40 for 250ml and since mine is only 75ml then it means it is worth £12. I get a £6 allowance from this.
Empties allowance: £45.03
Extra allowance on reviews:
- Kure Bazaar Nail Polish in Cherie – £5
- IGK Mistress Hydrating Balm– £5
- Hollywood Skin Boob Sheet Mask – £5
- TooFaced Better Than Sex Mascara – £5
- Sephora Rouge Satin Lipstick – £5
- IGK First Class Dry Shampoo – £5
- Pixi Glow Tonic To Go Pads – £5
- Zitsticka Killa Acne Patch – £5
- Dr Organic Manuka Honey Rescue Cream – £5
Reviews allowance: £45
Extra allowance on Instagram:
- Better than Sex Mascara – £1
- Hollywood Body Secrets Sheet Mask – £1
Instagram allowance: £2
Total allowance: £92.03
These are only post that I actually wrote in January and that were not even drafted from before. I decided not to include any previous drafts that got published or scheduled posts.
So in January I spent £153 and I managed to get an allowance of £92.03. This means that my opening balance for February is a -60.97 GBP which is pretty bad. This is significantly higher than the max of -50 GBP which I promised to allow myself at any given time.
I know that I could say that the experiment failed, but I honestly do not feel this way. January was a transition month for me, I recently moved and did not take many beauty products with me thus the reason why I needed to purchase quite a few things. I also did a bit of retail therapy which I admit to, but I am working overtime on a very important project which is putting me under a lot of pressure. This project is taking me away from my day to day desk and since I am a new joiner, I have no idea how things are supposed to be done and since it is the beginning of the year, there are many things to be done and I have no one to turn to for advice. Not really! I am still unclear on the hierarchy and stuff and I simply feel lost at this time, especially today. I feel like I am loosing control over my life and time and that is exactly what I never wanted to feel.
Okay, rant over. Sorry if I bored you or even worse burden you with my issues. I am just so overwhelmed it is not even funny. I am trying to keep afloat and shopping helps me do that, even if it is most likely just an illusion. This is why I love the world of beauty so much, it allows me to get lost and forget about my trouble even for a little bit. However, this is also the reason why I started the shopping ban.
Anyway, this was a way longer explanation than I ever planned on writing. However, before I end this, I have to say that I am proud of the results. They might not be according to the plan I created, but I do think that the plan is good for me. While I did spend quite a bit on beauty, I spent significantly less in one month than I have any other month for the past two years, Yes! It had gotten that bad. But most of all, I am proud of the fact that I pushed myself to write more reviews and use up more products rather than just keep them laying around.
I just hope that I will do better next month. Actually, scratch that. I will do better next month.
Have any of you tried any version of a shopping ban this January?
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