Yes, I realise that the name of these posts keeps changing, but I have no idea what to call them. Help me? Pretty please! Now that we got my begging out of the way. let’s see what this last month had in store for me (no pun intended) and what my progress or lack-thereof looks like.
Beauty Purchases
| Product Name | Price in £ |
| Net-a-Porter Beauty Advent Calendar | 238 |
| Sephora Collection All Over Solid Cleanser Watermelon | 4.47 |
| Sephora Collection All Over Solid Cleanser Cactus | 4.47 |
| Merci Handy New Wave Cleansing Gel | 2.23 |
| Fa Cleansing Gel | 2.23 |
| SkinCity Beauty Advent Calendar | 110 |
| Latest in Beauty Box | 16.90 |
| LookFantastic Beauty Boxes (set of 3) | 30 |
| Bye Bye Blemish Water Activated Dissolving Cleansing Sheets | 9.84 |
| Jo Malone White Moss & Snowdrop 100ml | 105 |
| Oh My Cream Beauty Advent Calendar | 145 |
| Huxley Moroccan Gardener Body Wash 300ml | 27 |
| Marks and Spencer Naughty List Hand Wash & Hand Lotion Duo | 5 |
| Percy and Reed Perfectly Perfecting Wonder Balm 75ml | 18 |
| Marks and Spencer Winter Spiced Apple Bath Foam 500ml | 7.5 |
| Marks and Spencer Absolute Sleep Cream with CBD Oil 50ml | 25 |
| The Body Shop Mango Hand Cleanse Gel | 2.5 |
| The Body Shop Festive Berry Body Yogurt | 9 |
| The Body Shop Winter Jasmine Body Yogurt | 9 |
| The Body Shop Winter Jasmine Fragrance Mist | 8 |
| The Body Shop Warm Vanilla Hand Cream | 5 |
| Cult Beauty Skin Savers Edit | 45 |
| Sephora Collection Gentle pH Balancing Toner | 12.60 |
| Belif Pore Cleaner Blackhead Buster | 26.15 |
| Nature Box Avocado Oil Solid Shampoo | 5 |
Allowance from Empties
Wei Beauty Brown Sugar Ready Glow Exfoliating Mask – each worth £6.13 and I used up two so my allowance is £6.13
Ziaja Hand Cleansing Wash Gel full size – each worth £3.65 and I used 3 so my allowance is £5.46
Christophe Robin Cleansing Purifying Scrub with Sea Salt 40ml – worth £6.4 so my alliance is £3.2
Wei Beauty Golden Root Purifying Mud Mask – worth £4.07 so my allowance from this item is £2.03
Oribe Gold Lust Repair & Restore Shampoo 15m – worth £2.75 so this leads to an allowance of £1.37
Oribe Gold Lust Repair & Restore Conditioner 15ml – worth £3.6 so the allowance gained from this item is £1.8
Nivea Fresh Blends Apricot, Mango and Rice Milk Shower Gel – worth £4.3 so the allowance is £2.15
By Wishtrend Natural Vitamin 21.5% Enhancing Sheet Mask – worth £4 so my allowance is £2
Zitsticka Killa Patch – I used up one which is worth £3.37 so that leads to an allowance of £1.68
Total allowance from empties: £25.85
Allowance from Posts
Reviews
Net-a-Porter Beauty Advent Calendar Review – read it here
SkinCity Beauty Advent Calendar Review – read it here
Sol de Janeiro Brazilian Joia Shampoo Review – read it here
Niche Beauty Advent Calendar Review – read it here
GlossyBox September Beauty Box Review – read it here
FabFitFun Autumn Beauty Box Review – read it here
How to clear your pores with Dermapore – read it here
Allowance from reviews: £35
Social Media
- 5 videos/reels – £15
- image posts – £12
Allowance from social media: £27
Total allowance: £25.85 + £35 + £27 = 87.85
–£1599.35 (last month’s closing balance) – £872.89 (this month’s spending) + £87.85 (allowance from empties and posts) = -£2384.39
This is bad. This is so bad! If after my birthday back in June I thought that my spending was bad, this is so much worse. I really hoped that I would catch up and end up with a positive closing balance before the year’s end. That ain’t happening for sure. Don’t ask me why I thought that, wishful thinking most likely!
It is becoming increasingly embarrassing to post these reports, but I will do it anyway. Want to know why? Well, I did hear that it helps some of you (thanks for letting me know) so even if my results are bad, some of yours are better than ever. I am incredibly happy for you! However, even my results are better than those from last year so it all depends on what I compare them to. Still, I want to continue doing this until I manage to have a positive closing balance again and hopefully even maintain it.
I do however expect that my spending will go down a bit now that I got basically most, if not all the beauty advent calendars I wanted. Those calendars contributed quite a lot to my spending, as you can see above.
Oh well. New month, new chance to do better.
How did you do this past month?
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The Christmas season is not a good one to stay on the budget 🙂 I think the most important is to enjoy and use your collection. As long as you don’t throw away expired stuff in large quantities I think it’s okay.
On a separate note, I like your shopping lists. These look like very nice and elegant products 🙂
As for my low buy month with only 1 calendar opened in October I have a total of my products lower than the month before. I did cheat because HN GWP and purchase I treat like this month’s treasure sack and I add the products to my list only once I’ve picked them from the sach. I base my method on the quantity rather than price and I’m aiming at a certain amount of products in use that I have deemed “reasonable”. No surprise, I have way too much make-up.
I love how you are tricking the system 😉 which items did you grab from the gift? Do you pick one at random without looking at them or you choose the one you need or want the most?
I pick at random. The only one I took deliberately right when it arrived was the mini Fenty Candy Venom lipstick. I was super curious about it. Hardly a surprise, it not only doesn’t look good on me but also I have no occasion to wear it. I can pull it off when topped with a black lip gloss (lol, don’t ask), but that’s not a look for a work video call ^^;
I was hoping it would be a different shade as well. I already had that one and not one I would want to wear despite it not looking all that bad on me. I feel super uncomfortable with it on though. After so many years, I still struggle to find something from Fenty that I like… black lip gloss? Never seen one actually.
I was super hyped for Fenty but in the end I don’t think I’ll repurchase anything. I was even more hyped for Charlotte Tilbury and after trying maybe half or a tad more of both her make-up and skincare range I came to a conclusion that the only product worth the hype is the matte lipstick. But Charlotte’s brand is no longer truly cruelty free so problem solved.
CT was the brand I promised myself I would buy if I could get my skin under control. At that time I was dealing with horrible cystic acne flare ups…when the famous palette from CT was launched and saw it in Covent Garden, I promised myself I would get serious about beauty as there was no point in buying expensive makeup if the base was bad. However, I only ever purchased two products from her – the Hollywood filter and a lipstick which I hate the colour of. I did try a few more products through GWP, but never fell in love with any. My first experience with Fenty was horrible though. I tried the products in HN when for the first time ever a sales assistant made me cry. Despite this, I decided to try the brand as the brand itself was not at fault obviously, but only ever purchased the lip bomb gloss which I like but not use. The rest as well were from GWP but the colours never work for me or are something I can use on a daily basis.
Oh, which famous palette from CT and which lipstick colour?
A HN assistant made you CRY??? Was it because their hand slipped and they put something in your eye?
The gloss was the very first product I bought, I got it right when the brand launched here. Like it, don’t use, need to check if still even good for use, cause it’s been a while. I got the Morrocan Spice palette and it started to smell funny after a few months o.O
Instant look palette. The lipstick color I cannot seem to find. But this reminds me that I got the Pillow Talk Diamonds as well which I also dislike. And now from and Advent calendar I got another one, I believe one of the classic Pillow Talk Matte lipstick which I have not tried but does not seem like me either. Will post about it in December so will try it until then. Just overall, the brand was too hyped up IMO.
The SA did not get anything into my eye, but I did a foundation sample and he just applied the foundation on my skin as you would apply paint really. He drew a big line near my nose and left it as that without blending it at all. I feel humiliated based on his overall behavior. Plus, it got a bacterial infection and an ugly spot which took me ages to get rid of due to that experience.
That is unexpected about Fenty. The only palettes I have had that issue with were Revolution ones they smell like makeup from the 90s but none of the pricier palettes ever behaved like that. Sure, I don’t own a lot so there is that but still…
I am appalled by the behaviour of this sales assistant. The least expected in a place like HN. Not to mention dreadful hygiene.
That was the only time I ever went inside the store. All my orders have been online orders for this reason