Another month, another report. However, I have the feeling that this one is going to be slightly more exciting (for me at least) and maybe a tad less entertaining for you. We shall see once we add all of it up. Are you cutouts? I know that I am 🙂
Let’s have a look at how I did in August, also please do not forget to share your own results from this challenge or any other similar challenges you are following in the comments section below. I wanna know everything!
Purchases
- Ziaja Hand and Body Wash 400ml x 18 bottles for £1.93 each
- Ziaja Marshmallow Sugar Body Wash 300ml for £4.06
- Ziaja Jeju Unscented Micellar Water 390ml for £2.59
- Revox MC Smoothing Face Serum 20ml for £4.65
Total purchases: £46.04
Allowance from Empties
- 111Skin Rose Gold Brightening Sheet Mask – worth £20 and finished 2
- Vichy LiftActiv Collagen Specialist Day Cream 1.5ml – worth £0.78 and finished 2
- Vichy LiftActiv Collagen Specialist Night Cream 1.5ml – worth £0.83
- L’Occitane Intense Repairing Shampoo 35ml – worth £2.27
- Coco and Eve Super Nourishing Coconut & Fig Hair Masque 30ml – worth £4.65
- 111Skin Space Defence Bright Eye Lift Gel NAC Y2 7.5ml – worth £55
- Cristophe Robin Cleansing Purifying Scrub with Sea Salt 250ml – worth £31.84
- Haan Hand Sanitiser Spray – worth £5.33
- Ziaja Hand and Body Wash 200ml – worth £1.55
- Ziaja Hand and Body Wash 200ml – worth £1.55
- Patchology FlashPatch Illuminating Eye Gels – worth £3
- Rodial Dragon’s Blood Eye Masks Individual Sachet – worth £6
- Saturday Skin Intense Hydration Mask – worth £4.6
- It’s Skin Green Tea Toner – worth £5.50
- Garnier Skin Naturals Fresh Mix Mask with Hyaluronic Acid – worth £2.66
- NCLA Beauty Hey Sugar Body Scrub – Peach – worth £28
- MDO by Simon Ourian MD Intense Hyaluronic Filler Ampoule – worth £7
- Holika Holika Hydrating Sheet Mask – worth £3.06
- Stradivarius Hand Cleaner Spray Cherry Jam – worth £4.59
- Beauty Pie Collagen™ Hydrolyzed Marine Collagen with Biotin and Vitamin C – worth £23.02
- Jo Malone Peony and Blush Suede Cologne 100ml – worth £102
- Ziaja Hand and Body Wash 400ml – worth £2.9
- Soroci Soothing Skin Toner – worth £11.60
- By Wishtrend Natural Vitamin 21.5 Enhancing Sheet Mask – worth £4
- Olaplex No 4 Bond Maintenance Shampoo – worth £26
Nope, you read that right. What would normally have been my purchase list is in this instance my empties list. Yes, I managed to finish quite a few products in August, but then again it was such a long month. The total value of the products I managed to empty during August 2021 is £378.51. I honestly do not think I ever managed to finish this many products in a single month before or at least the total value of said products was never this high. I could be wrong, but this month is without a doubt in top 5. Anyway, the allowance from empties that I got from finishing up all the products above is half the stated amount so £189.25.
Allowance from posts
Sadly, there were no reviews during August so no allowance from those. I do not think it ever happened before or at least not in a very long time. Hopefully will do better in September!
As for social media posts, I did share a video on TikTok and created two reels for Instagram so at least I do get a small allowance from those – £9.
Let’s do the math first and then we’ll talk some more.
£189.25(Allowance from empties) + £9 (Allowance from Posts) – £46.04 (August’s spending) – £2241.26 (previous closing balance) = -£2089.05
The results are finally looking a bit better, but I am not getting my hopes up just yet. The advent calendar season is just truly beginning and even though I have yet to show any real interest in such a calendar, I doubt that lack of interest will last me through the entire season. I will try my best though to stay under the 2.5K mark regardless of many calendars I will ultimately fall for. We shall see.
Can I brag now? : D
I am so happy for this months results. I felt super guilty about my one beauty order, however it had to be done. I was running out of Ziaja Body and Hand Gel Wash and that is a product I am truly obsessed with as you can probably tell by the huge amount of bottles that I purchased. There is a whole story there that I will share in more details later – how I came to get those bottles now and where I got them from. It was truly a wild experience, okay, maybe just a tiny bit wild. As wild as an experience can be without leaving the house. Seriously now, I do have something else planned on the store I got the products from so we will talk later about that, okay?
As for the product itself, you can actually read my review of it here in case you are interested to know why I keep getting so many bottles of the Ziaja hand and body wash.
So yes, I am super happy that I managed to finish so many products this month, but also that even though I did not manage to go a month without spending any money on beauty, I still managed to keep my spending low. I truly thought that this month would be the one, the one where I would have no spending, but then I got the opportunity to get an essential product I actually needed and at a very competitive price at that so I could not let it go. I do not have the same hopes for September as I am pretty sure I will cave and get my first advent calendar if not more.
It was nice while it lasted. However, I am pretty confident and even though I am one of those who never say never, I am pretty sure that my spending levels won’t even reach those from last year, let alone those from two years ago. Famous last words, right? Let’s hope not.
How did you do in August?
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I bought 0 new things 🙂 just replaced a shower gel, since I usually have only one.
At this price you got your Ziaja I’d also stockpile shower gel, but I’m curious to hear the story 🙂
Will share soon the story. My Ziaja products were actually shipped from Poland just like most things these days.. 🙂
Just saw that Net a Porter seems to be shipping to our countries again 🙂 just in time as the calendar is looking pretty interesting. Details will be up soon on the blog 🙂
That is amazing! How is your overall stash looking these days?
Oh, how cool is that! What do you get from Poland, apart from Ziaja? I recommend a brand named Mokosh.
My stash is still too big, still quite a number of things from 2019 calendars to go… I mostly have full sized stuff, so it takes time to use it up. I’ve got now about 1,7 of the desired stash size (the baseline does indulge my preference to have a lot to choose from), but when I started it was 2,6 so not bad. I mainly have way too much makeup, which I’m regularly decluttering but still don’t want to part with some things because they’re pretty and one day I may have the occasion to use it, of course never happens. So far this year on my own I have finished 5 makeup items, 2 being mascaras which I keep for 3 months regardless of how much I’ve used, so yeah
I will check out the brand. The retailers I use are either for all the EU or just RO, but the products are shipped from Poland. However, I now found a forwarding service so I am curious – are there any cool beauty/lifestyle/home goods retailer that have online shopping? Any recommendations? 🙂
Another curiosity, is Ziaja actually all that big in Poland? Like is it a brand that people tend to use? I know that it is supposedly one of the biggest beauty brands, but it might be different locally than I perceive it from abroad.
Congrats! You have made great progress I would say. The makeup part is just incredible. I do not recall when I finished my last makeup product, but I am sure it was nearly a decade ago regardless. I don’t buy all that much makeup compared to skincare. Most of the items I do have are either more on the luxury side with some exceptions consisting mostly of ColourPop or from advent calendars/gifts. I feel super bad about throwing out expensive stuff that I did not get to really use, but it has to be done. I rarely mention that on here as I do not count the products I throw away without emptying towards my challenge allowance. Anyway, I started rambling again…. It is truly amazing what you have managed to accomplish. Not only have you managed to stick to basically a 0 purchases for the past few months, but also have a plan and grip over your stash.
A PL shop I really like is https://kontigo.com.pl/
They have a lot of nice brands that are not so easy to come by, from local brands I have tried and can recommend are Resibo (tried several face products), I’ve already mentioned Mokosh (tried body products, I love the smell), D’Alchemy (had face cream 1.07, liked it), and I heard good things about Alkemie too, but I haven’t tried yet. For hair Anwen is really popular, I’m not a die hard fan though, conditioners are fine but I use a bottle during 4 washes so hard to really tell.
Ziaja is big here. It’s been around for decades, did a succesful rebranding over a dozen years ago and I think they’re very succesful.
I have had little diversions from my low buy policy. Only yesterday I ordered new perfume from Micalleff (promo!), but yeah, it helps me to have a list of stuff and ask myself do I really need something and how quickly I can finish it. I feel you, throwing away stuff, especially the expensive stuff, is such a waste and a painful reminder.
Thank you for the recommendation! It looks really interested and came across quite. A few brands that look promising and never heard of before 🙂