Using More, Spending Less Challenge Results – February 2023

So it is already March and you know what that means, right? It is time to share the results of my monthly beauty spending challenge for the month of February. Now if I could breathe more easily, it would be great but hopefully, I will manage to complete this article.

Just my luck – I caught yet another nasty, but nasty cold. It is like I am making up for the past seven years when I managed to escape without catching any. This one feels worse than the one I had in December but if it does not last three weeks and the symptoms stay in contact then I am okay with it.

Interestingly enough is not the flu and not the other thing… but it is rather weird as I have never had such symptoms during a cold ever before.

Anyway, I brought it up because I am feeling more dramatic than usual – I pant at every move and definitely not in a fun way. But also so that you know that I may be away for a few more days.

Okay, let’s get back to the topic at hand.

Are you ready?

Let’s dive in and see what February looked like.

February’s Purchases

  • Blissim February Box  – £14.99
  • G9skin Calming Super B Serum, 1.01 fl oz (30 ml) – £5.57
  • G9skin Barrier Super B Serum, 1.01 fl oz (30 ml) – £6.63
  • I Dew Care Let’s Get Sheet Faced, 14 Day Beauty Sheet Mask Set – £15.43
  • Nature Republic Super Aqua Max Moisture Watery Cream, 80 ml – £6.95
  • Koelf Rose Petal Satin Leg Mask, 1 Pair, 40 g – £2.81

In February I ended up spending a total of £52.38 on beauty products.

February’s’ Empties

  • Bath and Body Works Gel Hand Soap in Fresh Rainfall – £4.39
  • Elemis Pro-Collagen Marine Moisture Essence 100ml – £60
  • Hada Labo Tokyo Age Correcting Eye Cream, Ivory, Fragrance Free – £5.29
  • Bath and Body Works Hand Sanitizer Spray in Ivy Rose  – £3.46
  • Mizon All In One Snail Repair Cream – £14.19
  • Secret Key Starting Treatment Essential Beauty Mask Sheet, Rose Edition  – £1.29

In February I ended up emptying £88.35 worth of products. This resulted in an allowance of £44.17.

Allowance from posts

Allowance from Reviews – £15

  • One Thing Hyaluronic Acid Complex – the review is available here
  • SNP Jeju Green Tea Beauty Mask Review – the sheet mask review can be read here
  • LovBod Melting Mask for Hands Review – you cand find out more here about this strange K-beauty product

Allowance from Social Media – £0

Total allowance from posts: £15

£44.17 (allowance from empties) + £15 (allowance from posts) – £52.38 (February’s Spending) – £3186.74(previous closing balance) = -£3,179.95

Okay, so the results from February are better than those from January. My empties plus the extra allowance from reviews cover my spending for the month which is great. This is at the end of the day the whole point of this challenge, for me at least. The overall drop in spending and having a better grasp of how much money I actually “throw” away on beauty products is just an added bonus, a very welcomed one that is.

Aside from that, the results are not looking all that great if I look at or think of the bigger picture. I have not recovered much from the negative balance I have been carrying around since I started doing these challenges. I am still in “red” territory I promised myself I would not get into and yet here I am and still standing after several months. Damn you, iHerb! They did have some pretty great deals though.

Speaking about deals, my spending for February did consist of yet another iHerb order. I picked up the I Dew Care sheet mask set despite still having quite a few masks left from my previous sets. The price was just too good to pass up. I have never seen the sheet masks so discounted and I just had to pick them up both fro free delivery and also because they are surprisingly good.

In addition, I found a Nature Republic product not only in stock which seems to be a rarity at iHerb, but also discounted. No, there was nothing wrong with the product and the expiration date is like two years in the future. I was majority impressed by the quality and the packaging. The product left like an expensive cream and yet it did not cost much. Now, I definitely want to “raid” the brand’s London store. I normally do not open cosmetics before I plan on using them, not anymore at least, but I just had to see whether Nature Republic was actually worth seeking out.

I got two other serums that I hope are good for something, but I do not have the highest of hopes as the G9 Skin brand is not a favourite of mine by any means. We shall definitely see. Worse come to worse I will have another product to review and to tell you to stay away from.

I also picked up a leg mask. Yes, your read that right, a leg mask rather than a foot mask. this is a mask that goes up to the calves/knee depending on the length of your leg. I am curious to give this one a try!

In addition to my iHerb order, I also picked up a Blissim box. You can read about my first impression of Blissim here. Now I cannot yet comment on this one as the situation is a bit more tricky. There was an offer involved and I got the “offer” box but not the actual box. There is still time I guess, but not sure whether there was not a mix-up somewhere so I do not actually have the February box in my possession but I do have the extra gift box. Regardless, I am ok with just the gifted box as I wanted that one more anyways, but we shall see. It may not even be Blissim’s fault but the forwarder’s so…

So yes, I do not think I spent too much on beauty in February. The amount is reasonable, but there is a tinge of disappointment in me as March will look very different given just how many shops I will have access to (if all goes well) and how many items I may just uncover. I will try to stay reasonable and not buy more items than I need or know what to do with, but I am excited and curious which can be a dangerous combination for my wallet at least.

Stay tuned for March as that is going to be an interesting post. How interesting, I do not know yet, but interesting for sure.

How did you do in February?

*This article is not sponsored. This article contains affiliate links which means that Blush Suede might receive a small commission at no extra cost to you if you make any purchases by clicking the links included in this article. Thank you for your support. It is you that keep us going.

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