November 2013 -- No/Low Buy Thread

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Wow! So let's recap this weekend! I ended up returning a couple new with seal things that I picked up during Chic Week back in the day and ended up never using/opening (talk about a make up problem...) so I had ~$50 in store credit to Sephora! They were letting people use their VIB discount early if they had their coupon card or email print out. Alas, here I am with store credit ... and there it is - the last Give Me More Lip Set! I bought it -- so absolutely no lippies may be purchased until further notice. I'm trying to trade away the nudes and a few of the pinks will be pieced out as gifts -- but its still definitely A LOT of lip stuff at once. I don't feel too off-the-rails with this purchase given that I used store credit but still, a lot of lippies!

I also placed a Kiehl's order for BB cream. I'm almost totally out. They had the code TREAT which was free shipping + 7 foils. Then this morning I got an email for a free full size (i think the 125 mL one) of Creme de Corps with a $35 purchase.. GRRRR.
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Anywho - November will be rough with all the sales but I just have to remember that no one in my family would like lots make up for Christmas and I certainly do not need more for myself!

 
So far my extreme low buy is going okay.  I have slipped up once- at Marshalls on Saturday, they had OPI pedicure strips (like press on nail polish strips for your toes) for $4, and I did nab them.  This is worse than it sounds because the number one thing I was committed to was NO MORE POLISH, but they were cute cherries and I loved them and it was all over for me. In any case though, I am back on track now.

Basically trying to avoid any mentions of sales (hard on this forum) and websites where I know I'll be tempted.

 
@tulosai you could take a MUT break (I really think that if I never found this website then my make up habit wouldn't have blown out of control!)... But where's the fun in leaving MUT??
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I slipped a bit too. But it was in my maybe I'll allow it category.  I ended up winning a $10 Sephora gift card so I placed an order to get the Tarte holiday blush set. And I wanted the Holly Jolly kit so that worked out!

Andddd then yesterday I bought the iPhone 5c at Target. They had it for $50 and I traded in my old iphone 4 for $40 so only had to pay $12. And then the $36 activation fee will be on my next phone bill. But this is one thing I've been putting off so I decided to finally get it! My old phone was driving me crazy.

And I stocked up on sale Halloween candy. LOL.

 
Quote: Originally Posted by usofjessamerica /img/forum/go_quote.gif
  Wow! So let's recap this weekend! I ended up returning a couple new with seal things that I picked up during Chic Week back in the day and ended up never using/opening (talk about a make up problem...) so I had ~$50 in store credit to Sephora! They were letting people use their VIB discount early if they had their coupon card or email print out. Alas, here I am with store credit ... and there it is - the last Give Me More Lip Set! I bought it -- so absolutely no lippies may be purchased until further notice. I'm trying to trade away the nudes and a few of the pinks will be pieced out as gifts -- but its still definitely A LOT of lip stuff at once. I don't feel too off-the-rails with this purchase given that I used store credit but still, a lot of lippies!

I also placed a Kiehl's order for BB cream. I'm almost totally out. They had the code TREAT which was free shipping + 7 foils. Then this morning I got an email for a free full size (i think the 125 mL one) of Creme de Corps with a $35 purchase.. GRRRR.
icon_mad.gif


Anywho - November will be rough with all the sales but I just have to remember that no one in my family would like lots make up for Christmas and I certainly do not need more for myself!

But Yay - you got it!! Seriously love that set!

 
Quote: Originally Posted by usofjessamerica /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Anywho - November will be rough with all the sales but I just have to remember that no one in my family would like lots make up for Christmas and I certainly do not need more for myself!
Same situation here :/

Hopefully you'll get back on track this week :) /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

 
Quote: Originally Posted by usofjessamerica /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I really think that if I never found this website then my make up habit wouldn't have blown out of control!)... But where's the fun in leaving MUT?? 
Yeah, I feel that way too, but about nail polish more than makeup... my nail polish habit was contained before I found this site and discovered indies, nail polish blog sales, Julep, and the seemingly constant barrage of other polish sales.  I have finally reached a point where I've had to acknowledge that I have a problem (hence my nail polish no buy this month), or if not a problem, at least a point where more polish is not desirable or necessary. 

The other problem w/MUT for me is that whenever I start to think I may have a problem, I'm confronted with people much worse than me who seem not to feel bad about it- for example my polish stash (which I believe IS out of control) is just under 100 polishes. I know people here now with literally 5 times that amount who keep buying. It's a bit enabling.

(I want to make clear I'm not meaning to bash anyone who does have that much polish, what is out of control for me or enough for me might not be for someone else depending on space, finances, time you have to paint your nails, how frequently you change polishes, if you are really into nail art etc). I'm just saying this makes it harder for me to stop even though I should.

 
Quote: Originally Posted by tulosai /img/forum/go_quote.gif
  Yeah, I feel that way too, but about nail polish more than makeup... my nail polish habit was contained before I found this site and discovered indies, nail polish blog sales, Julep, and the seemingly constant barrage of other polish sales.  I have finally reached a point where I've had to acknowledge that I have a problem (hence my nail polish no buy this month), or if not a problem, at least a point where more polish is not desirable or necessary. 

The other problem w/MUT for me is that whenever I start to think I may have a problem, I'm confronted with people much worse than me who seem not to feel bad about it- for example my polish stash (which I believe IS out of control) is just under 100 polishes. I know people here now with literally 5 times that amount who keep buying. It's a bit enabling.

(I want to make clear I'm not meaning to bash anyone who does have that much polish, what is out of control for me or enough for me might not be for someone else depending on space, finances, time you have to paint your nails, how frequently you change polishes, if you are really into nail art etc). I'm just saying this makes it harder for me to stop even though I should.

I definitely have to agree that if I never joined MUT, I wouldn't have that much makeup. Darn all those items that you MUST have! And those limited editions....

But on the otherhand, I would still be frustrated and feel ugly and bad about myself. I'd still be trying to wear drugstore foundation that clearly doesn't match LOL. I didn't wear much makeup before because I really didn't know what I was doing. But I learned sooo much about makeup from MUT and all you wonderful ladies! And now I feel pretty, oh so pretty! 

 
I did a low buy in October, and I did well. I only bought an NYX Milk Pencil ALL MONTH... Until I caved and bought myself the Benefit Advent Calendar as a birthday gift to myself! So, it's my birthday month, but I'm going to try to keep myself in check! Allowed: BB Subs x2 Secret Santa I also plan to finish my christmas shopping no later than 1 December! :) /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" /> Other than that, I've taken a part time job in addition to my full time job to help stockpile money for wedding/honeymoon/new furniture. Hopefully that'll keep me too busy to even care about shopping! Goal: Not to use "it's my birthday" as an excuse to go buy random useless crap.

 
You guys, the BLITZ bags at Sephora are seriously killing me.  I ordered one on Thursday before my low-buy started and then another over the weekend (to get the same bag; the value of the Glowing Magic Radiance bag is out of control; I've wanted the NARS primer & Algenist cream forever!) and got the first package today and now I'm convincing myself to possibly order a third.  Each time, I've "only" spent the $25 needed to get the free bag.  I'm going to wait until Thursday and if I can't find things that I absolutely NEED (as in, no -- I don't NEED a full-size UD lippy in '69' which I've currently been eyeing; anybody have any samples they're trying to swap or sell btw! -- and I DEFINITELY don't need more Lip Tars!!!) come Thursday when F&F starts, I'm gonna place one more order and get the third BLITZ bag.  I'll be spending less than I would during F&F (I'd want to get to $50 for free shipping and only be spending about $32 after shipping & tax with the BLITZ code) so that's me justifying these purchases :) /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />  Plus, I'd feel better getting a few smaller necessity items (brushes, mu remover, nail buffer) than high dollar splurge (i.e. the lippies -- I can't stop!!!)

But for as "small" of a victory as it sounds, I feel really happy that it's (nearly) six days into the month and (after paying a student loan bill, a cell bill, and grocery shopping) I still have half of my paycheck left!  
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The Sephora 20% off sale is going to kill me, and I already made too many purchases I didn't allow myself in October 
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I went into this weekend planning on buying a ton of stuff since I got paid, *and* I had nine hours of overtime this pay period.  I was going to get that stila holiday convertible color palette I've had my eye on for a while, the stila holiday smudge stick set that I wanted to round out my smudge stick collection, and a stila magnificent metal foil shadow.  Huh.  That's all stila.  I didn't notice that before.  Anyway.  I got the shadow -- but then had a reaction to the primer, so that's going back after the VIB discount time is over (because INSANELY PACKED STORES). I swatched the liners and decided I could pass (and I didn't even need to remind myself how many liners I already have!).  

I did order the convertible color palette, but I've been wanting to buy a couple of the colors in it for several months, and it's three bucks more for five shades.  Okay, yeah, I already have one of them, and the pans are substantially smaller than the single shades, but that smaller amount of each is much more appropriate for me, and I'm fine with having one of them be a dupe since that means that four of them are not (and, actually, one of those is kitten, which I think is only available in this form in this palette, and it's probably more of a highlighter than a blush).  For me, this is more of a glorified testing palette.  Which one of the blushes I had been planning on buying will actually get used up?  I'll be finding out once I get it in my hands!

And I have two more blushes on my to-buy list -- benefit Hervana and Rockateur -- but I think I'll hold off on Rockateur until my birthday in January (I need *something* to look forward to for my birthday because nothing else is going to happen that day) and put Hervana on the backburner (which usually means I never quite get around to buying it) until further notice.  And maybe get some Nyx cream blush sticks when Ulta has a good sale before putting blush back on the no-buy list.  I want six of them, so if they go BOGO, I can get all of them for less than the price of one benefit blush.  I think I now own more blush at this moment than my mother did during her entire lifetime.  She did *not* bounce from one color to another like I do.  On the other hand, she was a grocery checker for a good chunk of her life, so it wasn't like she had a wide variety of outfits to coordinate her makeup with.  Or any interest in exploring color outside of her usual colors.  She was always perfectly made up, but she found her color palette and stuck firmly to it.

Aaaand rambling Meagan is going to bed now since I'm so tired that I think I can sleep through yelling outside.  I live across the street from a couple of bars that tend to have rowdy patrons, and there are a few more down the street that contribute to the noise.  Man, actually, there are seven of them within just a few blocks of me, and I'm on one of the main streets through the neighborhood.  No wonder we get so much drunken noisy foot traffic outside!  Yeah.  So.  Good night, forum!

 
I'm also amazed at how easy it is to resist temptation, now that I've built up my collection (and my Ipsy and Birchbox subs continue to to help me expand!)  My $25 monthly budget is more than enough to seek out and pick up a few nail polishes that are unique to my collection, and I haven't had a problem with resisting purchasing makeup. 

(Also, @meaganola your Monday Club is helping me not buy makeup because every week I get to see just how much of my stuff I don't even use on a regular basis!  And how much I DON'T need more!)

Putting a slightly enabling comment in a spoiler below - only click if you have wiggle room in your monthly low-buy for polishes!

I found a site called lovelyskin.com (not a link, haha.  You must look it up yourself!) that sells Zoya polishes with free shipping.  They even had Zoya Zanna on sale for $7!  I love this because if I want to pick up a polish, I don't have to 1) pay for shipping or 2) waste gas going to Ulta and be tempted by everything else there!  They currently are also sending a mini of Zoya's Polish+ remover with any Zoya purchase, AND you can pick two foil samples with your order.  Their CS is friendly and responsive (I had an issue with a mixup on shipping v billing address, and they were lovely!), the shipping is fast (through UPS!), and if I have enough wiggle room in my budget at the end of the month, I'm going back to get Zoya Neve!
 
I've only made sephora purchases using gift cards/store credit and I haven't technically bought anything from the sale. I also placed an order online with a gift card but I think I'm going to return everything I got (hopefully they'll let me keep the samples and the sample bag though...). For the first time I bought something without trying it first and then I ended up hating it once I did get around to getting a sample! I really need to be talked down from buying the Tarte airbrush powder foundation thingy and brush. If I bought it online with my remaining gift are it would be like buying the foundation and getting the brush for "free"! But, I never really wear *that* full of a face. I'm more of a BB cream + eyes and go kind of girl. Someone please help and tell me I don't need it :( /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

 
Quote: Originally Posted by usofjessamerica /img/forum/go_quote.gif

I've only made sephora purchases using gift cards/store credit and I haven't technically bought anything from the sale. I also placed an order online with a gift card but I think I'm going to return everything I got (hopefully they'll let me keep the samples and the sample bag though...). For the first time I bought something without trying it first and then I ended up hating it once I did get around to getting a sample!

I really need to be talked down from buying the Tarte airbrush powder foundation thingy and brush. If I bought it online with my remaining gift are it would be like buying the foundation and getting the brush for "free"! But, I never really wear *that* full of a face. I'm more of a BB cream + eyes and go kind of girl. Someone please help and tell me I don't need it
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You don't need it! Tarte is overrated anyway!

My extreme low buy continues to go well.  I have made no beauty purchases this week!

 
Quote: Originally Posted by usofjessamerica /img/forum/go_quote.gif

I've only made sephora purchases using gift cards/store credit and I haven't technically bought anything from the sale. I also placed an order online with a gift card but I think I'm going to return everything I got (hopefully they'll let me keep the samples and the sample bag though...). For the first time I bought something without trying it first and then I ended up hating it once I did get around to getting a sample!

I really need to be talked down from buying the Tarte airbrush powder foundation thingy and brush. If I bought it online with my remaining gift are it would be like buying the foundation and getting the brush for "free"! But, I never really wear *that* full of a face. I'm more of a BB cream + eyes and go kind of girl. Someone please help and tell me I don't need it
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You don't need it!  Stay strong, girl!  Especially if you just normally wear BB cream! 

 
Quote: Originally Posted by usofjessamerica /img/forum/go_quote.gif

I've only made sephora purchases using gift cards/store credit and I haven't technically bought anything from the sale. I also placed an order online with a gift card but I think I'm going to return everything I got (hopefully they'll let me keep the samples and the sample bag though...). For the first time I bought something without trying it first and then I ended up hating it once I did get around to getting a sample!

I really need to be talked down from buying the Tarte airbrush powder foundation thingy and brush. If I bought it online with my remaining gift are it would be like buying the foundation and getting the brush for "free"! But, I never really wear *that* full of a face. I'm more of a BB cream + eyes and go kind of girl. Someone please help and tell me I don't need it
frown.gif

You got this, girl!  If I can avoid the ENTIRE Sephora F&F sale PLUS 8% Ebates (in spite of the fact that my they KEEP EMAILING ME TO REMIND ME TO USE MY DISCOUNT!!!), you can do this 
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My only "slip-up" this weekend was a tiny $12 purchase from Birchbox.  Instead of buying the MUFE Aquabrow w/the F&F discount like I was planning, I decided to re-order Benefit's Gimme Brow (my current favorite brow product).  I've already found my favorite, why try another one!  So, I used some BB points and got a new one.  It was $12 total (including shipping) and I earned 70 points (20 for the purchase & 50 bonus points) PLUS it comes with a free mini Bad Gal lash.  So, really... it was like paying $5 for both the Gimme Brow & BGL!  I am SUPER proud.  And my favorite thing is that it's on backorder & not expected to ship for 2-3 weeks so I'll likely forget all about it by the time it arrives 
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I did end up buying a total of 3 "small" orders from Sephora for BLITZ bags.  One was in October still, so that doesn't count against me & I justified the other 2 because I spent less on those two than I was allowing myself for F&F.  My biggest victory was my third order in which I paid $25 (plus tax & shipping, so $32 total) for $152+ worth of merchandise!!!  I do have one other small purchase planned for next weekend (after payday).  I ended up using & falling in love with an eye cream finally & am almost out of my sample:  it's Yes to Blueberries and this week I can get a full-size one ($19.99 value) for under $10 (using 2 coupons, the 15% off sale + my $3 reward).  The tiny foil sample has lasted me over two weeks so I'm sure the FS will probably last me a good 6 months, so I'm allowing it.  Other than that, I just get to coast for the next 2.5 weeks until Black Friday (in which I've allowed myself $100 total -- assuming I'd end up with 1 $50 purchase from each of Sephora & Ulta to get free shipping).  

So, so proud that I've avoided F&F AND 8% Ebates through Sephora!

 
[@]donutbaby[/@] Nice work, stay strong girl! This is a tough time of year to be on a low/no buy. It's practically impossible to avoid all the sales and pretty sets.

 
I have two papers due this week an instead of working on them... I've been watching television. To be fair, it started of as folding clothes while watching television then it turned to organizing makeup while watching television. That, and I have been eying some things as sephora and organizing always makes me realize how much stuff I have already.

I ended up with this:



I used cereal boxes and popcorn boxes as dividers. I cut them up and wrap them in gift wrap. If there's anything I learn while doing this, I have way too many blush and eyeshadow

 

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