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View activity, savings and benefits
Redeem items, samples and more
View and track online orders
Reorder it from in-store and online purchases
View saved products
Recommendations from your store visits
Manage your services, classes and events
Complete your beauty traits for personalized recommendations
Payments, contact info, addresses and password
Ask questions, join challenges, and get recommendations from people like you
Discover topics tailored to your beauty interests
Add your photos and get inspired by fellow beauty lovers
From makeovers to personalized skincare consultations
Get inspired, play with products & learn new skills
Exciting launches, parties & more
Explore what's hot in your store
*updated 11/25/18*
The 2019 thread is now available here:
Hey all! For the last few years the lovely @lnum has hosted this thread to help us stay motivated on our no-buys and low-buys. In an effort to keep her work alive, here is the 2018 edition.
The purpose of this thread (from lnum):
This thread is a support system for all of us who are trying to maintain a budget and keep our beauty spending limited. Post here when you have a weak moment, post here to hold yourself accountable, post here when you just need someone to talk to, post here when you have advice for all of us, and post here when you make mistakes but also make gains! Many of us post here to keep track of our monthly purchases. Anything you need to say, we are all here for each other. There's no judgement here.
Feel free to share your goals, items that tempt you, missteps (we don't believe in failures), and any successes. Above all else, encourage and support one another.
Here's the OP from 2017 as well as the link for those interested:
lnum wrote:Welcome to Year 3!
My motto for this thread is that I strongly believe, even on a budget, you can have the things you want that make you happy without feeling like you're limiting yourself.
This thread is a support system for all of us who are trying to maintain a budget and keep our beauty spending limited. Post here when you have a weak moment, post here to hold yourself accountable, post here when you just need someone to talk to, post here when you have advice for all of us, and post here when you make mistakes but also make gains! Many of us post here to keep track of our monthly purchases. Anything you need to say, we are all here for each other. There's no judgement here.
I am so excited to spend another year with you all. If it wasn't for the first two years of this thread, I would never have been able to cut down my beauty spending. My goal for this year is to maintain low spending on beauty, and cut down my clothing purchases. I will be funneling that money into traveling, which is what I have done in the past and it's a great goal that truly motivates me.
I'm still so proud of everyone for making it through 2015 and 2016, limiting ourselves in the beauty product area in order to improve our lives in other areas. We all did great and here's to another year of learning and saving!
Here is a link to the 2015 thread: http://community.sephora.com/t5/VIB-ROUGE/2015-The-No-Buy-Low-Buy-Budget-Buy-Accountability-and-Supp...
2016 thread:
2017 thread: https://community.sephora.com/t5/VIB/2017-THE-NO-BUY-LOW-BUY-BUDGET-BUY-ACCOUNTABILITY-AND-SUPPORT/m...
Interested in Some Challenges to Help You Use Your Stash? Check Out These Threads:
💜💜💜
Thanks for the encouragement to maintain willpower, @eshoe, @faeriegirl. While I don’t have as awesome a collection of skincare as faeriegirl (all those DE products are drool-enticing!), gotta remind myself I have enough!
Was so good last weekend - only purchased gifts. I’ll think about my want (only 1 item) and if not sold out by Monday, maybe then I’ll get just that. 😊
That would be me, @newcarlee😉 I did get one thing for myself that was already on sale, but I am sticking to only gifts for anything else. I have so many things that I want, but in reality, I will probably use only a handful of times. So I allowed myself one item, and it was around $30, so fairly reasonable imo. It was also something I had my eye on for awhile, which makes it a more satisfying purchase than something I bought on a whim (like everything else that I added to my cart). Considering what my cart started out at, I’m pretty happy about this😂 This may not be the best route for everyone, but I’ve found it works for me.
I know you can make it through the weekend!!!
So I went to Harmon’s yesterday to buy deodorant and I walked out with more sheet masks 😔
I did have a coupon so I saved $15 and they were the creme shop eye masks that I do not own and have been wanting to try, along with 2 foot masks (I’ve been dealing with some fungus and my feet need some serious TLC once it’s cleared up). I also bought a few sheet masks that I don’t already have. I guess it could have been a lot worse.
I started off the year doing pretty well with my low buy resolution, but with all the sales lately I have went a little crazy with the holiday sets. The good news is I am totally stocked up until the next sale in April. I will probably get a few Black Friday deals but after that I am going to attempt a no buy until April🤞
Is it cheating if..?
Is it cheating if we ask for beauty stuff as gifts?
Is it cheating if we ask my husband to buy this specific color of Shiseido blush for us for our birthday?
Is it cheating to browse the aisles at Walgreens and maybe pick up a body oil? bath bombs? nail polish? where's the line?
Some struggles / thoughts / updates
I've been building up my Sephora cart, mostly for fun. There's actually only a few things in there, but I'm just suddenly really interested in high pigment lip glosses and thinking maybe these "dewy skin mists" aren't a waste of money after all. I'm not going to suddenly go buy what's in there, but I also feel like it's one way of "cheating" to still even be *thinking* about what else I want to buy.
So something I'm trying to do is frame the situation differently. Yesterday I got a couples massage Groupon, and as I bought it I thought, this costs less than two high end lip products. What am I going to value more? I'm not trying to spend exactly as much as I'm saving on other things, but every month I don't spend any money on beauty I am going to treat myself to something else, so I don't just feel punished, but rewarded.
And my birthday is two days after Christmas.. I'm at least going to ask for the YSL vinyl lip stain in Burgundy and Shiseido blush in red or pink.
I don't see asking for a gift as cheating @kelllllyyyyy
I don't think asking for gifts is cheating. You are requesting something you enjoy and the person could decide to get you something else if they wanted to.
As for picking things up, I think it is based on your own rules for no-buy or low-buy.
When browsing items/wants as long as it isn't overly tempting I think window shopping is okay in moderation. There can be a healthy balance of seeing items you want and being able to decide when to buy or not buy. But if it causes you to stress about purchases I wouldn't do it.
Maybe a good idea for you is to track your savings. Say you planned to get a couple massage and it costs $120 but you get a groupon for $75, then keep a spreadsheet or notebook saying you saved $45. Then as opposed to spending it on lip products now, see what the balance is after 3 or 6 months. What if it adds up to a trip? Then you can decide what to do with the money and if it is buying lip products then you waited to make the decision and don't need to feel guilty.
That's my thought process @kelllllyyyyy
I do feel as long as you could stick to browsing and not purchasing you will do just fine @kelllllyyyyy. If you do decide to make a purchase just stick with a specific budget and do not allow yourself to deviate from that amount.
Maybe you could set either a weekly or monthly budget to stick to for makeup purchases. Good luck, we are here to help.
There are too many lassoes too tag but I do have a suggestion. How about posting what your ISO are before you actually purchase any new items. Unfortunately most of us BIC members have stashes that are out of control. One of us might actually be willing to trade you for the item that you may be interested in purchasing whether gently used, swatched or BNIB.
Sorry darn auto correct meant to say awesome ladies.
@Loretta55 that’s ok, auto correct is always good for a 😂 😆
I will be sending you a PM @eshoe. I am too embarrassed to mention my snafu in a post.
I just bought a bunch of stuff in sales so... yeah... no more spending for a while now!
Things I do not need to buy until I use up things I have already purchased:
clay mask
toner
essence (no excuse to buy this in the next 6 months)
face cream
eye cream*
sheet masks
primer
eye shadow
lip gloss**
blusher
*might want to pick up the farmacy one since it was out of stock for the sale
**I might want a lipstick since I don't actually own one (just 2 lip glosses)
I think you 'need' a lipstick 😉
Sephora is going to have some great Black Friday deals, we all know it. it's kind of why I already know my three-month no buy is going to need at the least, a postponement.
Last year they had deals like, spend fifty, get a twenty dollar gift card. and specific items on sale, too. pretty tempting.
Ok my goal for the next week is to no buy:
Mascara
Foundation
Lip stick/balm/colour
Eyeshadow palettes
Face palettes
Blushes
Hand/body lotion
Highlighters
Eyeliner
Lip liner
Replacements only for skin care or hair care, deo, etc.
I'll try updating this goal every week, but I'll see how I do this week, so I have until Nov 19. I'm leaving on vacation on Saturday so I'm hoping that helps me break some bad spending habits.
Good luck, @infinitebrevity!!!
Thanks @eshoe !!
I've done well overall but now it's time to recommit to my low buy. Giving myself permission to snag a few Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals within reason though (I'm hoping retailers will release information soon so I can plan more specifically) .
@ElleElleG First off, seeing that Boss beside your name is so deserved and so great.
Second, I am also low/no-buy committing with you, with the same stipulations. Reasonably, there is nothing I need, but a couple things I want. I feel like I can happily just say no to everything for awhile though, and that will make my little apartment AND my accounts happy.
Hahahaa thanks my dear @NotCrocker 😘
I agree, the "wowing" new releases have been few and far between for me this year. Great for the wallet though.