November No-Buy | A Month Without Buying Makeup?

Beauty spending ban take two...

You might remember in June, I went the whole month without making a single beauty purchase and documented it in my Diary of a Beauty Spending Ban post. Whilst I named it a "spending ban", that wasn't really the reason I decided to give myself the challenge. Although I can't deny that it saved me a pretty penny, the knock-on effects that my 30 day beauty ban gave me were priceless, and it's something that I want to tap into again, thus bringing me to No-buy November! The main thing that I took from my previous spending ban was that it made me so much more aware of the products I was buying, and it really made me question the value/benefits it would add into my life. It made me research potential purchases a lot more rather than picking them up willy-nilly because it was 'new' or simply 'looked cool'. Through this, I realised that I was coveting higher end brands a lot more than drugstore, so the Boots/Superdrug hauls were slowly phased out.

Something I didn't expect was that it affected my thought processes when it came to non-beauty items. I became less materialistic, and generally started to buy less crap (technical term for the useless rubbish that serves no real purpose). I began questioning whether I really needed to get the train or could I get the bus and save a fiver, or did I really want that £2.50 cup of tea (how can places get away with charging SO much for a brew these days?) when I could have one at home. It changed me, temporarily, and whilst I still retained a lot of the effects, as shown by my capsule wardrobe and declutter videos, that restraint when it came to beauty products soon faded away...

Why am I doing it again?

As I mentioned, I've slipped back into bad habits (although not quite as bad before), coupled with the fact that it's just been my birthday. It's not so much the money I'm spending on the products, it's more the fact that I'm adding more and more products to my collection (whether it's something I've bought or received as a PR sample). It means that I don't get the chance to properly enjoy and test out products before more are being brought in and things get forgotten about. There is truly no value in a product if it's going to sit unused. If you're someone that purchases for happiness and to better your life, that product ain't gonna do shit if it's sat in a drawer. If that's the case, you have to actually use it to get joy out of it. I do my regular declutters to ensure my makeup collection remains relevant and full of products I will actually use and enjoy, otherwise, it's just dead weight. Having so much makeup really does devalue it, and you start to see it not as this coveted item, but a lump of plastic that takes up space. I want to limit the items coming into the house, and spend time enjoying and trying out the products that I've gotten recently. 

What are the rules?

It's pretty easy, no beauty products for the duration of November. This will give me time to really think about what I need and would like to put on my Christmas list. I will allow myself repurchases of essentials, which generally just goes for things like skincare and haircare, as I know I will be in need of more serum and dry shampoo. Last time, I didn't include haircare as I was in the process of dyeing my hair and I found I needed to buy products for toning and a more nourishing shampoo and conditioner. So this time I will be putting a ban on hair products too, with the exception of a box of hair dye as I really want to colour my hair the plummy shade that I had a few years ago before autumn is over. I'll be doing a diary-style update (similar to my last post) at the end of November, which will outline any products that I've been thinking about or tempted to buy. Wish me luck!

Have you ever done a beauty spending ban?