Holiday 2014 No/Low-Buy Planning

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We were talking over on the September thread that it might be nice to have a place to make our Holiday 2014 no/low-buy plans...away from other certain enabling holiday threads!

Discuss what your strategies are for making sense of all the holiday sale craziness, keeping purchases down, how you budget, etc. I think talking about planned purchases/what you want to buy is fine, but I'd only ask that we try to keep mentions of specific products or sales behind spoilers, to keep the enabling to a minimum. 

Here we go!

 
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I'll start, though this certainly is going to be an evolving plan!

 
Lately I've been project panning, and it has made me realize just how long it takes me to get through products. But I didn't want to miss out on any exclusive/LE goodies going into this holiday season! So originally I told myself that I could get one thing or set from each of my troublesome categories: lippies, eyeshadow, and blush. But honestly, despite some very nice looking palettes that are coming out, I really haven't found much by way of holiday-exclusive eyeshadow that I have to have. I have some non-holiday eyeshadow I'm lemming over more than the new stuff. And for blush, I know I really don't need it and think I'd rather let myself get more lippies or a non-holiday eyeshadow palette instead. So there goes that plan!

I think for the most part I'm looking forward to the holiday deals and GWPs as opposed to actual holiday sets. Right now I'm focusing on using up my sample stash for several things so that I can buy replacements when the good holiday codes happen. And maybe get some new items too...

I'm considering setting a budget, but for me, as much as I'd like to save money, it is more so the fact that I don't want to keep adding so much to my already too huge collection. So I think I'm going to stick to a pre-set item amount, as opposed to a dollar amount. Now to figure out how many items is too many!
 
I'll put the specific items I'm considering under a spoiler!

The lippie sets are totally killing me. I'm currently wanting both the UD set and the Sephora Give Me More Lip, but I know honestly that I will only wear the colors in half of both of those. I may give in and order them if I get a Secret Santee that likes different color lippies than I do, and then I can justify splitting them! If Bite ends up releasing something that is not lip crayons, I'll probably want that too. AND I'm looking forward to Ulta's 10x point deal so I can grab some drugstore ones I've been wanting. All the lippies!! Need to figure out which I can actually justify...

I'm also currently successfully resisting the Sephora-exclusive Tarte blush palette. I got last year's palette and have barely scraped off the top indents on three of the colors, so I really can not justify adding another one. Tarte blushes are so pigmented! It is a bummer because I like this year's colors better than last year's, but tough cookies to me, gotta deal with what I bought!

Other than that, I think I'm mostly waiting on value sets for things I already use--my skincare, my hand cream (L'Occitane set!), my mascara (Sephora had a good $10 Blinc deal last year during Black Friday), etc. 
 
I really wish I could look into the future and see all of the holiday collections that will be coming out and which ones will end up on sale in January/February (or even later) :p /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

Currently, I'm trying to plan out what I'm allowed to buy for October (since a lot of the indie companies have Halloween collections). November has Black Friday/Cyber Monday and December is my birth month (in addition to Christmas/the holidays) - so there's so much potential to just spend like crazy in the next couple of months.

My birthday is in December - so I can definitely get indie sample sets of the Holiday collections and hopefully remain within a reasonable budget (my family likes to give money rather than gifts so birthday + Christmas should equal a decent budget. However, just because I have money to spend doesn't I mean I should spend all of it - my real goal of trying to methodically plan out my orders is that I want to limit my makeup hoarding tendencies, which is... extremely hard to resist :( /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

The products I want (so far) are:

The Tarte blush set (the one with the 4 deluxe sizes) or the Tarte set with the full-size blushes and Lipsurgences: I already have a lot of blush and I'm kind of on a mission to use up the lip products I have now... so hopefully I'll be able to resist these.

Lorac MegaPro: I don't own any of the Lorac Pro palettes. My initial impulse when I saw the MegaPro promo pics was that I really wanted this - but when I look at the colors, they are aren't particularly special. I can probably buy multiple samples of indie mattes and neutrals for a lower price than this palette. I'm thinking that I'll buy a complete sample set of the Detrivore eyeshadows (stocked by Shiro) instead of this (and maybe sample sets of the Blackbird Cosmetics matte shadows). But we shall see.

Indie stuff: I know I want the Aromaleigh Limited Edition collection based on Saturnalia since all of the shades will be duochrome/multichrome. It also looks like Darling Girl is going to have a holiday collection based on "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" which I want. If Hello Waffle and Shiro come up with a clever holiday collections I'm doomed.
 
I managed to arrange the item that I want the mostest this month already...

 The hourglass ambient blush palette - this is probably going to be my one big splurge for holiday items.

I do like a few of the other items but considering how long it takes me to get through eyeshadow & blush I don't know if I can justify any other purchases for me...for gifts yes...for me....hmmmmmm....  but even for gifts I stocked up during sales and I have a few on hand ready to gift (last years UD liner sets and the like) so I really need to stop and consider everything before I buy any more!  

I also still have the pattern on my blush that I got from last years set and I use it every other day (tarte)  at this rate it will last me years before I see pan and I only have 2 blushes!!  

 
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My goal for holiday spending is....

Hold out 'til I can't stand it anymore, then put it on a list for hubby to buy me for Christmas.  Before giving it to him, pare the list down to 3 items, then ask him to pick one.

I. DO. NOT. NEED. ANY. MORE. MAKEUP.

Or bath stuff, or lotion, or skincare, or hairstuff, or.... you know.  And I'll be doing the Secret Santa here, so I know I'll get my fix from one of our lovely ladies!

 
I. DO. NOT. NEED. ANY. MORE. MAKEUP.

Or bath stuff, or lotion, or skincare, or hairstuff, or.... you know.  And I'll be doing the Secret Santa here, so I know I'll get my fix from one of our lovely ladies!
So much this.  I am honestly borderline out of control at this point.  I have literally probably enough stuff to get me through like 2+ full years without any additional purchases. The ONLY two things I could possibly 'need' more of according to any reasonable definition of the word need are sugar scrub for the shower, and sunscreen. I HAVE TO stop.

 
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I'm trying to not get ANYTHING. I did get the Give Me More Lip set and I haven't even opened it. It's been sitting in my closet for two weeks now. It was the one thing I planned on definitely getting because I loved last years so much and it was easy to split off for gifts. I don't know if I'm going to return it or what though. Bleeeeeh.

I think make up will be easier to resist than clothes. I always see "ooh 50% off here and here YES!" But, since I'm trying to get into shape and because my favorite retailers ALWAYS run generous % off deals, I don't think I'm going to be missing anything too special.

My plan: try to resist it all. Admire from afar but remind myself that

1. No one in my office really wears make up. 2. I don't need anything

3. If I want it and it's on post holiday clearance then maybe it was meant to be

4. I can always send a prayer up that the "$25 off $50" sephora gift cards will still work as normal gift cards without hitting $50 (OK so that last one won't help me at all. But still)

 
 Stila is the only brand I ever buy Holiday sets from. They have not revealed this year yet. If they are great I can have a maximum of two, but they must be very different from what I already have.

  Other than that I will only be buying for the Secret Santa exchange.

 
Here's what I need: NOTHING. Hopefully, that's what I'll buy. I've bought so much junk during the holiday sales over the past few years, on Black Friday, from special collections, bunches of those little holiday sets and so much of it has been barely touched. There are things that I do want and I am eyeing, but I do not need them because my spending is out of control. I have enough products to supply an army, a gorgeous, beautiful army, so I desperately need to cut back. 

I'll keep my fingers crossed that someone buys me one of the many lovely items on my list as a gift, but I'm going to try my hardest to resist buying them myself.

 
I also still have the pattern on my blush that I got from last years set and I use it every other day (tarte)  at this rate it will last me years before I see pan and I only have 2 blushes!!  
Glad to know I'm not the only one! On the one hand it is great because you get a lot of value/pigment for your money...on the other hand it is annoying because it makes it tough to justify getting more pretties!

 
 
Here's what I need: NOTHING. Hopefully, that's what I'll buy. I've bought so much junk during the holiday sales over the past few years, on Black Friday, from special collections, bunches of those little holiday sets and so much of it has been barely touched. There are things that I do want and I am eyeing, but I do not need them because my spending is out of control. I have enough products to supply an army, a gorgeous, beautiful army, so I desperately need to cut back. 

I'll keep my fingers crossed that someone buys me one of the many lovely items on my list as a gift, but I'm going to try my hardest to resist buying them myself.
Good point about buying junk during the holiday sales. I just quickly revisited what I purchased last year during the holiday season to see what were good purchases and what weren't.

For me, good purchases were: skincare sets of products I like, and generally deals on products I already use (e.g. my favorite mascara and hand cream). 

But the bad (unused or disliked) purchases were: A lot of the $10 deals on Black Friday from Sephora, to be honest. They were all totally impulse purchases and not really used or enjoyed. Also, sets of products that I don't use frequently enough to justify buying value sets of (eyeliner, primers, etc.). And finally, I definitely got caught up in the Naked 3 hype last year. Ultimately, I liked it, but I could have waited on that purchase for a while. Not getting caught up in the "must-have" palette hype this year!

Ugh, and looking at these, most of all I remember how gross I felt after all of my holiday season spending last year. You know that bloated and lethargic feeling you have post-holidays after you've indulged with food and drink way too much during the festive season? This feeling is like that, but with makeup. Every time I'm thinking of deviating from the plan I need to remember how crappy that feeling is!!


 
Yes, I also bought a few of those $10 sets from Sephora and two of the five are untouched, still in their packaging. One I gave as a gift and two I have used a little but honestly, very little. 

I have a list of needs for the holiday season, items that I will be out of before the end of the year (foundation, primer, lip stain, hair products). I also have a list of items I *want* but don't need. My plan is to watch for great deals on the needs and have hubby buy me one item from the want list and I will splurge and buy one item from the want list myself. NO SETS! I will not be pulled in to buy any sets because I rarely like everything in a set and too much goes unused. 

This little exercise has been helpful - I have a good frame of reference for the holiday season, now I just have to ignore all those sales and only buy what I am planning for.

ETA: well, I can take hair products off my need list - just found an amazing deal at Target during my lunch hour and I bought enough to last 6 months! 

 
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I'm glad I found this thread! Now I can fail at my low-buys more consistently, lol. 

On a serious note, I'm planing to set a budget and make a list of things I want, and keep removing things from the list until the list content is within the budget. As an aid to my plan I keep reminding myself that it's just make up, it's not matter of life or death, regardless of how pretty it is. 

 
 
Good point about buying junk during the holiday sales. I just quickly revisited what I purchased last year during the holiday season to see what were good purchases and what weren't.

For me, good purchases were: skincare sets of products I like, and generally deals on products I already use (e.g. my favorite mascara and hand cream). 

But the bad (unused or disliked) purchases were: A lot of the $10 deals on Black Friday from Sephora, to be honest. They were all totally impulse purchases and not really used or enjoyed. Also, sets of products that I don't use frequently enough to justify buying value sets of (eyeliner, primers, etc.). And finally, I definitely got caught up in the Naked 3 hype last year. Ultimately, I liked it, but I could have waited on that purchase for a while. Not getting caught up in the "must-have" palette hype this year!

Ugh, and looking at these, most of all I remember how gross I felt after all of my holiday season spending last year. You know that bloated and lethargic feeling you have post-holidays after you've indulged with food and drink way too much during the festive season? This feeling is like that, but with makeup. Every time I'm thinking of deviating from the plan I need to remember how crappy that feeling is!!
Yes, all of this! I've been encountering a lot of the stuff I purchased during the holiday season last year as I've sifted through my stuff and pretty much all of it is stuff that was an impulse buy. I have a couple of sets of things that have barely been touched, like the set of the Tarte lipsurgence minis I bought - every time I see one of them, I just kind of groan and get that gross, sick feeling that you mentioned. 

Now that you've mentioned the Black Friday deals, that's something I need to add to my list of things to definitely avoid. I've indulged in those $10 sets year after year, only to wind up with more junk that I only bought because it was so inexpensive, not because I wanted it. 

The holidays are a tough time for me as far as no-buy/low-buy goes - I easily get swept up in the fantastic deals and the pretty, sparkly packaging. This year, I need to just immediately delete any and all emails touting beauty deals and push them out of my mind. I need to remind myself of that gross feeling after buying things and that it doesn't matter if something's on sale or a good buy - if I'm buying more things I don't need, then I'm just being wasteful and being wasteful is never a good deal.

 
Yes, all of this! I've been encountering a lot of the stuff I purchased during the holiday season last year as I've sifted through my stuff and pretty much all of it is stuff that was an impulse buy. I have a couple of sets of things that have barely been touched, like the set of the Tarte lipsurgence minis I bought - every time I see one of them, I just kind of groan and get that gross, sick feeling that you mentioned. 

Now that you've mentioned the Black Friday deals, that's something I need to add to my list of things to definitely avoid. I've indulged in those $10 sets year after year, only to wind up with more junk that I only bought because it was so inexpensive, not because I wanted it. 

The holidays are a tough time for me as far as no-buy/low-buy goes - I easily get swept up in the fantastic deals and the pretty, sparkly packaging. This year, I need to just immediately delete any and all emails touting beauty deals and push them out of my mind. I need to remind myself of that gross feeling after buying things and that it doesn't matter if something's on sale or a good buy - if I'm buying more things I don't need, then I'm just being wasteful and being wasteful is never a good deal.
I want to get a sign that says "wasteful is never a good deal" and put it above my computer screen!! Great way to think about it and phrase it. 

 
I want to get a sign that says "wasteful is never a good deal" and put it above my computer screen!! Great way to think about it and phrase it. 
Yes! I think that would be an awesome sign to have. I need to get it printed on a t-shirt, get some little cards to put in my wallet that I'd see whenever I read for my credit card or some cash, or just maybe get it tattooed backwards on my head so I see it every time I look in the mirror, haha.

But really, the more I look at my collection, the more I feel disgusted and overwhelmed by the piles of junk everywhere, the more I genuinely believe that being wasteful is never a good deal.

 
I am waiting until more things are out so I buy only what I really want and will use. I use my Hourglass Ambient Lighting powder in Dim Light every time I wear makeup so I want either the palette or some Guerlain Meteorites in the holiday limited editions colors to switch it up. I also need to replace my Laura Mercier African Violet eyeshadow which I will definitely be out of by Christmas. I prefer palettes so do I make my own or buy the big set. 

I want all the pretty blushes but I have quite a few and none of them even have a visible dent. Well except for Hot Mama which I layer over cream blushes as a highlight of sorts if I am doing my makeup on the go. I will need to replace that soon but I will check my stash for something similar before I buy.

 
I've acquired a lot of makeup in the last month, so I have a ton to experiment with - I didn't really have a collection before, and suddenly went nuts. I realized that I have to stop myself, so I came up with a plan, and it'll help me curb spending in other areas, too.

Inspired by an article about a "buy nothing year,"* I'm designating 3 categories for every 3-month period that I can't spend on. (I've found that drastically limiting all spending for significant periods is too hard, and taking out just 1 category for 1 month encourages me to overspend during the surrounding time.) So, to start: during Oct/Nov/Dec I'm not spending money on makeup, books, or alcohol, because those have all been significant holes in my budget lately. (Jan/Feb/Mar will be clothes, travel, and dining out, and I haven't yet decided what will come after that.)

How to cut down on FOMO and feel okay with not buying makeup for a while? I didn't want to unsubscribe from all the newsletters; instead, I created filters for all of them so that they skip my Gmail inbox and are automatically archived to a "Shopping/Makeup" label. That way I can see them all at a glance if I need to, but they won't pop up on a daily basis. Traditionally when I've created filters they're very effective and I often forget to check those folders.

As I go through my experimentation with everything I've just acquired, I'll start a list if I think of something I could really use, but wait til January to buy it. At that point, I'll only buy things if they've been on the list at least a month...it's not like I'm in danger of running out of anything. I'm switching my Bare Escentuals sale day to January to give me something to look forward to, also. I haven't decided whether I'll still allow nail/skin/haircare purchases, but I plan to start making some of my own hair and skincare items so I'll allow ingredients for sure. I think I'm fairly set for nails but may allow a few purchases.

The holiday collection that I'll probably have the most trouble resisting is Stila - I'm still kicking myself for missing out on it last year! - but I'll let people know if there's something I really want as a gift.

*http://www.forbes.com/sites/laurashin/2014/08/20/the-buy-nothing-year-how-two-roommates-saved-more-than-55000/

 
I'm still waiting on a few companies to release their offerings before I decide my final list, but I think I'm getting there. I'm going to have a firm list for the actual items I know I want to buy, and then a small budget ($50 I think?) to take advantage of random things that come up--like Ulta points promos (I need some new brushes!) or some indie product I must try. [Edited to add: but that $50 can NOT be used to get things in my "problematic" categories--eyes, lips, and cheeks--just on things like body/bath products, brushes, a deal on my BB cream, etc.]

Okay, here are the specific treating-myself items I'm planning on getting (i.e., things I totally don't need but just want):

  • Either the Urban Decay Full Frontal mini lippies set OR a Bite Beauty set. As of right now, all I've seen that Bite is releasing is the lip pencils. If that is all they are releasing, I'll get the UD instead (the lip pencils don't interest me as much). But if they do come out with a lipstick set, I may get that instead of Full Frontal, depending on colors and price point. 
  • I *think* I'm going to get the Too Faced Melted Kisses set during the Sephora 20% off promo. I'm guessing that I will only want to try/use the two lighter colors in the kit, which would normally make this a bad buy, but I'm hoping that I'll get a Secret Santee that likes dark lippies or wants to try TF Melteds!
  • The Tarte mini $10 set with a blush and a cheek highlight. This will fulfill my Tarte blush craving (lusting after this year's palette, like I mentioned!) for much less money!
  • Stila In the Know eyeshadow palette. I know this isn't a holiday item, but I heard they might be discontinuing this and I've wanted it forever. I ended up liking this more than any of the eyeshadow palettes I've seen from the holiday season, so I figured why not get this instead? I'm hoping it comes back in stock on Birchbox so I can get it with points!
Right now, assuming I don't get anything at a discount, my list totals $113. I'm assuming I'll be able to get at least 20% off on most of them, so hopefully it ends up being under $100!

And then I am planning on getting a few value sets during the various Sephora sales/gift bag promos of things I already use and love:

  • A L'Occitane hand cream set with 5 hand creams. These are my favorite hand cream, and I tend to go through hand lotion pretty quickly, so I think stocking up is okay in this case! And I'm being good by resisting the 10 piece set anyway, haha.
  • An Ole Henriksen skincare set. I'm leaning toward the 3 Little Wonders Bonus Collection because aside from the face wash, the 3 little wonders are HG products for me! (And I like the face wash too). And amazingly, I don't have a super hoarded stash of skincare products right now!
  • A $10 Blinc mascara set, if Sephora runs that promo again during Black Friday. 
  • A $10 Caudalie hand cream/chapstick set, if they run that promo again during Black Friday too! Caudalie hand cream is a close second to L'Occitane (can you tell my hands are super dry?!). 

If I stick to these lists, I will CERTAINLY still letting myself indulge in the holiday deals and sets, and I really shouldn't feel deprived at all. But at the same time, I'll be sticking to a preset budget and not letting myself get caught up in every good review or new deal that comes out. Now the hard part--doing it!

 
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