Stay Strong: Here are seven tips to survive your no-buy resolution
Since joining the Project Vanity team last year, the amount of beauty products in my stash has doubled in size. With the combination of my voracious need for new lipstick and constantly chatting with fellow PV girls who are enablers (I’m looking at you, Kim, haha!), I suddenly had more than what I need!
It’s not such a bad thing because I’m happy to try out new stuff but my responsible side screams at my makeup junkie side to calm TF down with the hoarding. So I’ve taken it upon myself to only buy the products that I need and not just want (goodbye for now, Charlotte Tilbury Matte Revolution, sob). At least, that’s what I’ve been trying to do anyway but Taiwan happened. If you’re planning to go through a low or no-buy phase also, here are my best tips for staying sane and surviving the challenge!
Police your purchases
Call your family, your friends, your S.O., your pet dog, your officemates, and your neighbors. When they so much as see you typing the website of your fave online beauty store or approaching a beauty counter, tell them to tell you NO. Nothing says guilt trip like say, your mom telling you that you could use that money for savings, a house, a car, or something that could benefit you in the long run!
Set limits on your budget
For shopaholics, it's extra dangerous to have your credit card info already saved together with your profile in those beauty websites. (Remember that girl who accidentally charged $733 worth of Sephora goodies on her mom’s card?) Delete your info and protect yourself (from hackers and impulse buys alike) by getting a reloadable cash card instead! Not only does this help you set a budget for your makeup spending, you’ll have to make the extra effort to have it reloaded, especially if you don’t have it connected to a bank account like I do!
Click unsubscribe on those emails
Every day, I make it a habit to go through my emails to make sure it doesn’t get cluttered. But when I see an email from Althea, BeautyMNL, or Sephora, I click so fast The Flash couldn’t even catch up! Alas, as much as we love those websites, if you want to curb your beauty hunger, click Unsubscribe at the bottom of the email and say goodbye to temptation.
Say no to beauty blogs and reviews
If you’re planning to go cold turkey on beauty buys, you’re gonna have to limit or take a complete vacation from your fave beauty blogs (Project Vanity, nooooo!!!) and YouTube (ugly crying). Clear your browser history, remove bookmarked blogs, mute Facebook posts and notifications, and remove anything that will tempt you to stray from your resolve. Even one pretty flatlay or haul video will risk enabling you to buy, buy, buy!
Challenge yourself even more
No-buys are no fun. It's a tough challenge but you can use this to your advantage! Make like my fave YouTuber emilynoel83 and shop your stash for items that you haven’t used in a while. Incorporate them into your routine again gives you something "new" to look forward to.
Speaking of using products you already own, why not focus on using them up? Try doing Project Pan, which challenges you to hit pan or reach empty. Nothing is more satisfying than finishing up a beauty product, right? And try making your own customized palette by depotting pan products into an empty magnetic palette! It's like you have a completely new palette. You can even create themes per palette.
Breathe new life to old products
You probably have beauty buys that are lying around, unloved and unused because they don’t work for you. Why not repurpose them into something new? Use a highlight for eyeshadow, add a lighter foundie color to darker foundies, the list goes on! You can even DIY items like cushion blush with them. The satisfaction of “making” your own makeup will help minimize your want to buy new ones.
Make an inventory
How to guilt trip yourself to saying no to that Tom Ford lippie? Look at your current lipstick collection and see how much lipsticks you already have! If you have a lot of beauty products, keep track of them by making a list of what you have, when they expire, and when you bought/opened them. You can also challenge yourself to find dupes in your collection to help curb the buying appetite.
We hope these tips can help you survive that no-buy period! If you're currently in one, we'd love to hear how you're doing! Share your own tips below! ;)
