For the most part, I don’t have to “control” the urge since I tend to buy new releases when they launch. For the occasions where I see a new brand that I haven’t heard of, I try to follow them on social and see how they present themselves, do some research to see if there are any issues from the past, and I also take stock of how much I already have to review to determine if I really should be buying more on top of that!
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For the most part, I now have dupes (or close enough) for almost anything I would be attracted to
/tempted by.
If I can’t think of a dupe I might have immediately, I’ll check your dupes list.
I also use your side-by-side comparison function a lot!
Reviews, reviews, REVIEWS, and all the swatches you, google search, and reddit can provide. Just being able to see a product swatched in multiple lights and skin tones can help me decide whether I already have too many of that color and from there any super high shipping fees or ultra long turn around times will slow me down significantly. Barring that I’ll make a cart of all the things that strike my fancy, look at how expensive it is, try and trim it down, and during that process I lose patience and give up.
These days, I just remind myself that I have bigger, more important fish to fry. Like getting dental work done, saving up new eyeglasses, and trying to move back to NJ. It’s getting a little easier to resist making those impulsive buying of things that I really don’t need as a result.
I make myself wait. If Im still thinking about after a week or more then I know I really want it. I have a tendency to get excited over something quickly but alot of times I either forget about it completely the next day or the excitement fades to the point where I dont care anymore. So I keep that in mind. Also I’ll try to think if I already have something similar that I never use. Then I know I dont need for sure.
I’ve never been a big impulse purchaser. Having a good idea of what I already own, and researching products first reminds me I don’t need them. Shipping cost and issues due to COVID have kept lemmings for indie brands from overseas at bay. Reminding myself of travel and other things I want to do with the money helps as well. Right now, I’d rather have more money to spend in Hawaii than a ton of new makeup I don’t need.
I’m getting very good at this. I think about what I have, then I think about what else I could do with the money I would save and 9 times out of 10 I don’t make the purchase.
I have found that very few brands compare to my favorite which is Pat McGrath. I still love my MAC products, I enjoy a few items from CT and the eyeshadow from ND.. however I find I am mostly disappointed and thankfully don’t feel compelled to try every new thing that comes out on the market.
I find it pretty easy to resist impulse buying because of my colour and shade preferences. Only a handful of eyeshadow palettes and lipsticks suit me, plus availability and price rules quite a few out as well.
This is something I struggle with almost daily! It’s easier when there’s nothing I want (when interesting releases are few are far between), but it’s something I’m trying to get better at.
I try to repress those purchases until time of need, reserve for when I am feeling blue. Not the best thing, but on occasion I succumb to retail therapy. Case in point, I just bought a Smoky Eye brick in Tuxedo from Victoria Beckham, along with the Midnight lid luster. Christine recently reviewed the Sephora brand eyeshadow in Astral, which would have indeed been a smarter choice than the VB lid luster. Maybe get both to compare? In any event, I try to justify by not making such purchases often, and unlike what I just did, try to find less expensive options to what caught my eye.
I check my bank balance, lol