I might need to make adjustments to how extensively I purchase some product lines or remove some brands from the regular rotation based because I definitely expect the budget available for products to review to shrink not-insignificantly for 2023 based on how things went in 2022.
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The last few years I’ve been buying less and less makeup, and what I have bought has mostly been indie. I’ve increased buying fragrances, but I still don’t buy a lot. I think these trends will continue.
I stopped buying drugstore products because drugstore prices are almost on par with high end. Also I stopped buying funky colored eyeshadows palettes, unless they’re having a color story that I’ll be using very frequently. So in comparison with 2021 when I bought close to 20 palettes, I only bought 8 this whole year. Also decluttering things that went bad and aren’t being used just tell me how little makeup I can actually use in my face. All this means that my makeup spending will be very minimal in 2023. Probably no eyeshadow, definitely zero cheek products, and replacement only mascara and lipstick.
I agree about the funky colored eyeshadow palettes. Before the pandemic I went crazy buying the monotone ColourPop palettes in every color, most of which I never even used, such as Just My Luck and Uh Huh Honey. Green and yellow just do not look good on me…I don’t know what I was thinking! Lol
I’d like to buy more but so many of the brands I like are discontinued (Marc Jacobs, Becca, BITE) or so scaled down at Sephora (Buxom, ABH) or are only available online so while I’d like to purchase more, my hands are sort of tied. But now that I’m mobile again (surgeon said I can drive, though my stamina is pretty low so a trip to the mall would be tiring), I do plan to purchase a few things I’ve wanted for months (more skin care than makeup).
Yes, having your right knee replaced would have made it impossible for you to drive for such a long time – I would have been climbing the walls. I have found that since the pandemic, my stamina for browsing at our local shopping centres is pretty low and for you walking around would be very tiring indeed.
So many brands have d/c their best products that I wonder at the business sense of this
I hope in the coming days as your weather improves (hopefully) that you are able to go out and do a bit of retail therapy and find the skincare products that you are after.
Take care.
I’m switching from Sephora to Ulta for the majority of my purchases. I’ve been Rouge for several years and the benefits are simply not there anymore. I’ve found that purchasing directly from brands can yield better selection of colors [Sephora has really pared down what they carry for many brands] and much better sales. So, for the brands that Ulta doesn’t carry, I’ll purchase directly from the brand.
I’m also going to be focusing on getting more into indie multichromes [Terra Moons, Clionadh, Fyrinnae, etc] I recently discovered the Instagram account @seekingshifts and it has truly inspired me to DIY my own eyeshadow palettes. To that end, I’m hoping in the second half of 2023 to design and manufacture my own magnetic eyeshadow palettes. I have access to a choir of 3D printers and I think it’ll be a fun engineering challenge.
While I love looking at and considering lovely eyeshadow palettes, I am discovering that I need to shop my stash more, as I all ready own iterations of any color story I want to create without buying anything new. I don’t plan on buying anything new, but will just need to replace staples like mascara and foundation.
I’m planning on using the stuff I have as opposed to buying much more. Unless something is truly amazing and unique I’ll probably pass. I have about every lipstick and eyeshadow palette i could imagine wanting, so I’ll be playing with those this year!
No, I’ve been happy with my makeup and skincare purchasing habits for quite some years. I just have one product of each, repurchase as I finish and plan purchases around sales. I’m not by any means frugal, I like my expensive stuff, but I’m not wasting either money or products.
No more Colourpop and I’m being much more discerning about Indie brands. I haven’t been impressed with what is hyped up online. I know me and what formulas, type of products I use so I’m sticking with that rather than trying everything bc so and so says it’s good. Also I don’t do large palettes, not curated so basically is a rainbow palette type palettes and I’m over the Disney, cartoon, movie/TV themed palettes. Trying to buy less and use what I own more!!
I’ll be focusing more on skincare and make it a point to shop my stash before I make a new makeup purchase. I’m going to make more of an effort to rediscover old favorites.
My buying habits NEED to change. I made Rouge at Sephora and Diamond at Ulta, and I feel like I don’t have much to show for it. I did drop a tier at MAC, since I bought some of their items through Ulta. I’m going on a low-buy for 2023, but I’m still considering the rules I want to follow because I know depriving myself will cause binge spending. I also have travel and other plans coming up in the new year, and I’d much rather spend money on those things.
I know that I say this every year, but this year I MUST become far more intentional and practical with my purchases. Let’s put it this way: if there were a way to upload pics of my makeup zone in my room, one would immediately notice that there really just is no more room to add much else in the way of color cosmetics! Not just that, but up until the Covid pandemic, I wore a full face of makeup between 3-6 days per week. Now? Probably just 1-3, and sometimes ZERO, days per week! Mainly due to less going out, plus a lack of mental or physical energy to even bother trying to put myself together. Pretty sure that I need to move back to a more accessible area like where I was until nearly 3 years ago or back to the East Coast, where people are out and about far more regularly, plus back there, people do tend to wear a full face of makeup almost every day.
Well, that was longer of an explanation than intended! So, yes, it will change to replacing skincare, mascara, black liners, and keeping color cosmetics down quite a bit, only going for very unique (Terra Moons, Kaleidos, Lisa Eldridge Sorcery palette) or super basic (Wayne Goss Smokey Quartz), mostly indie brand items.
I was pretty good for most of the year, but the last couple months were crazy: Three Dior eye palettes; a Natasha Denona eye palette; a Tarte eye palette; a handful of eyeliner pencils by UD, Sephora, and Haus Labs; several lipsticks by Dior, MAC, and Huda, plus several new fragrances…
So my New Year’s resolution is no more makeup or fragrance purchases. Period. (Other than what’s absolutely necessary, like replacing a used up mascara.)
Best of luck with that resolution Seraphine! I find I can go most of the year without purchasing makeup (except for mascara and foundation) and then I find, towards the end of the year, that there are a lot neutral autumn palettes (from your hemisphere) that I love.
So I am not surprised that you went for the Dior quints because they are so lovely and timeless. And as for Glam – well I just use it all the time nowadays. A worthwhile investment.
I’ve been trying to scale back year after year, but my collection keeps growing. I just really enjoy makeup so much, and it doesn’t add up too high (in my delusional mind) when I spend $10 here or $15 there. Hopefully I can try to purchase more from indie brands, and maybe try focusing more on skin care to help me treat and conceal my rosacea.
My own habits probably won’t change. I am very frugal and rarely buy anything for myself unless I need it or have wanted it for an extended period of time. It’s a blessing and sometimes a curse, but these days I’d rather just keep saving my money.
I’ll probably do a low-buy and make exceptions for unique or special products that catch my eye. I hardly bought any makeup in 2022 and only replenished my skincare and hair products as needed and that will probably continue in 2023 as well. Since I still mask up sometimes, it’s slow going through my current collection of lip products so I probably won’t be buying much of that either. I’m well stocked in the fragrance and bath/shower products department too, lol.
I would have to say that I was a tad disappointed with most of the eyeshadow offerings this year, in comparison to previous years as most of the colour stories were either not for me or the palettes contained too many matte shades I wouldn’t use.
So it’s of no surprise that I only actually purchased one this year – PMG’s Sublime Platinum Bronze, which I find I use in conjunction with other palettes due to the muted, but lovely neutral colour story.
PMG’s Bronze Bliss was the only one I really got excited for, as 4 of the 5 shades I use all the time.
Decadence was an unexpected Christmas present from my son and that is a goodie too.
I probably purchased more lipsticks this – definitely in the Shiseido Visionary Gel range and luckily got them for under $15 – I wouldn’t want to pay the $43 they usually retail at because they are so tiny.
As for next year – I think that I am going to see how long I go before I purchase another eye palette or set of singles because I have just about every colour in the rainbow that I use and wear. And given the price of colour cosmetics here in Australia, you have to be sure that you will use them.
Ditto for lipsticks – I have a lot of those too and I will probably purchase less of those as well.
Blush is something I need to repurchase but haven’t really seen anything I like from a perusal of Sephora and Mecca Cosmetica this week, so I will wait for your best blush list Christine.
Thank you once again for another stellar year in the beauty blog business Christine – you are a star!
Other than my on-going ‘perfect’ powder bronzer hunt; my spending will stay the same. I’m not a huge makeup wearer nor do I ever switch up. It’s the same thing day in and out, suits me. The elusive bronzer though, geee wiz! Maybe this will be the year Pat McGrath finally comes out with a bronzer any maybe, finally I’ll find my true love. A girl can hope 🤍
I need to start being selective in my purchases. Mine has gotten a little out of control the last 2 years.
I have been buying less makeup for awhile, mainly replacements for staples (mascara and tinted moisturizer.) I did buy a few pieces from Jones Road just to try, and the holiday “Behave” blush set (love!) and a few lipsticks – the new lip crayon and a regular lipstick from Laura Mercier, a lipstick from Tom Ford.
I too…rarely go into a store and look at makeup…….i have not purchased anything from sephora in two years……i have only purchased a few eyeshadow singles from sydney grace and terra moons ….oh and tried out lethal which i like. And replaceing mascsra thru ulta…..that is it……2019 was the last year of my makeup madness….lol
I need to just stop completely because I rarely wear makeup unless I go out and my eyelid space is so limited that I can only use maybe two eyeshadow shades, tops. I will never use up what I have and despite donating to Project Beauty Share, there is still too much because I save some for sentimental reasons.
Makeup rehab would be nice. If I had normal eyelids that weren’t deep set, my shadows would get a lot more use. 😞
Yes. I am limiting my “recreational “ shopping and remember that I am not a beauty influencer and my Sephora purchases are not tax-deductible.
I just took a small pay cut to take a new job (this was intentional, I side stepped to skill up) and so i need to go on a one-in, one-out lowbuy for makeup and clothing. I plan on using my drugstore points for mascara, the drugstore I go to has relatively frequent 20% off for skincare too. I have a decently sized makeup stash so shopping my stash won’t be a problem, more worried about replacing clothing.
I’m on a low-buy until at least June, which is a pretty big change. I’m trying to pay off my credit card debt and a decently big portion of that spending has been buying random stuff like makeup and clothes that I simply do not need. I’ll replace beloved things as I use them up, but no new fun stuff! I have plenty of colors already.
Ideally I will spend like 95% less on makeup this year! I want to go on a no buy for at least 6 months.
Not really. I already tend to wait days or weeks before buying a makeup item to make sure I really like it, so I’m pretty comfortable with my buying habits.
I find I am leaning to single shadows, trios, quads and smaller palettes in general, and favour cream blushes over powder. For lips, it is nearly always a lip oil or tinted lip balm. Generally focusing on light makeup, easy makeup, and prefer sparkle over shimmer/metallic.