It’s always good to have a budget, even if it’s a rougher idea, and then use that to curb excessive purchases. I have found forcing myself to wait a few days before buying helps to curb those immediate impulses – but I take the route of “you can get it if you REALLY want it, just wait 48 hours.”
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I’ve become good at the wait and sleep on it – I usually forget about it for weeks. I also really like trying to shop my stash and dupe whatever I can. I usually am successful and it’s quite fun! Sometimes I never lose the want for a particular item but our budget doesn’t really allow much purchasing anyway so it is a good deterrent for compulsive shopping LOL.
I just simply wait for your reviews/swatches 🙂 Save me from many compulsive buying and from those heavy marketing (including fake reviews!) Thanks so much, Christine
Aw, you’re welcome!! <3
When possible I don’t buy unless I have physically looked at it and /or swatched it. I wait a day, and I also make sure i can return if opened. No more Neiman Marcus purchases for me. No wonder they’re in Chapter 11.
I’m at the point now where I’ve got so much makeup (and skincare, though I use that up faster) that when I stop to think about new things I see, very little tempts me because most of it is a variation of makeup I already own. Temptalia’s dupe list is a huge help in this regard. Adding more “stuff” just clutters up my already cluttered up brain when it comes to what to use, what to wear, what I want to wear next, what I haven’t worn in a long time… So it’s becoming easier to resist (and this also explains why, for the first time in a long time, I failed to reach the Rouge threshold at Sephora).
Covid-19, with lockdown and other restrictions forcing me to spend more time at home, as well as wearing a mask covering 2/3 of my face, have cooled down every impulse I once had to buy all the new releases That catch my eye. I mean, basically every face and lip product I own is making dust since more than 2years. Talking about eyeshadows… Well they does not look the same as they once did now that I wear the mask; besides, having already a dozen of high end palettes in my stash and with the shadow of lockdown still looming on our future, what the point of new purchase?. Yes, covid 19 has been an effective lesson against consumerism and frivolities. Now there also is an ugly war and the pricing of food, energy and essential goods growing crazily high… Yes another strong deterrent against a revamp of consumerism in the distant hope of a better pandemic situation.
Thank you for wearing a mask and for your efforts- your words. I relate and agree to much of what you said- *Thank you.*
Having a FIRM game plan before even going on a site tends to avert those episodes. For instance, when Sephora just had their sale, I already had one list of “wants” like Nars Unrated Eyeshadow Palette and Afterglow Cheek Palette, and then one of “needs” composed of mostly skincare products and one replacement eyeliner because my other Sephora Contour Liner in My Boyfriend’s Jeans seems to have dried up.
And yet, I feel down the CP Peeps rabbit hole! Mostly to avoid getting the Natasha Denona Pastel palette, though.
I don’t have my credit card saved on any web browsers so I would be too lazy to get up and find my wallet and type in the numbers! LOL Honestly I feel my collection is at a point that I don’t need every new thing that comes up on the market. I became more and more selective.
I have learned to have patience. I have a file on my PC full of my “wants” with pictures of each item. Then I wait for reviews, swatches, and in some cases, sales. If by that time I still want it then it was meant to be.
Hi Everyone,
I do a weird thing. I will do this with any store Holts, Saks, Sephora, doesn’t matter the store. If I see something I like I put it in my basket. The basket gets bigger. Then I don’t look at the basket for about 2 weeks or more, then decide do I need it or is it a want? Many times the whole basket has been emptied and other times I just buy one or two items. I also research the product, here for swatches and reviews. Perfumes, since I am a collector and know a lot of the reviewers I will check out their reviews. But at 100 bottles of perfume, some I am no longer fond of and I find them new homes. I wish everyone a happy holiday weekend!!!!
I don’t do compulsive makeup shopping anymore. Long ago I decided to onlly buy what I actually ‘love’ not like. And for me to love it – it has to be in my kind of shades and finishes….which means no pinks, oranges or reds – so that takes out 90% of the products out there in the market place.
Apart from the above, it has to be reasonably priced and accessible…and many are not.
But most importantly whatever product I am looking at – it has to be reviewed by you first Christine and score an excellent rating. This is where your site has been invaluable over the many years you have been reviwing products. The Dupe list is incredibly helpful too.
Like others who are part of this very special community, I have a fairly healthy stash to ‘shop’ from and I am quite content to do that.
At the cost of sounding whatever, I ask myself is this really going to make me look and feel prettier really? Really? Or am I filling some void? If I need it, in as I’m out of something, then I buy because it’s an empty product. I have always liked looking at clothes, jewelry and makeup. Rarely does it mean I buy it. I look just fine without that cashmere sweater or Tiffany necklace, we’ll sort of 😇
If I see a product I like I’ll make a note of it, maybe save it to my Pinterest board. If I still want it a month later I’ll generally buy it. Most products the ‘fever’ to buy goes away quickly and I forget about them.
If you asked me this question before the pandemic, my answer would have been, “I don’t.” Lol
But my relationship with makeup has changed over the past two years, which I spent nearly makeup-free, and my shopping compulsions have changed from makeup to other things. I have a ton of makeup and the only things I buy now are replacements for products that have run out.
Easy – it HAS to be on sale. I’ve purchased a grand total of maybe five makeup items at full price within the last fifteen years and every one burned me from shitty quality or blatant photoshop. So…yeah. That waste of money takes the wind out of your sails fast and now the goal is avoid ever feeling like that again.