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Temptalia Asks You - Do you keep yourself on a beauty budget?

Do you keep yourself on a beauty budget? Do you limit yourself? Do you stay within your budget? Or do you not want to keep track?

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I have a rough estimate of what I can/can’t afford beauty-wise per month, so I stick within those limits 🙂

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41 Comments

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Roxanne Avatar

I try to limit myself but I always go over it lol. Sometimes I’ll ask my mom to go with me and casually point out something I like. She’s a sweetheart and will probably buy it for me <3 I feel bad sometimes, but I’ll only do it if I really really would like to have something and if it’s not too expensive (if so, I’ll just wait till next month or so…).

CAROLINE Avatar

I’m crazy. I have this app on my iPhone which tracks all my income/expenses. Because really, if not, I’d be forever in debt. This way, if I feel like splurging, I just have to give up on something else. Also makes sure I really want something before I buy it.

Ribbons Avatar

My budget if I’m buying online is the amount that makes my P&P Free! In a shop it’s usually £30-£40 but I spent £68 on benefit the other day so I don’t usually stick to it!

glitter princess Avatar

I didnt b4 but when a got a £700 credit card bill over a period of 4-5 months and realised 98% was shopping for cosmetics MAC esp with there limited edition collections i have now since stopped and only buy what i require and if a product can be duped by high street(drug store) then i will do that as i have relaised how come only MAC has LE prods every month and relistically no item is not available else where!

Also its a kick in t he teeth when I think I could have saved that money for a holiday or somehthing else!

so im limited to items to what i really need etc! so for e.g. I dont really have any green e/s hence when the new mac art collection comes ill just get the green quad and a green paint pot!

as rest of the items I have seen dupes for in superdrug esp brands GOSH Cosmetics/ BArry M etc

i seen excat dupe for the pink/blue and green techkohl from the mac art colleciton at GOSH

Miss_M Avatar

Yes, I do have to stick to a budget every month. I try not to spend more than E75,- euros, but unfortunately I go over that sometimes. That means I have to spend less the next month to balance it out.

fiaspice Avatar

I have, cause I’m quite poor at the moment, that’s why I’m mainly drugstore and a bit of Sephora (sadly it’s really far from me)

Very.Cherie Avatar

I was so good before…. this summer the collections were so fun that I ‘needed’ some from all! So I’m pretty stocked but broke.

I will only buying 1-2 items from the D2 and Style Black collections and then nothing else until 2010 🙁 So my budget is $100 covering both collections.

2010 = new years makeup budgeting resolution!

Alexis Avatar

HAHAHAHAHA – I can’t help but laugh at this question. I have this belief that I am keeping the cosmetics world afloat on my purchases alone…that being said I should really adhere to my plan of seeing how long I can go without buying a single makeup item.

UGH DAMN you Style Black line for breaking me down…MAC girl will be calling me when it’s time to pre-order. I believe that’s next week =(

Fari Avatar

I try… a lot… and 75% of the time fail. lol. I’m much better at sticking to a budget now than I was before. Nowadays I only buy things that I have been longing for/don’t have a similar shade of. I’ve also strayed away from buying too many high-end/MAC things unless I’m at CCO. If I want something in a fun color that I know I’m not going to wear all the time, I’ll try to find it at a drugstore/Ulta. I’m hoping that strategy will help me save more money…hoping being the keyword. haaha.

Carolyn Avatar

Yup, same here. My splurges are far apart, but I don’t bother with drug store anymore- I’m happier to save up longer for something I like even more.

Anitacska Avatar

I have a vague plan how much I should spend every month, but I will still buy something that I really like even if I’ve spent that much that month already. I do try to keep it below £500 a month or thereabouts (not that easy as I’m now mainly only buying high end cosmetics and most of them cost over £30 for a quint/guad/powder, etc. Also Mac comes out with far too much LE items. 🙁

Vivian Avatar

After how I spent over 5000 in beauty products in 2007 and 2008, I’ve toned down a lot. All that beauty products I bought in ebay I rarely wore them and they don’t suit me at all. I can’t return them, so i’m left with a glob of unused junks. (dior, ysl, chanel, blah blah) Cosmetic brands always come out with collections; I went to the store to swatch them, turns out something is similar in my stash! I almost never buy high end lip and mascara. maybelline makes some nice lip stuff and some drugstore mascaras are great.

Now, I still like to spend. My account is always below 200 because I would constantly buy stuff. I’m really into mineral makeup-online, not store ones) I’ve found some really interesting stores that sell wonderful high quality loose eyeshadows, soo pretty. i’ve owned at least 500 samples and 50 Fullsizes and guess what? I love those mineral goodies I own as most of their quality is superb and smooth. I don’t like gritty textures… I’ve spent 600 on those in the past 4 months. Fom now on, I’ll stick to my loose mineral eyeshadows. hehe

Chris Avatar

I make a list for each collection and try to budget for each month. Unless I’ve earned some extra money or have containers to B2M, for which I may get a few extras. I also record what I’ve gotten for each collection this year as a reminder to myself of what I’ve spent so far. Heheh, I’m such a nerd, I even did up a spreadsheet that’s a combination of a wishlist and what I got that has the cost of each item with tax.

Very.Cherie Avatar

you aren’t alone! I have a spreadsheet with tabs for Have, Wanted and Depotted Items! and beside each name I have a colour description and where or not it’s limited edition!! that is nerdish! lol but it’s very helpful

Bridgette Avatar

Before I didnt have a beauty budget but now i do have one. Sometimes I would want another YSL Golden Gloss but then I say to myself no cause I need this more than that. I try not spend over $100 a month. Or with MAC Collections I make a list of items that I want then I cut down the list on what would I use more.

Ashlee Avatar

yea i definetly always have a beauty budget , i dont go on many hauls but when i do i usually spend 200-300 .I always have a list and only buy what i know i will wear, not just something i think is pretty.

Reana Avatar

I pay all my bills FIRST and then use whatever is leftover as my fun/makeup money, but know that I have to save some $ for food and gas etc. until next paycheck! For the big launches, I save my leftover money for a few paychecks. Temptalia has really helped me plan ahead by posting pictures and descriptions ahead of time so I’m not surprised and tempted to charge on my credit card when I get to the store, see a huge new launch, and am being pressured by a pushy salesperson. My bank thanks you Christine!

Brandy Avatar

I KIND OF HAVE BUDGET BUT EVERYTIME AT THE FIRST OF THE MONTH I USUALLY SPEND 300 AND THEN AT THE END OF THE MONTH ITS USUALLY 100 I TRY TO SAVE SOME EXTRA MONEY FOR CCO..BUT IM AT A JOB WHERE I CAN PICK UP OVERTIME LIKE CRAZY AND AFTER I WORK 40 HOURS I GET TIME AND A HALF SO IM PICKING UP ALOT OF OVERTIME TO WORK SO I CAN AFFORD THE HOLIDAY COLLECTIONS

Ann Avatar

I don’t usually go over my means, but I do not have an official budget. I also don’t really want to know what the grand total is! I try my best to limit myself, but if there’s something I really really want, I usually get it.

Constance Avatar

I try not to spend more than $100 a month on skin care and cosmetics. However, some months (F&F sales, new releases, etc.) I go way over. The next month….I reign it in until I back to the $100 a month or $1200 for the year. I worked for Cosmair for over 20 years and still have numerous industry connections so I get a lot of stuff free. If this wasn’t the case, I would be the leading the parade to the poor house.

Catherine Avatar

I’m in the process of making myself a budget right now actually! Instead of budgeting makeup/beauty, I try to budget together everything that’s “unnecessary” to ~$100 a month since I’m trying to save up for school at the same time. I don’t quite know if it’s realistic yet though… we’ll see. =)

Nic Avatar

I don’t give myself a specific limit – mostly because my makeup spending is so sporadic. I can go half a year without there being any collections that really catch my eye. So when there is a collection – or just a bunch of stuff that comes out around the same time – that I feel I MUST have, I don’t mind splurging (within reason) because it happens so infrequently.

Alice Avatar

I don’t really have a budget when it comes to skincare, I just buy what I want. Make up is something I don’t really splurge on but I can definitely by a high end brand when it appeals to me without thinking twice.

jenny Avatar

i used to be really bad and buy alot of products that i didnt think twice about whether or not i was going to use them. now that im living on my own i am definitely counting my pennies and dont buy as much. which is good because i find that im loving my current products more and it gives me satisfaction when i see the pan of a product because it tells me that i used my money well and i use it all the time.
my budget now is 50 a month. we’ll see how that goes, cuz i just started it ;D

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