What happened when a beauty junkie who drops casually into drugstores and department stores ‘to have a look’ at least once a week has to go cold turkey, because, well China? She’ll learn a thing or two about spending habits and how long it takes to use up body lotion. And shares some stuff she finds helpful when it comes to saving money and space in the stash! On to the makeup and skincare no-buy guide!
When I went to Shanghai, I brought about everything with me. Skincare, body care, makeup, cotton rounds, toothpaste, you name it. I touched shortly on why I don’t buy makeup, skin or body care in China in my Shanghai shopping post here. (It’s mostly too expensive and it’s difficult to find the products I want.) I’m also old and cranky and used to my toothpaste flavour, so get off my lawn.
Generally, I go back to Germany every five months or so. I ended up quickly with ordering beauty products I really wanted and had them shipped to my parents, or buying them in bulk at the end of my visit and taking them back with me. (Exceptions were vacations, I’m always curious about beauty products I encounter when I’m abroad. I took fully advantage of being close to Seoul and Japan and their respective beauty products. Ahem.) Nevertheless I feel that after my time here in Shanghai, I have some recommendations based on my involuntary no-buy!
No spontaneous shopping trips
Because I rarely went to counters, and knew that I’d have to wait a few months before I’d had an online order in my hands, I didn’t buy or order products in the heat of the moment. Nearly everything I buy right now I have thought about for quite a long time and has gone on a wishlist. Removing myself from temptation that counters and stores offer, with the knowledge that I won’t have a products for quite some time, I have gained a new perspective that isn’t any longer driven by ‘oh pretty! It’s new, I want it!’. On the plus side, that also makes for less duds in my stash.
Planning for discounts
When I buy staples, be it makeup or skincare, I plan that around discounts. Sephora VIB events, Glamour Shopping Week, or the instances that Douglas or Paula’s Choice offer 20% off. I by now have a list of my staples and know how long a bottle or tub will last me approximately, so I can plan accordingly. And that saves me quite a lot of money.
No buying for the sake of buying
The biggest change in my beauty buying habits was that I wouldn’t no longer just drop into drugstores or department stores to check out beauty counters and new releases. I wouldn’t just buy a new drugstore shower gel because it was new and smelled nice, or get a new drugstore nail polish because it’s limited edition. In short, I didn’t buy stuff because I just felt like it and I could. In terms of spending that probably was the biggest amount I saved over the years, just cutting out things I bought because I felt like buying something.
Going cold turkey and shopping my stash
Right now, I’m having only a small part of my makeup collection with me, because the bigger part is already on its way back to Germany in a container on a ship. While I’m definitely starting to appreciate products that I haven’t used in a while and am happy to rediscover forgotten favourites, I also have to acknowledge that I’m easily bored by having only a limited amount of products. Every so often I also realise that shopping in itself can be some kind of rush that is hard to quit – after staying in Shanghai for weeks or months, I always feel the urge to go out and shop, be it beauty items or whatever. That was a bit of a scary revelation.
That body lotion bottle is huge!
I came to China with a huge stash of skincare and body care, and you know what? I’ll leave China with only a slightly smaller stash. It takes me FOREVER to actually empty products like shower gel, body lotion, shampoo, and conditioner. What’s even more shocking is that when I open a new product from the stash, I sometimes realise I don’t like it any more. A lesson in not buying back-ups if I ever saw one! A new shiny thing will always come along.
I’m easily distracted?
When I’m back in Germany, visiting my parents, it’s always a bit like Christmas. Packages will have accumulated from online orders I made in the last months. And while unpacking is a lot of fun, and can’t help but often feeling overwhelmed with the amount of products, especially if I ordered makeup. What to try first? I can’t imagine how bloggers do it that get a lot of press packages. I’ve realised that I definitely prefer to try products for a longer time, and one by one, not all together.
Makeup and skincare no-buy guide
So here’s what I learned: My best recommendation if you want to save some money and avoid adding unnecessary products in your collection is to plan your purchases. That includes making no spontaneous purchases, for whatever reasons. Keeping track of your staples and buying them with discounts saved me some money, too. And say it with me: No backups, ever. And now I’m hoping I can keep it up when I get back home!
