A LOW-BUY FOR 2019

Happy New Year, all! I'm kicking of 2019 with a bit of an ambitious pledge: I plan on going on a year-long makeup 'low-buy'. What is a low-buy? Why am I doing this? Should you join me on my mission? Keep reading to find out...

- WHAT'S A LOW-BUY? -

A low-buy is a way of restricting your spending on beauty products or even just limiting the number of products in your collection. A 'no-buy' (where you quite literally buy nothing new) didn't seem realistic for me; people tend to do them over a short period of time (like a month) but I quite often see people keeping a wish list and doing a huge haul at the end of them, buy which stage: what's the point?! I just want to bring a bit of moderation and consideration into my buying habits. I still want to be able to buy an exciting new product to review for you guys, I'm just looking to be mindful about my purchases. 

- WHY NOW? -

To be honest - I'm in my mid-20s and there's other stuff I need to be spending my money on. This seems like an easy way to cut down on my outgoings, as I definitely already have more makeup than I could ever possibly need! I'm looking to buy a flat and travel a little more, all of which are expensive endeavours! I'm also learning to drive, which is another big cost, albeit a short-term one. 

-WHAT ARE THE RULES? -

I'm going to be limiting myself to either 3 products per month or the total of all products to come to under £40 (this is to allow for things like a ColourPop haul where the products are very cheap and the international shipping means it makes financial sense to order several products in a go.

If I don't use up my 3 items in one month, I'll allow myself to carry them forwards so, if I go on a shopping trip to another city / abroad, I can 'save up' to buy products I can't easily get at home - it just requires some forethought.

The low-buy is going to include repurchases - this is because I generally have several products in each category, so it will encourage me to finish things up. For example, I don't need to repurchase my preferred Tarte concealer when I still have one from Too Faced that will do the job!

I'm including both skincare and makeup in the low-buy, again because I have enough of each product category to tide me over, even if it means not repurchasing my absolute favourites.

The low-buy will not include items purchased with gift cards as long as the gift card covers 75% or more of the cost of the product. 

- WHAT AM I HOPING TO ACHIEVE? -

I wrote a post last year on how I'm trying to focus my blog less on 'buy buy buy' and more on products I think are worthy to join collections that may be smaller than my own - you can read that here. I think this is just the next natural step in that and I'm surprised I didn't do this sooner! You've probably noticed more single-product reviews and fewer hauls on my blog this year, which was a deliberate choice. I plan on continuing on in that spirit. I still want to be able to compare and dupe products, but I already have a huge catalogue of products to do that with. Trying to pan an eyeshadow palette this year made me realise how long that takes! So this year I want to use and love my existing collection more instead of always looking towards the next release. I am also lucky enough to get some products sent to me as PR, so it's not like I'll never be talking about new launches! 

I will definitely do some sort of an update on my progress during the year so stay tuned! Have you ever been on a low-buy before?

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