The Beauty Diet - Part One

Right, it’s time I took myself in task and exercised some serious control of my spending on beauty products.  For those of you who don’t know, I’m a recent convert to shelling out beauty goodies and it’s making a serious dent in my wallet.  Just waltzing up to the Chanel counter and handing over £35 of my hard-earned pounds without thinking too much about it is certainly a new direction for me.

Let me explain a bit more about me and my attitude to money (or what used to be my attitude to money).  I’m usually really tight with my cash.  I’m generally ‘good’ when it comes to money.  I have savings, I budget, I put money aside each month for bills and I don’t have debts.  I know I’m in a very lucky situation as so many people struggle to pay the rent at the end of the month.  But something has happened to me since I fell into this beauty addiction malarkey – I don’t care about my money anymore, and I’m spending, spending, spending, mainly on expensive beauty bits.

This is a bit of a new departure for me – I’ve had my mad moments of splurge, as we all do.  But sustained spending and shopping is not really ‘me’.  It’s suddenly dawned on me that I’ve not got much put aside for Christmas, my car insurance is due in October, I’ve not started saving for a big holiday we’re planning next year, and I’m in serious need of a new winter wardrobe (oh yes it’s serious, especially after I popped into the shops yesterday and saw all the new season’s collections). 

So, in an attempt to reign in my beauty spending, I’ve spent some time today conducting an inventory of what I already have and what I must use up before I can buy anything new.

Shower gel/bubble bath

So far this year I’ve not bought any shower gel or bubble bath – not a single bottle.  I got stacks of both for Christmas, and I as I rarely take baths, I generally just use up bubble baths in place of shower gel.  I mean, it cleans me and does the same job, so what’s the difference?  I’ve also been known to use cheap shampoo for the same purpose – same difference.  I’d saved my best Christmas shower gel till last – Neal’s Yard Orange and Geranium.  I’m half way through it now, and was beginning to wonder what new shower gel I should buy.  Until I did my inventory.  I’ve found all these in my beauty basket.  

As well as these, I totally forgot about this Hello Kitty bubble bath my boyfriend bought me back from Hong Kong. It’s in a totally impractical but cute bottle (her head is the cap) - I’ll decant it into an empty bottle and it should last a while.

So my aim is to not buy any more shower gel until the end of November at least – let’s hope I’ve got enough there!

Face wash

I’ve been using the Nivea one for years now, but recently bought the Neutrogena one when it was on offer.  And I much prefer it - I'm a convert!  But as well as having a half used Nivea face wash, I’ve found an unused one in my beauty storage.  So I’m not buying any more until it’s all used up.  And I’ve got some Shiseido Tiss Deep Off Oil on order...

Aim for this – not to buy any more face wash until the end of January.

Facial scrub

I use facial scrub on a daily basis and currently alternate between nicking my boyfriend’s Botanics one or my Clean & Clear Exfoliating Daily Wash.  I’ve also got two different Clean & Clear ones kicking around.  I don’t like them very much, but they’ll just sit around forever if I don’t use them up - I couldn’t throw them away!  I also noticed a couple more Botanics ones in my boyfriend’s beauty storage area as well – plenty to keep me going.

Aim – not to buy any until the new year.

Shampoo and conditioner

I’ve currently got three sets of shampoo and conditioner on the go – Head & Shoulders shampoo and Timotei Cherry and Cotton conditioner (not pictured), Enjoy Luxury shampoo and conditioner and Pantene Aqua Light.  I’ve got two unused Clairol colour lock deep conditioner tubes and Tigi S-Factor Serious conditioner (also not pictured).  Added to these, I’ve got three more Timotei conditioners.  I’ve also got some posh L’Oreal samples from my hairdresser (not pictured). I like all of it, so I’m happy to use them up.

My aim is to not buy any shampoo until the end of October (as there’s not a huge amount of H & S or Enjoy left), and no conditioner until the end of January.

  

Samples

I have loads and loads of little sample sachets of lotions and potions.  Here’s a pic of some of them.

I never use these ever, but my collection keeps growing.  So I’m going to make an effort and start using one a week.  Let’s call it Sample Sunday.  So I’ll start this tomorrow.

 

Part two will follow shortly, when I've finished my inventory. I’m going to update this with regular posts.  We’ll see how I do...

Thanks for reading (kudos to you if you made it through this essay)! x