Update On My No-Buy Ban

Hello and Happy New Year all! Here's to more good vibes, good healh, and happiness. Ironically, I'm nursing a mild viral cold now (There must be a bug going on), so with this occasion forcing myself to go into a yin state, I thought I'd check up on myself two months post declaring my No-Buy Makeup Challenge. I haven't done any impulse or panic buys or unecessary makeup shopping or hoarding for myself in two months and I am happy to tell you that I didn't go into chills, have my body split into two or foam at the mouth when I see a new collection on display. Nothing. I'm alive you guys and if you set yourself in this challenge as a 2018 New Year Resolution, I, along with many others in the challenge are living proof to tell you that yes, it's possible.

Still human two months after not buying any makeup!
Photo by Alfred Mendoza

So how was it during Christmas shopping when you see all the Holiday collections popping up? How was able to resist to buy? Well, sometimes, I noticed that I usually buy out of curiosity. So what I did, I satisfied my curiosity by swatching. When I swatch the product, I get to experience it if it's nice on me. Better yet, I also get to realize that I may have a similar (or an exact dupe) shade in my kit. Then I walk away. If ever that I still want to buy, I gave it usually as a gift. I did that once though and gave a lip kit for my friend as a gift. Buying makeup as a gift is still allowed as well as buying to replenish what you super ran out of. Actually, with most of my gifts, I settled for DIY and followed my own advice.

Remember what I said about having a support or a buddy to check on you? Well it really helped. Azaza added me in a Facebook group where girls all over the world participate in a panning challenge, where they would pan out products. These girls are based all over the world and I get to see their emptied out and panned out makeup and skincare products for the month and their list of already panned-out products from their kit.

cream makeup hitting pan

hit pan with the Cream in my lorac Pro palette.
Seeing a hint of pan in my base color

panned-out contours and blushes

When one girl is having shopping withdrawals, there was a batallion of encouragement and support to stay strong. I posted a couple of photos of my panned-out powder and blush products and I'm actually getting more likes there than a twisty, splitty yoga photo or an adorable photo of my cat.

brow products were the easiest to pan out

I also noticed my makeup habits - that lately, I go by my brow products very fast. Maybe because #kilayislife. I've practically squeezed out my Make Up For Ever Aqua Brow colors and finished up a K-palette eyebrow pencil. I'm almost done with another eyebrow pen and this along with lash glue was my only repurchase for self. Maybe I ought to do more eye makeup just to pan out the shadow palettes and assign lip colors for everyday to pan out several other lippies.

Joining that group also got me more tips so that I can lessen my makeup spending.

1. Unsubscribe. Sometimes, email notifications of stores can be tempting. If you're the type who would want to rush and order the newest product when you see it pop in your mailing list, best to unsubscribe from several email notifications first until your stash significantly reduces. You can re-add yourself to the mailing list back when your goal has completed.

2. Have a theme per month. This will help in your project panning. For people who wear makeup everyday because of work or hey, because we just like to (nothing wrong with that), gather a few products and place it on a small (or smaller) makeup pouch you have on hand and have this on your dresser. Your objective is to pan them out for the month.

Rocker chic smokey for the YogaHive Denim and White Christmas Party.

A post shared by bambi kitty 🐱🐯 (@bambikitty) on Dec 6, 2017 at 3:15am PST

3. Find other places to hang out aside from the mall. I try not to spend a lot of time in the malls during Holidays unless errands. I took up coloring so I don't stay bored during idle times, attended classes, focused on meal prepping (helps control Holiday bingeing too). If you find yourself bored at home, whip out your makeup kit and create a look.

4. Find ways to maximize your palette - I panned out Shadowplay from my Kat Von D Shade + Light Contour palette while the other shades were barely used. Azaza taught me how to maximize the palette on how other shades can be used to contour other areas (I used to always rely on Shadowplay entirely), create dimension in contour, or act as an eyeshadow. I swear, now I don't need to buy more matte browns! There was even a girl in the Project Panning group page that used old eyeshadow palettes as paints and created artwork! To each her own I guess.

Actually, blogging about this puts me back on track. Maybe I can wear just a tad more makeup on some days or when I have time, create quick looks I can do to maximize things even more. I can even do a theme lipstick for the week or month. Since ultraviolet is the color for 2018, I can gather purple makeup that I should use for the first two months or something.

Are you also in the panning or no-buy challenge for 2018? If you've done this last year, how's your progress going? Let me know too in the comments below.