Welcome to the first of my monthly (providing I stick to the plan) posts which should hopefully collate all my monthly beauty purchases/hauls in one place – and be no more than £25. If you missed my 2016:A Fresh start post, I’ve cut back to 1 beauty box a month (which isn’t included in the £25 spend), and allow myself £25 for any other beauty purchases which are non life essential (e.g Shampoo/Conditioner are exempt from being counted!).
Should I also use any loyalty points for purchases, these are also not counted – because that’s just free money anyway right? Any money I don’t spend is left in the kitty so if I want to make bigger purchases through the year I can do, providing I’ve saved enough – or I’ll have a smaller budget the following month!
I know we’re not quite at the end of the month, but I’ve pretty much spent my budget, and I don’t plan to be buying anything else between now and the end of the month – and hopefully publishing this post will encourage me to save my money. As midway through my first month plan – my boyfriend announced he was taking me to New York for my Birthday, so let’s ignore that blip which you’ll no doubt see the results of that soon!
Non Essential Items (Within the £25)
Blue Sky Gel Polish Top Coat and Base Coat Set – Amazon £11.50 + Blue Sky Polish Chameleon in 021 Amazon £5.50
I really needed some new base/topcoat for my gel kit as the ones I had were either rubbish, or almost completely gone – I couldn’t decided whether top/base coats should be included as essential items or not, let me know what you think. I also decide to treat myself to a new colour as I don’t have a very big gel colour collection and settled on this bottle of nail polish wizardry. I’ve already posted a review of Blue Sky Chameleon 021 here, check out the review here.
Fleur De Force Lipgloss in Starry Starry Night – £5.99
In November I wrote about Fleur De Force’s lipgloss in written in the stars – and it’s been in my handbag ever since! I wanted to get another colour from the range (actually I want all of them!) and this is a colour Fleur wears a lot, and it’s one I also know I’d get a lot of wear from. Comparing side by side this feels so much heavier than the other – which shows just how much I’ve used that in just a few months, so I’m guessing this will quickly become another favourite too.
Essential Items (NOT WITHIN the £25)
I was trying to decide whether Dry Shampoo should qualify as non essential or not – but after deciding I really need to wash my hair every day if I don’t have a bottle of it – and as long as I’m not duplicating having a new bottle when I already have multiples available then it’s fine. I went back to my favourite Aussie Dry Shampoo this month which I’ve talked about a million times before, so I won’t speak too much about it!
Zoella Body Scrub
I’ve completely run out of Body Scrubs so when I was placing an online order (as you’ll see in a minute) I needed to up my spend to get free delivery (and consequently this was the same price as paying for delivery, so therefore I’m not counting it as money being spent – as I would have spent it on P&P instead). I’ve only previously tried the Zoella hand cream, and people seemed quite interested on that post on other items in a range – from a non teenage girl point of view whether the products are actually any good! I’ve put this into my shower and will report back!
GIFT CARD SPENDS (FREE!)
This month marked me leaving my job for a new one – my friends at work very kindly bought me a few bits as well giving me a gift card so I didn’t have to pretend to like any gifts that they got me. I decided to opt for the below.
Ole Henriksen Holiday Set
Ridiculously marked down in the sale – this set contained a full size of the African Red Tea Foaming Cleanser, Truth Serum Collagen Boost, Invigorating Night Treatment and Sheer Transformation moisturiser. I’ve only ever tried one thing from Ole Henriksen and I’ve been thinking about trying a one brand skincare trial and seeing how I get on – I couldn’t resist picking this up because it was so cheap (I think £8 but I can’t quite remember!) – and the miniatures I thought would be really handy for New York!
MAC Amber Times 9 Palette
With the rest of my money I decided to get myself a palette, I’ve been looking for a travel friendly palette for a while, the eyeshadows in this palette are about half the size of normal mac shadows – so still enough to keep you going for some time but small enough to be makeup bag friendly, with a mix of light & dark matte – sparkly and shimmer shades, it’s all I need in a palette and plan for it to be the only thing I take with me to New York!
Loyalty Spends (Free!)
Laura Gellar Spackle Primer
I finally had enough Birchbox points to cash in a decent whack for a product, I’d been lingering at just lower than £20 (and you have to wait for £10 increments!) for a while and when I finally hit it I decided to cash them in and get myself a product I might not have tried otherwise. I opted for the Laura Gellar Spackle Primer – if you’re a regular viewer of, then Laura Gellar will be a name you’re familiar with, that’s the only place you’re really able to purchase her products on this side of the shore. I’ve heard good things about Laura Gellar and was looking for a daily alternative to my Body Shop Instablur primer – which I love but I find I use very quickly if I use it every day, and I know Spackle Primer, is one which gets great reviews. Hopefully I don’t fall in love with this as it was £18.76 it’s not a product which will be too friendly on my £25 budget! I have a review of this going up tomorrow so keep your eyes peeled!
MAC Whirl Lipstick
I backed to MAC some products this month and decided to pick up Whirl – a product which I’ve seen talked about a lot recently – but have been completely convinced by Valentina and Lucie to give this a go! A much darker nude than anything else I own and a a proper nineties lip shade. Another product which I’ll report back on!
Yearly Receipt To Date
This Months Spend: £27.49
Any Money Carried Over: £2.51
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Email: helplesswhilstdrying@gmail.com
I absolutely love this idea of giving yourself a beauty budget. You have inspired me to do the same! Thank you 💜
What a great idea. I would never be able to stick with the plan, but I love the concept :)Things like loyalty schemes make it all a little easier to manage, as you can still get some nice goodies on the side.
xo Anne
If i can justify going over for something that’s special and I know 100% that I’m going to use it. Plus I’m quite lenient with what I consider an essential item that doesn’t count within the £25! I’m just trying to be more conscious with what I’m spending I guess as I haven’t really paid that much attention over the past year and have lots of stuff I just don’t use! xxx
Well ofcourse…more of a guideline 😉 But I get it, sometimes you get carried away and spend so much on stuff you don’t really need. I think this is a great idea.
That MAC eyeshadow palette 😍
I restrained using it for a whole week as I didn’t have good light to photograph it! So happy to start using it now though!
That would’ve been tough but I know what you mean, pictures need to be taken before you use a product lol
Think this is a fab idea, I really should budget! Absolutely love the mac lipstick colour 🙂 xxx
I love everything you bought!! the mac palette looks like perfection – beautiful for all seasons 🙂
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Thank you! I think it’s going to be my new go to palette! Had it’s first use yesterday and I’m in love already 🙂 xx
Loving the MAC palette and the lipstick. Would love to try them.
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Fab idea! I am trying to spend less this year so I think I will need to adopt a budget like this as I am not being too strict on myself haha! That Mac palette looks gorgeous btw!
It’s not been too hard so far – I’ve just kept a record on my phone as to what I’ve spent! It will be out the window when I go to New York this week, but hopefully I’ll have enough to keep me satisfied for at least a month if not longer!! Xxx
Yeah I am trying to keep a note of things too! Haha I can imagine! Budget out the window stepping foot in NY! Exactly tho, have a good time!
Such a great idea! wish I could do this I know i would always go over, LOVE the mac palette! you got a fare bit of things within a small budget!
Yes luckily I had bits that I wasn’t going to count as I bought them with gift cards and loyalty points!
I’m so glad you got Whirl!! Lucie and I are such enablers hahaha. I hope you write a review about it 🙂
It’s already in the works 😊 been loving it so far!
I have a feeling it must look amazing on you!! xx
Haha!
Good plan.
this sounds great! How much was the MAC palette? it looks amazing!
£30 – shadows are about half size
Okay thank you!
love this
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The shades in the MAC palette are gorgeous!
Well done! Way to make £25 stretch so far. It’s shocking how little £25 does these days on makeup these days huh! Your NYC trip is coming up soon – how exciting! 😀
Love this. Cant wait for next month
this is a really good idea! im definitely going to have to give myself a beauty budget!
I think we can all be guilty of getting carried away when it comes to beauty products!
yes definitely! x
I’ve just bought the MAC Amber X9 Palette after seeing it on your post! Looks gorgeous, the kind of colours I wear regularly so should get good use out of it 🙂
I’ve used it properly for the first time this morning and all the colours blend beautifully I think you’ll love it! Xxx
This is a great idea! I was eyeing up that MAC palette online earlier – its beautiful!! xx
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I’m loving the idea of the beauty budget! That MAC palette looks fab 🙂 Jay x