Hey, everybody! Now that 6* months have gone by, it's time to do my midpoint check-in for my 2023 low buy. Back in February, I posted my plans for my 2nd annual makeup, nail polish, and clothing low buy to help myself engage in more conscious consumption. Just as I did halfway through 2022, I'll be updating you all today on how my low buy is going, what I've purchased so far, and any miscellaneous thoughts I've had. *Note: this blog post is late -- I meant to get it out at the beginning of July to truly be a midpoint check-in, but life just happened to be lifeing harder than expected. However, I'll still only be talking about any purchases from up until the end of June. MakeupThe 2 makeup products I bought from January-June 2023 Plan: 1 product per month (rolling allotment) = 6 total by the end of June Actual @ 6 months: 2 products ($57) This time last year, I had purchased 0 products. This year, I'd purchased 2 by the end of June, but they're both purchases I'm happy about! I bought the Youthforia PREGAME Daily Protective Primer when ordering skincare replacements from Ulta back in January. I had seen my mutual @ellesentially_ using it, and I'd seen some good IG posts from the brand about it, so it already was on my "things that seem interesting that I may or may not purchase sometime in the far, far future" wishlist. At the time, I wasn't necessarily in the market for a new face primer as I very rarely wear complexion products. However, I had seen people using blush directly on top of primer (no concealer/foundation) to increase the longevity and the smoothness of cheek product application, so that's something I was interested in using the Youthforia primer for. I especially liked that it's a very skin-friendly primer; I've been enjoying the shift towards quasi-skincare makeup products in the makeup industry in the past couple of years. Lastly, it fills a different face primer niche within my collection than the ones I already had (my other face primers: ELF Mineral Infused Primer = purely a pore-filling, silicone-based slippy primer; Smashbox Primerizer = purely a moisturizing primer). From a brand standpoint, I also like that Youthforia is an Asian woman-founded brand with a focus on environmental sustainability, and the brand isn't too afraid to show its products on "real" skin. I usually hem and haw over my cart for a few days at minimum (usually at *least* a week), but I confirmed the purchase within a few minutes of adding this primer to my cart, so it was very much so an impulse purchase by my standards haha. However, this is an impulse purchase that I'm really happy with! At this point, by number of uses, I've honestly probably used it more than any other face primer I own. It has a bit of an herbal scent that took a bit of getting used to, but otherwise, I enjoy the smooth, lotion-y texture and the *very* slight beige tint, which evens out your skin tone a little but isn't opaque enough to offer any real coverage (so no need to worry if you have a deeper/lighter skin tone, and it looks/wears really naturally).
I haven't used the One/Size liner too extensively yet to give a fully thought out review, but I really like it so far. The tip is easy to control, making it not too onerous to get a nice wing. The formula also dries down very quickly; with my hooded eyelids, I tend to have issues with liquid liners where they'll transfer if I don't keep my eyelids closed for long enough after application. But even with the first use of the One/Size liner, which is generally the juiciest application for a liquid liner, it didn't transfer!!! Exactly like last year, the main other makeup I plan on buying this year is more sparkly indie shadows. That's the direction my makeup style is heading, but I honestly don't have that many. While I don't have any specific shades or palettes in mind right now, brands like Shine by SD, Clionadh, Oden's Eye, Quicksand, and Looxi Beauty are all on my radar! It's really a paradox of choice; there are SO many beautiful shifty indie shadows out there, at times with marginal differences between them TBH, so it's hard for me to decide what I want to buy that I know I'll feel satisfied with, especially since they're so much more expensive than traditional mainstream shadows. Other than my eternal lust for sparkly indies as a general category, I specifically want to get the Menagerie Cosmetics Pastel Pup eyeshadow palette, a 12-pan palette of primarily pastel mattes (as in the name lol). I realized about a year ago that with the number of colorful looks I do, I often wanted to reach for pastel colorful mattes -- but I didn't have any. As such, this palette has been on my wishlist ever since then. I also am getting more and more intrigued by water-activated liners and the cool graphic things you can do with those. I have a lot of incredibly skilled mutuals who do really awesome, artistic looks with them, and I think they'd be fun to play with to do something different than my typical "light-to-dark matte gradient in the crease + shimmer on the lid" looks. Lastly, I'm interested in some lipsticks. I have a lot of old lipsticks that I need to declutter (both because they're ancient and because I simply don't like them), and I want to get some more that better align with my lifestyle and evolving preferences. Firstly, I want a warm-toned true red that'll work well with vintage looks. I'm also interested in lip stains, which are specifically engineered to look good as they fade, because a big reason I don't wear lipstick on an everyday basis is because I'm worried about how it'll wear throughout the day. And in the opposite direction: I need to do some decluttering! Specifically, I need to throw out old products that really should not be used on human skin anymore. Makeup purchase log thus far: Nail Polish
Plan: 6 polishes for the entire year Actual @ 6 months: 4 polishes ($51.50) By the end of June last year, I had purchased 0 polishes. By the end of June this year, I've purchased 4. First, I got Orly Crush, a heart confetti glitter topper, around Valentine's Day. I stumbled upon it when I just casually popped into an Ulta with a friend, and it's one of the few polishes I’ve ever purchased IRL. As with most chunky glitter toppers, it's really hard to finagle and evenly distribute across the nail. I also found that it can sometimes chip relatively quickly, though that's pretty par for the course with mainstream polishes, TBH. Regardless, it's super cute! I’ve worn it for Valentine's Day, Pride (seen above on the left), and the Barbie movie (seen above on the right). The 3 remaining polishes were from March's Polish Pickup, Rainy Days. I actually hadn't partaken in PPU since December 2020, surprisingly enough, but I'm a part of the PPU Facebook group where the makers and swatchers post swatches ahead of each month's sale, so I see the polishes every month anyway. I happened to see swatches of Cuticula Rainbow after the Storm in the FB group, and boy, was I absolutely blown away. I'm usually not into blues (very famously a warm-toned bitch), but it's not in-your-face blue; it's a soft blue with iridescent flakes and a strong, magical-looking rainbow shift -- and y'all know how much I love my flakies and my shifty polishes. In person, I was scared it'd be too similar to a polish I already have (Pahlish Glass Cabinet), but the base color is different, and the strong shift really sets it apart.
ClothingPlan: 2 new pieces or 4 secondhand/slow fashion pieces per month (rolling allotment) = 12-24 total by the end of June Actual: 21 secondhand, 1 new ($458.76) Exactly as I expected, I've bought the most number of clothing, and clothing low buy has been the most difficult part of my low buy to adhere to. Despite that, I've stuck to my low buy. Especially as I've been revamping my spring/summer style, there's been so much that I've wanted to buy -- but I held back from in order to follow the rules I set out for myself. Like, I just want to play dress up!! But overconsumption bad. By the end of this June, I've bought 22 items of clothing/accessories. In comparison to my 2022 low buy, I had gotten 11 items by the end of June, and by the very end of my low buy, I had bought 24 *total*. Despite being within goal, my first instinct when I compared those numbers was "wtf." However, there are a couple of factors to consider that make me feel like less of a pig! First off, in 2022, I got a crap ton of clothes for free because when my family moved, I pruned through most of my mom's closet. Thus, when including both clothes I bought + clothes I got for free from her, I actually probably obtained a higher gross number of pieces in 2022. Second, my 2022 low buy only started in February, whereas my 2023 low buy started at the very beginning of the year. In January 2022, I bought a good deal of new (fast fashion) pieces before I started "counting" pieces towards my low buy. Third, I've purchased many more accessories this year than last year. Last year, I bought only 1 accessory (1 scarf); by the end of June this year, I've already bought 4 (3 belts + 1 purse). For the purposes of my low buy, accessories carry the same amount of weight as any other piece of "real" clothing, but at least in my head/IRL, accessories don't "count" as much in my wardrobe as, say, a dress or a sweater. With that, I'm very pleased that out of the 22 items I bought by the end of June, they've almost exclusively (95%) been secondhand purchases! In 2022, I bought way more firsthand items from fast fashion brands, so it was one of my goals at the beginning of this year to focus more on secondhand/"sustainable"/"ethical" brands. As for next steps, I talk very in-depth about what I plan on buying in the next couple of months in my "actualizing my summer style" blog post; the past few years, it hasn't started truly getting cold until October (climate change and all that), so I still have quite a bit of summer left. Then looking ahead to the fall/winter, there's nothing specific I have in mind beyond a few items already on my summer wishlist. Like with my makeup collection, I also need to do a whole lot of decluttering. I did a lot of donating last year when we moved, but now I need to go through those items that I convinced myself aligned with my style (when they didn't) and kept the first time around. I've posted some stuff on my Poshmark/Depop, but I also plan on putting a good amount up on my local Buy Nothing Facebook group, posting on my Instagram/Snapchat story, and bringing what I can to local consignment shops.
And that's it! As always when I talk about what I buy, I feel it must be said that these hobby purchases are almost quite literally the only things I spend my money on. I'm very lucky in that my parents cover my living expenses (rent, utilities, groceries, etc.). Plus the upside to being busy all the time with pharmacy school, etc. is that it's less time to go out and spend money :') So with that, good night, and good luck! IG: @glowymino
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about @glowyminoI have dry skin and very dry and textured lips. I also have a medium-light skintone (somewhere in the realm of NC25-30) with strong warm yellow/olive undertones. I have a tendency to prefer a glowy, lightweight base and color cosmetics in shades of a warm undertone. Read more about me in the about page! Archives
May 2024
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