I know they’re around here somewhere…
OK, now…I’m going to start doing something that may sound kinda cray to my fellow lovers of lotions and other beauty products, a.k.a. MY PEOPLE, but I don’t think I’m going to keep beauty backups around anymore.
Wait, wait! — I mean, I’ll have to make a few exceptions, like for the skin care I’ve used daily since the last Ice Age, like Kate Somerville Anti-Bac and my Clarins cream, but I don’t really think I need to keep that many other extras in the house. most of them just sit around taking up wasted space and money.
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Granted, it feels good to always be prepared in the event of a skin care or makeup emergency (they happen), especially for products I trust and love, but one thing I’ve learned about beauty products is that there’s always usually something comparable out there that’s probably as good as if not better. Newer technology, new colors, new formulas — there’s almost always an alternative out there somewhere, and I don’t know why this didn’t occur to me sooner (it probably did, but I forgot), but my preferences are also constantly changing. What I love today, I might not love (or need) tomorrow.
My skin is also changing, my style is changing, my life is changing, my budget is changing, and some of the things I used to swear by a few years ago just don’t suit me anymore.
BTW, this revelation happened on a recent trip to Trader Joe’s.
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Freakin’ TJ’s, man! I noticed that their rose hand cream is back in stock.
It’s baaaaaack.
You may remember this, but when it launched last year, I lost my damn mind for it and bought five tubes, no joke!
Standing in the store this week and looking at that shelf filled with more boxes of the same hand cream, I thought — holy crap! — I still have most of the spare tubes I got last year, and they’re still unopened. I’ve only used two of them, and that’s because TJ’s released a ginger-scented hand cream a few months later, which I consequently fell in love with as well, so I got distracted. Then, of course, there were other hand creams and lotions from other brands that I wanted to try…
Basically, I didn’t have to hoard five tubes last year.
Backups I found in just one drawer…
When I got home from the store, I checked the drawer where I keep my makeup and beauty product backups, and for the first time in years I really took stock of what was in there. I found three tubes of make up For ever HD Concealer, which I used to love but no longer use because I rarely wear full-coverage these days. I also found an old Smashbox Photofinish Primer, BECCA Backlight primer and an hourglass Veil Primer.
Like, no kidding, there were so many things in there that have been there for years and haven’t been touched. I’ve wasted a lot of money on backups of things I no longer use that are now probably expired, and I’m not going to do that anymore.
My makeup style has changed so much over the past decade (I’ve been wearing less makeup because I’m tired and have time constraints), and I’m also at the point where I know that if something I love is going to get discontinued or changed in any meaningful way, life will go on, and I will be able to find something else to replace it.
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Karen five years ago would be shocked, I’m sure, but I don’t want to keep backups around anymore unless I’m sure it’s for something I’ll use before too long. That’s my plan and I’m stickin’ to it!
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen