No Buy Year: March Update

Previous Update: February Update

The third month of my no buy year is done and dusted!

Putting aside the worrying pandemic, our present of being stuck at home and the uncertainty of our future; it’s actually a pretty uneventful month for me in terms of my no buy year journey. I no longer have to face the internal dillemma on where to spend my money. I’m on a default mode now – everything goes into my savings.

One small glitch though.

I bought a new skincare product that is not expressly allowed by my no buy rules, but at the same time, it is not expressly forbidden either. Well take that with a pinch of salt because as I told you here, I’m good at bending rules without breaking them.

Allow me to give some background story.

The Story of My Skin

Few months back, my skin was super dry that at times, it became flaky. Based on my little research and skin analysis (thanks Google!), I adopted the double moisturizing routine from the Korean beauty bible. Each time, I would apply Hada Labo lotion and then Laneige moisturizer until early March when I emptied the lotion. I would say they pretty work thus far, my skin’s quite hydrated now. So of course with one issue being resolved, it’s only natural for my insatiable-self to detect other different skin issues. This time –

Haaaaaa! Dull skin! Uneven skin tone! Hyperpigmentation! Noooo, clear signs of aging!

To be honest, those issues are always there. I just didn’t focus on them.

So my journey looking out for new products began. Few days of doing my research here and there, I decided to give serum a try again. I gave up using serum altogether after my last skin fiasco in 2018 but a popular Korean brand serum grabbed my attention. Why not.

But one hurdle to overcome – my no buy year rules. On skincare and makeup, my rule said:

I’ve pretty much have skincare and makeup routine figured out so I’ll maintain that and the products that I use. I will only buy when they run out. No new item.

– My eager self, end of December 2019.

Uh-oh, no new item… but anyway I still got myself the serum.

In my defence – I was only buying the serum to replace the finished Hada Labo lotion. My rules allow me to buy when my products run out. That’s one. Another reason is if you factor in the price tag only, technically it’s even better because the serum is a few ringgit cheaper than the lotion. I’m simply replacing a finished item with a cheaper one.

That’s a legit justification. Ah- beauty is pain indeed.

March Update Conclusion

Depends on interpretation – my no buy year is still going on strong. So that’s it for March!

While I’m on this skincare / beauty topic, I want to jump into another issue of mine.

P.S. The Story of My Upper Lips Hair

Before that – first of all, this may be TMI for some who expect women to not have any upper lips hair at all because sorry to burst your bubble, we do! Secondly, I’m not putting any standard here for women. I applaud women out there who are not bothered with those upper lips hair because we really shouldn’t but apologies, I personally don’t like them on me. It’s a matter of personal preference.

My current routine to get rid of them as of now is using facial hair remover cream – just apply the cream on my upper lips for three minutes and that’s that. All hair’s, poof, gone. The downside however, it lasts only for a couple of days before they’re coming back up. So I have to do it every one week and a half or so, it’s annoying. Sometimes I get chemical burn too, that’s extra annoying.

This problem brings me to consider one solution – laser. I want to laser them off! Based on WebMD (can we rely on WebMD though?), most people have permanent hair loss afer an average of 3-7 sessions. Another site said, laser hair removal is not permanent but it does drastically reduce hair growth to the point that you can top shaving altogether. Of course I require expert’s advice, but for now this sounds good enough! I don’t want to deal with my upper lips hair so often anymore, so I’m convinced.

Price wise, I’m actually okay with the price. I saw one place offers 10 sessions for around RM500. For something with such a long-lasting effect (hopefully), why not?

Haha because I’m on a no buy year haha. So that’s why not.

For now.

What say you?

Next Update: April Update