Samantha Dawn
- Jun 24, 2020
- 4 min read

Lowering my Beauty Consumption

I never thought I would see the day when I would spend less than $350 in a year at Sephora, but it happened. At my peak, I had spent about $1,200 in a year at Sephora and owned more makeup than I would ever get through in my lifetime. I had so many storage containers and furniture dedicated to makeup and beauty products. I had collected an overwhelming amount of products in just five years. It was cluttering and didn't bring me joy.

I will be honest, I wanted to be a beauty influencer, I thought I would be famous and if I was famous, people would like me. This was a very consuming mentality and I attribute it to being bullied as a child/young adult. I spent a long time filling my days with activities to avoid the conversation of vulnerability and defining my wholehearted lifestyle. This means, instead of dealing with being bullied and how it affected me as a person, I just kept layering activities, makeup, and perfectionism... I had a soul that had a lot of stuff caked on to it and it was clogged (see what I did there). You could still see my soul, but it was heavy.

It wasn't until recently that I realized how much of an impact being bullied had on my life. They say perfectionism is caused by trauma and looking back a lot of the pressure I placed on myself, it was caused by wanting to be liked by my peers and if we pull back that layer, it started from being bullied. I speak about bullying now because it explains so much about the root of my decisions.

Let's get back to makeup. At my core, I am not a beauty influencer and I am not looking to guide anyone in purchasing anything. If you like what I have to say, I love it, but I would feel so bad if someone thought I liked something because I was paid to say I liked it. It's not me.

In 2017, I moved from my parents house to the house I am in currently and with that move, I brought everything I owned. IT WAS SO ANNOYING. This is what started the shift in my mentality. I was done university and this enormous pressure was lifted. I also had less room to put all my stuff and it was a lot of stuff.

At the end of 2018, we were planning to go to Europe. I thought I was saving money for it, but really I wasn't and at the time, I had also read an article about a lady not buying anything for a whole year. Needless to say, I was inspired and wanted to do the same.

For 2019, I gave myself the goal to not buy any makeup and to use what I had. I made exceptions, I could buy the items I ran out of and there was another rule, but I couldn't remember what it is now. I was successful in this venture and saved my money for Europe. All in all I think I spent under $350 and my VIB Rouge status went out the door. This was truly the most liberating year of my life.

In Europe, I realized I loved my natural face more than my face with makeup. I still love wearing makeup, but I do not need it to feel whole. It doesn't look great when your face is melting off from the heat.

The final straw that broke the camels back was when I had nasal surgery in November, I had to go on antibiotics, which cleared my skin. Having seen the benefits of antibiotics, I decided to go an acne medication to clear my skin once and for all. It's easier to not wear makeup when your skin is clear. I still think the pressure of clear skin is hurtful to ourselves, but will admit I like my skin when there are no blemishes.

Now that I have explained how I got the makeup and the year that really sealed the deal to have less, let's talk about where it all went.

I hate to say this, but a lot of my makeup went to the trash. When you buy so much, you can't use it all and eventually it goes bad and has to be thrown.

I did give away some products that weren't open or lightly touched to the homeless shelter, which they did accept.

I also gave away some higher end products to my sister, my mom, and some friends.

All in all, I cleaned out a whole three drawer Rubbermaid container, extra products under the sink, and now everything fits in one drawer and the Ikea storage. The top of the desk, is actually clean, which is so strange to look at.

I really wish I could find more pictures, but here's what it looked like at my parents house: