Spending ban: headed into week 5

Posted on Saturday, at • • 281 views

On January 1 2014 I (and several other beauty bloggers, lead by Demi McCain) started a 90-day spending ban: no buying makeup or beauty products, except for replacement of basics (soap, shampoo, et cetera.) You can find everyone's posts on Twitter using the hashtag #90daysnospending. We're 1/3 of the way through! One month down, two to go…

In week 3, I made some purchases from BFTE Cosmetics, before they closed their doors for an indeterminate period of time. It was a small purchase, and most of it was points redemption. I'm glad I was able to get some final colors before they shut down!

Spending ban: headed into week 5

I've been rediscovering products all during the past six months, as I've had time to photograph my huge backlog. I've literally had shadows sitting in that backlog that I'd purchased over a year ago, and forgotten that I had. (In one case, I bought some shadows from Meow Cosmetics that I thought I'd forgotten to buy the previous time that collection came around…only to find the shadows sitting in the boxes of to-be-swatched colors.) In this past week, though, I've been browsing AliExpress (nail stamping and art supply store) making wishlists of nail plates that I'd love to buy.

I love finding plates with full-nail designs! I don't like doing “accent nails”, with a design on only one nail of each hand; and some of the detail in the full-nail designs is really gorgeous.I like some of the smaller designs, but as a general rule if there's something that will cover my whole nail I'm all over that. I'm eyeballing several of the different plate-lots, where you pick between six and ten plates from among 15 or 20 total choices (depending on the individual item.) Some of these plate designs look interesting, particularly 12-48, 12-49, 12-50, 12-51, 12-52, and 12-53. Designs B and D of this super-size plate look like they've got a good mix of larger full-nail designs, smaller individuals, and those “arc” designs. The amazing detail on these Konad-plate designs...! They're more expensive than the others I've seen on this site, but they're gorgeous. Plates B, D, E. L, M, N, O, U, V, X, and Y are the ones that catch my eye. (I can't be sure, but I think that these might be the same plates...or very similar designs, at least.)

So thus far: one break in the spending ban; several products rediscovered, mostly eyeshadows but a few blushes; already building a wishlist for after the spending ban…but knowing me, I’ll leave most of the nail-stamping items on the wish list for quite a while. I think I love looking at nail stamping and art more than I love actually doing it or wearing it. I’ve also found a good piece on slicing, sorting, and using fimo canes. I don’t feel particularly drawn to them - I don’t love 3D nail art, and I find most of the designs on the fimo canes a little too cute for my preferences - but knowledge is good. And this tutorial over at Polish or Perish does a good job describing how to slice fimo canes. Most other tutorials I’ve found gloss over the slicing portion, and may or may not have any indications as to how to apply them or tips about making sure that they look the best they can.

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