It's finally that time of the year... the last day of the year. The year where we stop and reflect on the past year, and I start to feel guilty about the money and time I've spent on beauty, particularly makeup. Last year I was on a skincare kick, and accumulated a heck load of skincare products, so in that sense I fared no worse this year. The only problem is that skincare will gradually get depleted (in lieu of special circumstances) since you can use it daily but whether I put on makeup depends on how lazy I am and it
does have an expiry date so I have to throw it out after a certain time. The miser and aunty in me can't bear to do that to unfinished products, so my new resolutions generally centre around finishing products. Here are my 10 ambitious resolutions for the year 2012 (long post ahead)
1. No more lip products until Sephora Friends and Family Sale 2012
This is a huge, HUGE problem of mine, my addiction to lip products. More than 70 lipsticks (since I last counted)? Check. More than 20 lipglosses (I'm actually not very sure about this!)? Check. More than 10 lipbalms? Check. Lip concealor? Check. Tinted lip conditioners? Check. 6 Lip liners that I never touch? Check. And when did I accumulate them all?
Within
this year!
That means I have about 1 year to finish all my lip glosses and about 2 to 3 years for my lipsticks. Chances that I can actually accomplish this? >1%
This is a race. A race to finish my lip product collection. Oh the stress and problems that consumerism gives me! I will stop the no buy at the Sephora sale since it is a steep discount and by then I will probably know what are the colours that suit me best and invest appropriately.
2. No more new makeup till 1 May 2012
This is a 4 month strict no buy. Up till now, I've given myself the leeway of buying products but only opening $50 worth of makeup after finishing every 10 makeup products. I've been too kind to myself, and my 'pound' the place where I consign all my to-be-opened products have been getting bigger and bigger. I really have a lot more than 1 product for each category so there is really no need to buy anymore makeup until then. The only category that I have one of is a mascara base, which is the Shiseido Nourishing Mascara Base. It does work well but because it lengthens your own lashes so much, it gives a fake, I can tell you have mascara one look, which is nice if you want really defined and open lashes but it is the opposite of natural, which I favour. I've realized that I do enjoy the natural look the most, so most of my bright eyeshadows, blushes and lip products are not being utilized. My second favourite look are the smoky eyes though, so I'll try to use up more of my non-neutral eyeshadows, lipsticks and fake eyelashes (I have tons of that) for night outings as well.
My semester ends at the end of April, so I do think that May would be a good time to evaluate my progress and see if I can continue the no-buy for the rest of the year :)
3. No more fast food
Now we start the health related part. As we all know, fast food is really bad for health, but I always choose to eat it because of a) convenience and b) I can't decide to eat anything else. After eating it every time, I always feel guilty and repulsed at myself for consuming such junk. All my hard work exercising goes to waste!
4. Eating at a restaurant at most 2 times a month
Evaluating my finances has shown that not only do I have poor self-control issues (all the makeup buying impulses) but I also like to live the high life and eat at restaurants. Granted these restaurants are not high end ones, they are at most low to mid-tier restaurants, but patronising them so frequently accumulates over time. Spending $20-30 each trip, 1-4 times a week does add up to a lot, especially for someone that is still studying. I should be doing so much more with my money than blowing it all on food and makeup! So now I would rather save the money and learn a viable skill like cooking. Which means I need to get more motivated about cleaning (the biggest pain in the butt about cooking) and more organised especially since some foods like meat needs to be defrosted, and planning meals in advance for weekly grocery shopping. This all sounds so responsible and grown up! :P A healthier way to live and hopefully a healthier body in return would be a great gift in the new year.
5. Reading a book every 2 weeks
I used to be a really avid reader growing up, I could read a 500 page book in a day and I had a wonderful grasp of the English language thanks to that. After entering junior college (or after age 16), I started to get really into comics and forums, where language can be garbled to say the least. Now I find my grasp of english deteroriating year on year and that's bad considering that I'm a native English speaker and my knowledge of the Chinese language needs to be worked on to say the least.
I still love fantasy books, especially ones by Terry Pratchett, but I should read more classics and 'serious' books too. I guess I've just found other people and the Internet to be so much more interesting, but now and then I can still find books that bring me back to that escapist fantasy world that I loved so much.
Good thing public libraries membership never expires in Singapore!
6. Doing something mentally challenging everyday
Now I confess, after entering university 3 years ago, I feel like my brain has rotted. Literally. Everyday I spent my time reading on reviews of skincare/makeup/sunscreen, shopping for clothes, watching youtube videos... things that are generally content intensive and that is handed on a platter to me. Do I need to think when watching youtube reviews? Only to judge whether I already own the shade shown and if the reviewer has some bias towards the product. This acceptance of information is dangerous and I shouldn't be so accepting , especially since I am studying Philosophy, which is a critique of commonly accepted thinking (you can tell what a 'good' student I am). I still love makeup despite all that and I doubt I will ever swear off makeup claiming that it is a tool for subjudication of the common woman according to society's standards or something, (there might be people who do believe this, and it might be true... to a degree) but I just want to feel like I have actually accomplished something each day!
I'm sure this is not a problem for highly motivated successful people, but for anyone that struggles to get out of bed and spends free days lazing about doing nothing, this is a huge challenge. I do want to value-add my life and live it out as much as possible. I am now in a club that makes me quite physically active, which I like and I want to enrich the mental side of it.
For now, the goal is to improve the limited chinese that I know and maybe even learn a new language. The beautiful thing about language is that you don't have to learn a lot at a time, but learning it over an extended period reaps the most benefits.
7. Doing a good/kind deed a day
This is so cliché, but I want to at least try this. After contemplating for a while, I do believe that true kindness and grace is something innate and one that you actively do without thinking "Oh I will look good/kind/nice in front of others if I do this" *confesses to such a shallow and ugly thought*
Thankfully for the non-kind and graceless folks out there, this can be developed into a habit and what is a habit eventually becomes innate (I hope). Being kind to others, holding my tongue when I know the other party might be hurt and taking the extra step to be caring, something that certainly doesn't come naturally to me, so that hopefully when I look back at the end of next year, I can think that at least I've been quite a decent person. And related to that is...
8. Keeping a smile on
I have a really unfriendly and intimidating face when I don't smile, sadly this appears to be a family trait. At every new setting or gathering, I always have to muster up the courage and make the first move to be friendly towards others because otherwise they would never approach me. This is something that is probably something that I have to do for the rest of my life.
The positive thing is that people always say that those who age well are those who think positive, and I hope this is true! I don't cope well with stress and trouble, I tend to ball it up inside of me and/or explode to others (happens very rarely and usually in the solitude of my room), once again this appears to be a family trait (hence the distaste of me exploding in front of others, I've experienced it more times than I care for). Thankfully, during recent stressful times, I have been able to smile at myself and think of the ridiculous worrying that I agonise over the problem. Stress and worry is really something that you give yourself and I'm slowing learning and trying to deal with it and just putting it aside. Being able to smile and laugh at the situation will hopefully make things a bit easier.
9. Buy higher quality clothing that can last longer
I've recently gone to a flea market to sell some clothes and it's heart wrenching to see clothes that I've bought online, that I've never worn, go for as low as $2. Clothes have a really low re-sale value, but I have so many pieces of clothing that I will never wear because it either a) looks terribly different from the online photo (in a terrible way) or b) does not fit me at all. I'm not slim like most Asian girls are, I'm thick with boobs and hips.
Cheap clothes at markets are generally cut too small and tight for me. Clothes that fit me at western brands like Topshop and River Island, have necklines that are too low in clothes that are my size (I wear US size 6 or UK size 10 and I'm only 163cm or 5'4, according to standard clothes sizing, I'm too short for my size :X)
Actually, now I look at the cut and fabric of the pieces most often and it almost seems that most affordable pieces do not fit me well. Looking at my closet, those that look great on me consist of at most 10% of my wardrobe. I'll probably try to sell my clothes at the flea market more often, and maybe end up with a much more compact wardrobe that has the same cost value as what I own now, but is infinitely more wearable and flattering.
10. Blog more often!
I have committed the cardinal sin of blogging, which is disappearing and not blogging when I should. In this new year, I want to blog frequently at 3 times a week, preferably Monday, Wednesday and Fridays. Over the course of the year, my writing style and the look of this blog will hopefully improve!
Right now, I plan to blog about my Christmas haul, my new makeup obsessions, emergency buys and a makeup or maybe even skincare inventory post (this will have to be done in many, many parts). So stay tuned for updates!
Love,
Tabby
