Hello to all of my beautiful nerds and welcome back from traveling the vast universe and I am back with another post!

My Low Buy for 2020!

2019 was a big year of makeup purchases for me and I feel like it was time for me to calm down in that department. Plus, brands have been coughing out release after release and it’s hard to keep track of anymore. So, like many this year I have joined the Low Buy crowd due to wanting to save money especially with how we were expanding into a new website and needed the funds and of course I have personal issues to work with at the moment an. Anyways, this has been the first month without buying so many items like I had last year with each month especially when our planet is offering from the amount of trash we throw away, even package envelopes and boxes. No wonder my leasing office made the comments about me giving so much business. So, what are my rules?

Sticking to Subscription Boxes for New Items: First off is that I will be sticking to subscription boxes for my new items fix. I don’t know why but the drugstore and other places don’t cut it when it comes to new releases and I think the only time I waited for anything new was from Urban Decay, Christmas, and got only one thing from Mac’s Summer collection. To me subscriptions seem to have the exciting products due to how much they go to more independent brands and I can try the deluxe sizes that last me for a long time which is a good thing in my book. Plus, let’s me focus on what I have, which is next!
Using What I Have Up First: I know this is a hard rule to follow for anyone but I’ve noticed I have been going into my lip products or eye shadow pallets of the past more lately after buying so much. I feel that I have to give more love to what I’ve purchased and use some items up before repurchasing or get into anything new.
Throw Away Anything That May Be Old: This would go best with my lip products since I may have more than new in my drawer. I am like almost anyone on YouTube that keeps anything old but I am doing better in this department where I toss items away if they start feeling weird or smelling off. I can’t see the expirations on anything but will toss if I feel that it needs to go.
Replenish When Needed: This has been working out for me a lot since I do have my favorite skin care and my favorite foundation and so on and just purchase that and replenish when it’s time because I’d rather not buy so many in so many shades like so many people that it would be hard to use up. Trust me with all the declutters I’ve seen I am so surprised that they own so many foundations and powders which we don’t need so many of. I do admit I did buy extras of the Rescue Me and the On Your Mark from Formula 10.06 when I thought I lost them but found them underneath Gondas’ suitcase while cleaning one day and won’t purchase any of those until I finish what I have which that should be in the last rule.
Use Sets In Between: Since I have so many sets in my collection I need to use some of these especially the Ulta ones. I still have my Be Gorgeous set together and need to finish up some of those shadows and I do have the new ones. I’m planning to take Glamour on the Go with me to Omni and any other conventions since that is an easy to carry one and easy to navigate due to how the shadows are on one side and the other products are on the other and it’s flat enough for my new suitcase due to it not being so bulky. It will help with the use of my sets and knowing that the holidays may return which…
Limit during the Holidays: Yes the packaging is cute! Yes the amount of items sound sweet but the lure of these cause major buyers fatigue and you have to do so many things in so little time on top of it! I love sets but I am going to try and limit myself when the holidays come around since so many brands release so many of them that I can’t buy them all.
Focus on the Sale Items I Want During 21 Days of Beauty: This helped me during the Fall 21 Days because during the Spring one last year I was buying left and right due to how many items were half off. That always seems to lure anyone in since you have items being sold by Benefit, Urban Decay and Butter London. I only focused on items last fall from Tarte, Dose of Colors, Lorac, and a few others and didn’t go ham on anything else which was better than before so I will stick to it. If there’s anything I don’t want then I won’t participate since there are times the items are from brands I don’t want to try or just find not as exciting like Morphe for example. I remembered how Hot Mess Mama MD put it best and that is you don’t have to buy it and no one else is forcing you to.
One or Two Ipsy Offers: This month I only bought three but I feel like I’m limiting myself with the Ipsy Offers this year. I had a problem buying offers left and right and didn’t know it was punching my bank account in a big way, especially the sheet masks sets, and this is towards the beginning and middle of the month and by the end it just tapered off because they’re not as exciting. So, I am making better decisions on what offers seem to be worth more and others just a waste. For example, the first new item of the year I was hoping it would help my dry leg spots with having four body oil sprays and four hand creams and the issues I had that the body oil sprays were super small and didn’t spray on my legs well when I got there and ran out easily. While the hand creams are really thick and hard to squeeze out of tubes which they should have been in pots instead. I kind of felt like it was a waste of money while the second item I got was a travel jewelry case from SL Miss Glam which was worth it to me due to my going to conventions and don’t want to lose an earring or something and this was a way of doing that since I also had to get a new suitcase and put it in there. That is something I will be more conscience about because some of the deals are great while others aren’t so much and of course I am trying to finish up sheet masks in my collection that I have a major abundance of!
Limiting Beauty Tool Purchases: What do I mean by this? Well, speaking of Ipsy’s Offers and of course other purchasing is that I tend to love buying beauty tools and back in the past I went ham on buying big brush kits. Now I’m also getting more into beauty sponges for my foundation application and trying to go crazy on those either. So, I will also stick to any brushes in my subscriptions and try not go buy any through the Offers page since that can be a trap for me. With Beauty Sponges I will make sure if I want them and if they feel right to me after reading the set’s description. Also, I do have a huge brush collection already so I am pulling out more brushes from there.
Collections: These seem to get me every time and I feel like with collections I sometimes find some products not as good while others are just meh. The only full collections I’ve purchased were the Crystal Cavern one from Wet N Wild, the Tetris Collection and Gig Gorgeous Collection from Ipsy. I preferred the one from Gigi the most because I was able to use the brushes more from that and I have used the powder that I got in a mystery bag while Tetris I had my lips dry out with the lip balms the most which is kind of sad. I did like the eye shadows though and will keep using those if I find the pallets in my collection of stuff. I didn’t purchase Betty Boop because not all the items interested me enough to get the entire thing so I only got the shadow pallet and the face pallet. While Pac Man it didn’t interest me as much. So, if I like the collection enough I will buy it if not then I just buy bits and pieces.

Things I’m saving Up For or Purchasing More: Okay, there are many things why I am just trying not to purchase more makeup over since there are things I want to look into that help my job or advance it. One thing is definitely a goal l now is to save up for a new Tap Strap 2 and hoping in time for my birthday. Yes, my Diamond Level at Ulta has me get more perks but I am aiming for a bigger goal for this item because I lost mine on my birthday last year. I don’t know what had happened to it, it just fell out of my backpack since it was open when a major rain storm came in and poured like crazy and it was missing in my backpack. So, I want to get the second one because I gave a critical review on the first since I saw some issues with it not working correctly, I even had to do a screen recording on my IPad of the Tap Aloud app kicking me out of it at certain lessons and the company behind it did not believe me until I shown them that screen recording. As a customer you experience things differently from the company that developed it and sometimes tech does have issues since I am an instructor myself and being honest is key on a product. So, hearing that the second version has more things like mouse maneuvers to go with IOS 13 and up I decided why not aim for that one and see how it goes. So, that will be my goal for my birthday this year. Other things that I did purchase with my low buy being well controlled was of course the update for this blog which was $96 and I will be charged $8 every month due to how there are better enhancements to include videos and Google analytics. Also, have gotten smart bulbs for the apartment since it’s easier for us to just ask both of our Amazon Dots to turn them on since it does get pretty dark in the living room and the bedroom. Hoping to get another pack for the kitchen and dining area since we do use those rooms the most. And of course, since we have a new link that would mean changing our promo materials to reflect that and have to get new business cards, possibly new pamphlets, and so much more. For Omni since can’t really get new shirts which I will look into different shirt companies leading up to RangerStop if we do it again this year is that we will be having name tags this time around and adding a photographer and their assistant to our team. Will be introducing them in Convention Comet in February! I think that is it for now, I will be updating you guys on what’s to come in low buy and updating on how my journey is like so let’s see how it goes!

That completes this post! I know it’s a bit hard being a YouTuber and Blogger where you got to try new items out but it doesn’t mean you have to buy everything and of course we don’t get any PR which is sad on our part but hey what can we do? So, what’s next? A book review on a book that was the first part to Sherlock Mars which I reviewed a few years back. Stay tuned!

Hello to all of my beautiful nerds and welcome back from traveling the vast nerd universe. I do have a new post.

Follow-up to My Yes Oh Yas Post: Going Out of Business!

Disclaimer: This post is based on thoughts and opinions of the lead writer of this blog and her real life experiences too. Please respect her thoughts and thank you!

So, as you guys know I was contacted by Yes Oh Yas two years ago on my Instagram about becoming an affiliate. I didn’t due to how I felt like I was lied to about getting just a code rather than a box to review. Even though I would get a dollar for each person joining but I felt like back then it was not enough to me because I felt that I needed a box to see if it was worth it and didn’t want to subscribe to do so.

I know it sounds like I a bit entitled but when you’re getting a message from a beauty box there are times where a brand wants to work with you and these guys aren’t the only ones and found out something interesting about them through another YouTuber. So, I haven’t heard back from Yes Oh Yas for a year and when I moved from home to the coast and started posting more on Instagram for a while until around the same time that Yes Oh Yas contacted me or shall I say liked my photo and commented Live Beauty Box did the same thing. As in they liked one of my photos and commented about working with me and I contacted them for the policies like any other influencer on YouTuber or even blogger and they were doing the same as Yes Oh Yas and I asked about getting a box to review and they said they only provide a discount code and asked for how much the discount was and no answer after that. What I found out that I didn’t think of it before is that Yes Oh Yas owns Live Beauty Box too. Looking back at it they were using the same language and the ideas so there you go. What I found interesting is that this week I found out that both Live Beauty, Yes Oh Yas, and Face Sugar boxes went out of business but they have kept everyone’s card information. As in, none of their websites are around nor the social media and this started during December when people noticed they were charged but didn’t get their boxes. I feel like this is a little shady since I am so glad I never became an affiliate with them nor got their box because I would be in the same boat as their subscribers. When something goes out of business whether it’s a shop or a website they let go of your payment information and say, “So glad you’ve been a customer, sorry to inform you we’re no longer in business.” In a courtesy email but these boxes didn’t do that to their customers? I think it’s due to how much they have scammed some people even when sending items which I seen Just_Ann getting her Yes Oh Yas and also got Live Beauty but for free instead of paying for it. I watched her video for Live Beauty and the values for the box is supposed to be $205 during its first month but Ann just added up to $150 and the most interesting thing which I watched Not So Evil Stepmother talk about these three boxes that Live Beauty is supposed to have items from YSL, Georgio Armani and other luxury brands you tend to find in Sephora, even though YSL is luxury drugstore in my opinion but hey most of the time you can get in stores. What I didn’t know is that the products came from liquidators for these boxes where when an item is close to expiring or being discontinued they get taken from there. I saw Ann talking about the products in Live and they were still be sold at the same time they were starting especially the sunscreen since you know summer means you have protect yourself triple time.

Another reason why I was glad not to be a part of Yes Oh Yas is that they also pulled something pretty shady and it dealt with Slay Glam Box. What was it exactly? Well, Yes told brands not to work with Slay nor provide products for them to place in their boxes. I don’t like the idea of this since a box has to make business in order to keep their box going. It’s like having BoxyCharm telling some brands to be exclusive to just them and not work with Ipsy or Glossy Box or even Birch Box. Not only has that it kept interest towards the brands from causing people that are subscribed to these boxes not to buy. Example, if this happened with Moda Brushes and one box I’m not with asked them to just be with them instead of Boxy and Ipsy then I wouldn’t be able to try their brushes and buy from them since that is taking my money away for a possible purchase down the line and I wouldn’t know they made makeup brushes since I can’t paint anymore and don’t buy paint supplies since I can’t see what paint color I’m getting or the brush brand. I know that was dark but it drives the point. It’s just sad that someone like Yes Oh Yas wants to stoop that low to keep brands from working with any smaller boxes even ones that are starting out not to have that connection and not be able to provide to their subscribers and that can cause their end. What also makes this crazy is that the three boxes are owned by a couple who live in apartments, well not anymore from what I heard, but they ran other businesses and once they have a bigger following after posting something big like a Tarte pallet in Yes Oh Yas which was something they promised, they disappear and have been charging people since then.

What You Should Do? If you have a profile on Instagram like me and you see these likes and comments from a brand I would say be very wary and just ignore them or block them because after what I experienced with Yes Oh Yas and glad that I didn’t fall for Live Beauty Box that I just stuck with what I get. I do love getting my Ipsy and my BoxyCharm and just trust more of the reviews that also come out on newer boxes since those still happen. And if you haven’t, try the bigger boxes like BoxyCharm, Ipsy, Fab Fit Fun and so on because they do have the L. L. C.s to back them up and actually get their stuff from the brands like Moda Brushes, Suva Beauty, and more. And if you have fallen victim to one of these, call your bank! That is always the first step in recovering from a scam like this. You have to dispute the charges and mention that they have deleted their social accounts and that you haven’t gotten the product even since some people have not gotten boxes. So, just call the bank!

Well, all I have to say is that I am glad I did not subscribe to Yes Oh Yas and glad Live Beauty Box did not contact me back with the discount code either because I could have been in worse circumstances and wouldn’t have paid my bills either if it was more than what they say. I did hear with Yes Oh Yas with some people, including Just_Ann, that they raise their prices out of the blue and I did see a recent video from December who someone paid $33 instead of the $15 for their Yes Oh Yas. That’s another thing too, if a subscription is raising their prices then they let people know about it even through social media or on their website. Anyways, that is it for this post! Stay tuned for my Ipsy Glam Bag for this month!