How To Stop Buying Makeup [17 Money-Saving Tips From An Ex-Makeup Addict]

Is makeup making a hole in your pocket? Do you feel that you just can’t resist the urge to buy that holy grail mascara that went viral on social media? If this sounds like you, you are not alone! As an ex-makeup addict, I will show you exactly how to stop buying makeup with 17 amazing tips that will help you avoid impulse purchases!

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How To Stop Buying Makeup In 2024

‘Wooow!!… Do you even use all of this??’

That’s what my sister told me upon entering my bedroom and seeing my huge makeup collection.

Far from feeling proud of it, I felt shame.

I thought to myself: ‘When did this happen? How did I come to the point of having my drawers bursting with old or unused makeup?’.

I felt gross and stuck with all that hoarding and decided it was enough.

My makeup addiction was taking its toll on my finances, so I decided it was time for a change.

Here are the strategies that helped me stop buying makeup and have a healthier relationship with beauty products:

1. Make An Inventory

2. Declutter And Organize

3. Be Honest With Yourself

4. Clean Out Your Inbox

5. Cancel Your Subscription Boxes

6. Unsubscribe From Review-focused Channels

7. Delete Beauty Store Apps

8. Don’t Visit Temptation Stores

9. Think Before Buying

10. Change Your Financial Habits

11. Take On A No Buy/ Low Buy Challenge

12. Make Wish Lists

13. Use A Calendar

14. Hit Pan On Your Makeup

15. Prefer Long Shelf Life Makeup

16. Take Up A Hobby

17. Try Therapy

Make An Inventory

If you want to know how to stop buying makeup, I highly recommend making an inventory of all your makeup products as a first step.

For me, making an inventory revealed the cold hard truth: I had heaps of unloved, unused, and expired makeup, even repeated items.

So it’s vital to know exactly what you will be working on: how many eyeshadow palettes, lipsticks, mascaras, highlighters, concealers, and foundations do you have? In which shades? What are the expiration dates? Are they already expired? What is the estimated cost of each item?

To answer all these questions, you can use the Sortly app, which allows you to organize items in categories, add prices, expiration dates, and even photos.

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Declutter And Organize

Now that you know exactly what you have in your makeup collection, it’s time to declutter and organize!

Grab a trash bag and get rid of all makeup that has expired, is duplicated, or that you will never use.

Look out for items with the same shade too: after making my inventory, I discovered that I have five lipsticks of the same shade and most of them were expired.

I decided to keep the newest one and throw away the others.

The key here is only keeping the makeup products that you really love AND will use frequently.

Then sanitize them and keep them neat in acrylic makeup organizers and bins to see them clearly and avoid buying a product that you already have!

Remember that you can always get professional support to get rid of compulsive shopping. I highly recommend ONLINE THERAPY for its outstanding service and warm-hearted professionals. Get 20% OFF your first month with my special link!

Be Honest With Yourself

When decluttering and organizing, you’ll have mixed feelings…

‘Oh, but I love this eyeshadow so much; I can’t throw it away!’, you might think.

Here, you want to be honest with yourself:

Will you really use it frequently?

Is it even flattering?

What happened with my grey eyeshadows is that I had a lot but most of them looked horrendous on me; I preferred to throw them away and keep the warm shades that were more suitable for my skin tone.

Maybe it’s hard for you to accept it right now, but there’s no point in having makeup ‘just in case‘.

Clean Out Your Inbox

If you are banging your head against the wall trying to figure out how to stop buying makeup, then for God’s sake unsubscribe from promotional emails.

The latest releases are the weakness of any makeup lover, but they can soon become a problem if you buy them all impulsively.

Beauty stores are partly guilty of this shopping behavior due to the promotional emails they send to existing and potential clients.

They tempt you to buy the latest release as if it were THE makeup product you can’t live without, but most of the time they are the same products with little or no variations at all, just with a different look or packaging.

Products on sale are also very tempting and stores will make you feel that sense of urgency that forces you to buy their products through their newsletters.

The reality is that these sales are usually extended and make you purchase items that you don’t even need in the first place.

Cancel Your Subscription Boxes

When you first come across a beauty subscription box, the goodies seem so amazing and high-end.

Receiving the first boxes is thrilling, but soon that excitement fades away when you start receiving samples from unknown brands and not the type of products they promise at the beginning.

The worst part is that samples and products build up FAST and end up cluttering everything.

What’s the point in receiving items you’ll never actually use and shoving them in the drawer?

For example, I had palettes that I barely touched and so much stuff to get through!

When would I use all of that?

I felt that I won nothing out of my subscription boxes and the products weren’t worth the amount I paid for them.

So I got to the conclusion of canceling my beauty boxes and saving that money for items I really needed.

Just an important note here: unsubscribe from their emails too!! They will send emails showing the awesome products you’re missing out on to make you sign up again!

Unsubscribe From Review-focused Channels

Part of learning how to stop buying makeup is realizing that watching makeup reviews does more harm than good for shopaholics.

I stopped watching makeup reviews for the FOMO they made me feel.

With all the trends and holy grail items, the products of my makeup stash seemed OLDIES!

But this was certainly not the case. My products were just fine.

Plus, most of the products shown in these videos are sponsored, which means the content creator receives economic compensation for talking about the item.

What you want to do instead of watching reviews is replace them with tutorials that teach how to use makeup you already have.

Delete Beauty Store Apps

It’s so easy to buy makeup online: just a couple of taps and $200 disappears from your bank account.

That’s why beauty store apps are so popular: they make it easy for you to spend money.

If makeup products are keeping you poor, you’d better delete these apps from your phone!

You see, the beauty industry is money greedy and while you splurge on highlighters big brands rake in the dough.

Remember that you only need to buy practical items and replace empties…If these apps are on your phone, it’s very likely to open them and start adding useless items to your cart just for the shine and hype they have.

Don’t Visit Temptation Stores

Brick-and-mortar stores are no different from beauty store apps.

If you pass by a makeup store and feel tempted to see the new products, then it’s better to avoid it when you are running errands.

How many times did I visit a beauty store to get a nail polish and end up getting an extra highlighter and mascara? Countless times.

The staff doesn’t help either if they are constantly following around to bombard you with questions and unsolicited compliments to sell you things you don’t need.

Believe me when I say that you’ll recover faster from your makeup addiction if you stay away from beauty stores and salons.

Think Before Buying

If you happen to come across the beauty section of a store and see a ridiculously cute makeup product, ask yourself: ‘Did I need it before seeing it?’

In the past, I never made this question to myself but it really makes a difference in your shopping behavior.

Once, I stumbled upon a glittery eyeshadow palette at the shopping mall and I immediately wanted to buy it.

But I made a pause and thought ‘Wait, I won’t use aaalll those eyeshadows and I already have and use a glittery eyeshadow in my everyday palette. I don’t need this!!’

Another thing you can do is wait a week or two before buying to avoid purchasing items in the spur of the moment.

Change Your Financial Habits

When makeup starts breaking the bank, you should definitely re-evaluate your financial habits.

And part of learning how to manage your money is setting up a budget and keeping track of your expenses.

This is KEY!

Having a budget helps you allocate money to different needs and keeping track of your expenses helps you stick to your budget.

So next time you receive your monthly income, open an Excel file and categorize your fixed and variable expenses.

What are your ‘needs’ and ‘wants’? The idea here is to cut back on ‘wants’, in this case, makeup.

Determine how much money will be allocated to beauty products and stick to that budget.

Secondly, dedicate another tab of the same file to recording your daily spending.

That way you can see exactly where the money is going and adjust your spending to stay on budget.

With the money saved, you can buy other things you DO need as clothes or things that are worthwhile in the long term!

Take On A No Buy/ Low Buy Challenge

As I realized that I was turning into a makeup hoarder and everything was getting out of control, I decided to take on a no-buy challenge.

I promised myself that I wasn’t going to buy any makeup for a whole year.

This is a bit drastic for some but after decluttering I discovered that I had a lot of practical makeup to get through at least for a year.

If a no-buy is too much for you, then you can try a low-buy challenge.

This is buying makeup, but a lot less and only items that you can use every day.

Make Wish Lists

Another tip to curb your spending and addiction to buying new releases is making wish lists.

It doesn’t matter if you make it in the Sephora app, on Pinterest, or in an Excel file…

The idea is to have a list of the makeup products you want to then share it with loved ones or friends so they can gift them to you.

I did this with one of my makeup-dedicated boards on Pinterest and my sister bought me some of the items for Christmas.

Talk about saving some moolah!

So now you know: next time you want makeup, remember that someone else can buy it for you for your birthday, Christmas, or any other special occasion.

Use A Calendar

I’m the kind of gal who likes to see her progress visually, so I loved to use a calendar to track each of the days of the year when I did not buy any makeup.

Just as when you mark the days with an X to prepare for an exciting event, you want to do the same but to keep track of your shopping behavior.

Here’s how it works: if you spend a whole day without buying makeup, you mark the day with a green X.

On the contrary, if you do buy makeup, you mark the day with a red X.

Seeing all the days with green X’s fills me with joy, but seeing a red X makes me so upset that makes me take the challenge more seriously.

It’s so nice to see how far you’ve come and how you’ve managed to avoid buying makeup as the months go by.

Hit Pan On Your Makeup

You’ve bought makeup for years, but have you hit pan on it?

If you want to stop buying makeup, then why not try using up the products you already have?

Try the challenge: you won’t believe how long it takes to finish up your items!

When you declutter, you’ll see that lots of items are expired.

You don’t want the same destiny for your new makeup.

From now on, try to hit pan on your makeup and only buy new items to replace empties.

Prefer Long Shelf Life Makeup

Speaking of hitting pan on your makeup, another tip to stop buying beauty products is to prefer items with longer shelf life.

That way you can use your items for several months without spending a penny on new products.

For example, did you know that powder products last longer than liquid ones?

This is because liquid substances are more prone to colonization by bacteria and fungi when preservatives begin to degrade.

So while a cream eyeshadow lasts 12 months, a powder eyeshadow lasts 24 months.

It happens the same with powder versions of creamy products, like foundation, bronzer, highlighter, and blush.

Take Up A Hobby

Most people can’t stop buying makeup because they are bored online shoppers.

They buy makeup just to… Do something.

Then they can’t believe their makeup containers are full to the brim.

If you are bored but don’t want to pour money down the drain, fill your spare time with healthy hobbies.

Exercising, baking, painting, reading… The list of hobbies you can take on is endless.

Personally, I love to do tourism in my own city: I discover beautiful places, indulge in delicious food, and get to walk for hours and hours while soaking in the awe-inspiring sights.

That’s so much more rewarding and exciting than getting into debt by buying tons of makeup I will barely use!

Try Therapy

If you feel that you’ve tried it all and nothing seems to cure your makeup addiction, then I think it’s time to consult with a professional.

Addictions are the consequence of emotional issues that need to be treated.

That’s why it’s so important to receive treatment and discover the root causes of wanting to do impulse buying.

Maybe your addiction is caused by a stressful job, a toxic relationship, low self-esteem, or even anxiety and depression.

The causes vary from person to person; you’ll have to figure it out with your therapist, who will work closely with you to eliminate the shopping triggers and replace self-destructive behaviors with healthier activities.

If you decide to give therapy a try, I hugely recommend Online Therapy, voted Best Online Therapy for Anxiety 2022.

As my reader, you can use this link to get 20% OFF your first month (I don’t know how long this offer will last, so act now while it’s still valid).

Remember: baby steps are the way to go with all this; there’s no need to rush the process. You’ll soon see how you recover from impulse buying!

FAQs: How To Stop Buying Makeup

Why Do I Keep Buying Makeup?

You Use It As A Coping Mechanism

If you are feeling stressed out lately or you are having personal issues, then you might be buying makeup impulsively to manage these difficult emotions.

Buying makeup makes you happy and this feeling helps you feel better, at least for a while.

The problem is that once your excitement fades away, you need to feel it again to avoid stress and that’s where you buy makeup one more time.

You Think You Need It

Competition in the beauty industry is FIERCE and brands will do anything to sell you their products.

Trends, holy grail items, elixirs: there will be always a product you can’t live without…According to them.

The truth is that most new releases, usually, are no different from your current makeup.

They just have a different packaging or container design.

Don’t get into this trap and use up your stash!

It Gives You A Dopamine Hit

When we buy stuff, our brains release dopamine, which makes us feel good and happy.

And it is not only released when we make the actual payment but also before paying because our brains anticipate the reward.

This is so powerful that we might lose control and repeat this behavior to feel that dopamine hit again and again.

You Don’t Have A Budget

Lots of shoppers have gotten into debt for mindlessly spending all their money on makeup.

As they don’t have a budget for their monthly expenses, including cosmetics, their personal finances end up totally destroyed.

That’s why is highly recommended to set spending limits to be able to save enough money for more pressing needs, like your fixed expenses (groceries, rent, bills, and car payments).

You Have An Untreated Addiction

If you desperately want to stop buying makeup and can’t stop, that’s addiction.

There’s a root cause that is leading you to buy makeup impulsively and only psychological treatment can help you stop this kind of self-destructive behavior.

ADHD, anxiety, depression, TOC… Several mental conditions can trigger compulsive shopping.

If you want to treat your condition with a professional, you can try Online Therapy, voted Best Online Therapy for Anxiety 2022 (get 20% OFF your first month using this link!).

How To Get Free Makeup Products

If you love makeup but don’t want to go broke, then check out these easy ways to get free makeup products:

• Ask for free samples: visit your favorite beauty or retail stores and ask if they offer free samples. Employees are more than happy to offer free samples so customers can test products and make informed decisions.

• Use your credit card rewards: as you spend money on your monthly fixed expenses, you can exchange the points accumulated for free beauty products.

• Use coupons: just as with the coupon codes you redeem at the supermarket, look for coupons in magazines, online, or in-store to get free makeup products at your favorite beauty stores.

• Sign up in product testing websites: Sites like SampleSource let you sign up to receive and test makeup products, for free! Then you can fill out a survey to talk about your experience with the items. Available in the US and Canada.

• Review makeup products online: testing and sharing honest reviews on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube can lead to sponsorship opportunities, which will allow you to get free makeup products from small and big brands. You can also pitch to brands to get more paid collabs. For more beauty side jobs, check out this blog post on the best beauty side hustle ideas.

Wrapping Up: How To Stop Buying Makeup

So there you have it!

This blog was all about how to stop buying makeup and recover control of your personal finances.

Do you have any other tips you want to share?

I’d love to read your story in the comment section below.

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