Bath and Beauty Stash: January 2019

After Christmas and early January is the time to ‘stock up’ they say, when there are plenty of sales, but you are flush with holiday gifts.

This is the “predicament” I found myself in this month, after I had done a bit of shopping at Bath and Body Works during their semiannual sale, and also had received plenty of products as gifts in December.

Since I’m embarking on a Low Buy year, I wanted to see what I was working with, so pulled my beauty and bath products out of the storage closet. I took photos of everything (except things currently being used in the shower, shared items, medicine, toothpaste, etc.), and then went by category.

In terms of goals, I have this visualization of all product fitting into just a few spaces:

• The bathroom medicine cabinet: filled with only products I am currently using
• Zip Pouch: just enough travel-sized products for weekend getaways or longer trips
• Cabinet under the bathroom sink: backup products or infrequently used items like sunblock
• Since the products I have are currently taking up considerable space in a small closet, maybe one day that closet could become a coat closet!

Usually I love to look at photos like this on Instagram, and they are so soothing! But when it’s your own things, it’s suddenly not so soothing – it’s overwhelming! I feel like my low buy year could become two low buy years. So, let’s see what I have! Feast your eyes.

Here it is! A spa’s worth of items. I hope to deplete most of this stash by the year’s end. While I did receive many products for free (as gifts or from friends and family), the dollar value looks quite high!

The makeup and lip products! This category is reasonably sized as I don’t wear a lot of makeup. I do like to have extra eyeliner, because those run out unexpectedly. I also have two more lip balms (one in my desk at work and one in my purse). I’m almost done with the Tokyo Milk lip balm, which I’ve had that one for a while and it seemed to be never ending.

My stash of hair products is OK. I received all of these (except the purple bottles which I refill for trips) for free. I’ll bring the samples on my trip in February, and the rest I should be able to use up this year. In addition, there are a few products in the bathroom that are currently being used. There Kerastase is almost out, maybe 2-3 more uses.

Beautiful full size products!!! As for the count: lotions (4), body washes (6), and hand soaps (2). If you can’t tell, I went on a bit of a rose kick this year so should be smelling fresh as roses for days. I also have two half-full lotions at work. All of the items here were purchased either in September or end of December, and I’ve had other products to use so I haven’t opened these yet.

I wanted to like bar soap but I prefer shower gel (see above). I got excited about no package soap, but haven’t touched it yet. I also have a stash of soaps from hotels in little plastic wraps that I grabbed and have been saving for… guests? For travel to places where they don’t have soap? Not sure yet…

My sunblock stash, most of which I purchased in Spring 2017 after a bad burn. Hoping to use these up this summer (read: spending lots of time outside while being safe in the sun). Then I probably should discard as they should start to expire.

Lots of skincare products! Most of this I have been gifted/got as samples. I am currently using some of the items pictured, and it’s mostly the things I purchased for myself: Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cleanser, Aveeno moisturizer(s), Garnier SkinActive Gel, Vanishing Acne Treatment, and the Stay Matte Primer. Of the gifted items, I’ve been using the Origins lotion when I travel, the GlamGlow charcoal mask, the La Mer and Origins CC cream, and the Caudalie serum.

Notes on skincare:

• As for travel sized items – the Origins is almost out and then I’ll be using the Jack Black items that were last year’s Sephora birthday gift.
• I’m not sure how the unopened Estee Lauder has held up. It’s a few years old; my other primer has lasted me so long that I’m not sure if the new one will be useable when mine is finished.
• There’s also a full size facial moisturizer in the bathroom that my husband and I are both using, so I should be set for a while on that category.

The items shown above either didn’t fit into other categories, or I forgot until I had put most things away (no one’s perfect!). There are five travel minis, two deodorants (there’s another in my desk at work), and four hand sanitizers. I’ll bring some of these minis on my trip, and will save some of the empty bottles to refill for future trips.

Six of these mini lotions are ~1 oz, and five that are over 1 oz. Most of these I got for the holidays… I use these for travel or to put in my purse. I’ll take one or two small ones on my upcoming trip.

The perfume stash, of which I have only purchased three items, and the rest were gifts. I currently have three mini sprays, three sample sizes, two travel size, and two full size. I’m hoping to use these daily to reduce this more, and to continue to give bottles away that don’t work for me, to make sure that someone else gets use out of them.

I am actually happy with my nail polish collection at the moment as I have a good but manageable amount. A friend gave me the KL polish recently and it’s a great color. The top left two were also friends’ giveaways. The Wet n Wild I purchased, and the Sally Hansen Salon was the ‘splurge’ as I bought it to wear for my wedding.

Overall I think I am set for many months with my stash and should make it through the year with very few replacement purchases. I am anticipating that I might need: eyeliner and eyebrow pencil, shampoo, nail polish remover, facial cleanser and moisturizer, and really not much else.

Have you done a low buy? Any tips to share? How long do you think this stash will last me?