What I Didn’t Buy in 2020

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What I didn't buy in 2020

Last year posed changes for nearly everyone, and for me, that meant there was a lot I didn’t buy in 2020. If you escaped unscathed, good on you. Since this blog is largely about beauty, we’ll keep it in the realm of changes in that regard:

  • Although we all should have been wearing masks when out, if you were not able to work from home, you wore one more than most.
  • If your employment situation changed, perhaps you didn’t have to leave home at all or be on camera.
  • If you transitioned to working from home, you might have found yourself on camera more than you have before.

I’m in the third camp, though I was required to report to the office periodically. All of these things represent, in one way or another, a likely change in your grooming processes: if you have a mask on all day, maybe you’re skipping foundation to avoid, “maskne.” You’re almost certainly skipping lipstick. If you’re on camera, you might be fighting looking pallid and exhausted/sick/etc.

I’ve advocated, for those WFH, to try to continue getting ready – even if not identically – to maintain a routine. It’s good for your mental health! My routine has changed considerably – which has altered my buying habits.

Here’s what I didn’t buy in 2020:

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Start of 2021 Newsletter

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Chatter

I planned on starting 2021 with a nice little newsletter about 2020, trying to grasp at the straws that were the small items to celebrate in spite of what an awful year it was.

In light of the terrorism in America this week, it feels weird and bad to talk about celebrations. There’s a lot of ugliness that’s come to a head, and we’re not out of the woods.

But I decided to talk anyway, albeit in a more subdued tone. The fact that there are horrors and that there is work to be done should not also siphon the joy we worked hard to capture.

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In 2020, I attempted to revive the blog over the summer in hopes of not only reviving it but me.

I modified my post frequency and built up momentum within it, but this proved ambitious. In August, the world (as a metaphor for my time and energy) shook: I ended up with significantly more work than ever. I simultaneously headed into the worst semester I’ve faced. Like before, Beauty Skeptic had to take a back seat.

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I’ve casually mentioned it before, but in addition to my career, I started college in May 2019. My ultimate higher-ed goal is to get a bachelor’s, but have happily just completed (with much exhaustion) a shiny new Associate’s degree in my day job field. I pulled this off in 18 months and achieved magna cum laude, and a bunch of boring academic honors. I’m not particularly good at celebrating my accomplishments, but I think that is worth celebrating.

In spite of trying to push myself to celebrate, I also feel that weird, “unproductive guilt,” that is new(er) for a lot of people. That is wild because I have been anything other than unproductive. Do you struggle with celebrating your accomplishments too? Share yours! We can celebrate together in spirit without the oppression of yet another video call. (I am so tired of seeing my fucking face on webcam, and I bet you are too!) Only demand is to throw on a lipstick you like. Or don’t. Whatever.

Smol Celebrations

The school stuff I mentioned! I completed a degree in 75% of the time it, “usually,” takes and with high marks while working 50+ hour weeks in a high-stress career.

In addition to all of that, I earned a valuable professional credential.

I learned several new skills:

  • I can operate a sewing machine, sew at a novice level, and make masks to keep my family safer.
  • I can make soap (and it’s REALLY FUN and very appropriate for Beauty Skeptic).
  • I can make candles.
  • I tint and wax my own brows now.
  • I can passably-enough cut my hair.
  • I’ve elevated my DIY nail skills to include polygel usage.
  • I successfully grew some produce.

Meanwhile, I’ve learned more about the balance I need and will push a bit more gently going forward to preserve my mental state.

Here’s hoping that I can do better for this site in 2021.

Worth It? Lumify

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Bausch and Lomb Lumify

Seasonal allergies? Staring at screens too much? Sociopolitical rage/burnout? Depleted surge capacity? Existential crisis? Ennui? Regardless of why, are you finding that your eyes are a bit more red than you’d like, lately? Got to (appear to) get your shit together before the day’s nth Zoom meeting?

I got you.

Who says cosmetics are only for your skin, hair, and nails? I’ve been using Lumify eye drops for about two years now–yeah, since the before times–and nothing obliterates redness the same way. NOTHING. Not Visene, not Ben Stein Clear Eyes, not Rohto, not any damn thing.

Putting Lumify Simply

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2020 Beauty Gift Guides? Yawn

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Does the beauty world really need another gift guide? You can only see the same palettes recommended so many times. Maybe its just 2020 in general, maybe its my own exhaustion and short fuse, but even bloggers and influencers who I like have shared gift guide content that I, personally, found exasperating this year. (I still like the content creators. They’re doing their jobs; in many cases, this sort of thing is their main income stream).

So many gift guides are just wish lists for the blogger, anyway – depending on their stature and time in the influencing trenches, they might share wildly out-of-touch picks.

2020 Beauty Gift Guides – Pfft

I’m trying to rein in my cynicism (lol right) and what I recognize to be a grinch-like attitude, but frankly, it is challenging:

  • On one hand the world is a mess; do we really need a $40 lip balm recommendation, Janet?
  • On the other, while I still agree that a $40 lip balm is fucking absurd and indeed borderline offensive, maybe we do need some frivolity to lift our spirits.

My opinion seems to change by the hour on that.

I’m not without empathy, though. If you are participating in some gift-giving this year and by some insanity you have yet to finish your holiday shopping for someone with an appetite for beauty frivolity, might I offer the following suggestions:

If your loved one:

  • is fond of a particular local salon or spa, get a gift card for them to use at that service provider once we can safely and responsibly return to consuming those services. This isn’t an impersonal cop-out; this does triple duty of 1) the obvious gift-giving, 2) giving your loved-one something nice to look forward to when we can reclaim a semblance of safety, and 3) provides that business much-needed cashflow. I haven’t felt comfortable visiting my salon during all this (service areas are a bit small), but I don’t want them to go out of business. You can probably pull this off in time, even.
  • is brave or adventurous enough to attempt (or has been attempting) home haircuts – consider a pair of shears. As I’ve learned from doing my own trims this year, decent pair of shears (scissors) makes the process go a lot nicer. Is it exciting? Not necessarily, but if you want to get all Marie Kondo about it, they spark joy because they make the job easier to execute well…ish. If not shears, there’s something for everyone: clippers, or, apparently George Clooney has been cutting his hair with a Flowbee for almost as long as I’ve been alive. Imagine a world where that was the strangest thing we’d heard this year.
  • likes having nice nails and hasn’t already taken the plunge into DIY gel land, oh, god, get them some nail supplies! Gel polish is user-friendly and more accessible than ever. If they like extensions/enhancements, dual-forms and polygel couldn’t be easier to use. Lamps, electric files, color, consumables (like gel cleanser?! lolol jk – but files, cleanup tools, etc).
  • is creative/crafty and might enjoy things like soap-making, that’s a really cool way to give them control over some aspect of their beauty/grooming products. Not only is it neat to play with, is it skill development! I’ve had good luck with Bramble Berry as a starting resource. Anything in this realm will be late, but in a year in which even things purchased, “in time,” will be late – it will be okay.

If you needed it, I hope this non-gift-guide was useful to you.

IT Cosmetics Star Foundation Brush

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On Sunday, I opened an Ulta email to find this IT Cosmetics Star Foundation brush.

IT Cosmetics Star Foundation Brush

First, let us deviate for a piece of personal trivia. Some people like hearts and heart motifs. Some people like polka dots. I, however, am partial to stars. I don’t necessarily want to wear them (okay, in pajamas I do), but I find them cute and enjoy looking at them.

80% of the time I am in a store (wait…what are stores? Do you remember stores? Pepperidge Farm remembers.), when I go, “Oh! That’s cute,” I’m reacting to something silly with stars on it. A mask? A lampshade? A throw blanket? 3-ring binder? As the trendier youth would say, “Fuck me up, fam.”

…so, all of that to say the IT Cosmetics Star Foundation Brush fully, unapologetically triggered my, “AHH, cute!” reflex. The bristles! The ferrule! the print on the handle!

–but, don’t worry; I didn’t hit my head. It also triggered my, “You guys serious?” one.

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All Set!

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Alright – all of my nerd tasks are done and Beauty Skeptic is cut over to the new host! Thanks for bearing with me through the technical transition.