We are all humans and we get tempted. As the saying goes “Temptation is the curse” and it happens to the best of us. So, I just wanted to share how do I control mine?
- I have my priorities listed regarding the products I try. For example, I am not even an amateur in makeup so that saves a lot of my money!!!
- I have only a few categories of products which attract me. For example, I like to dabble in face masks a lot but not all face scrubs snatch my attention. I like to try out hair masks which are supposed to be applied before shampooing as I feel its a better value for your money and gives better nutrition to your hair and saves me a lot of time too in the bathroom!!! I do not generally get attracted by face washes and least by face moisturizers but then, I do like to switch body and facial oils. I hope you get the general idea.
- Not all brands attract me!!! For example, I have never bought a VLCC or a Jovees or even Shahnaz Hussain (I bought one but it was so horrible that I returned it at once, it was a sunscreen, sorry for the strong words but I can’t be gentle about that product) coz they don’t simply seem effective enough for me. Then, there is Fab India which initially attracted me but whenever I go to their stores, I come out empty-handed. And, then, there is Biotique which is pretty much a debatable brand but still I like its products simply coz they attract me and also, they work for me. I wouldn’t talk about Lush, TBS and other high-end brands coz I don’t have that much of pocket size. A few splurges during my birthday and spirit uplifts is different though 😀
- So, list out the brands which really attract you and you feel will work on you. No point spending on brands which do not attract you but you have read good things about unless it addresses some specific skin issue you might have.
- Another priority is the ingredients or natural products. I tend to go for herbal products more so you would find more of Biotique and none of Neutrogena unless you are talking about sunscreens. So, decide if you are comfortable with having certain ingredients in your products!!! For example, I am fine with parabens but not with SLS/SLES in my face wash or shampoo and I am still searching for a good shampoo.
- Ok, here is another thing about ingredients. If a product claims to have sandalwood and saffron at a mere pennies cost then you can be sure its hardly there. After all, saffron is the costliest spice in the world!!! And, then the gold scrubs or diamond facial kits at a cost of Rs 500 – 1000 doesn’t make sense to me. I do not find those products genuine so I tend to skip such products.
- Spending money has become even more easier with the online shops available which deliver goods to our doorstep and you can order at one click so you should be extra careful there with the credit cards and other forms of smart money you have!!!
- I am a patient shopper most of the times. As I said, not many brands attract me but when something catches my eye, I try to spend sometime mulling over the product and deciding if its worth or not unless its something very much affordable. I try not to spend even 50 bucks unnecessarily. No, its not caution or miserly tendency but its about not accumulating unwanted products and then forced to use them!!!
- I don’t know if this works for you or not but I have noticed that when I do not do impulse shopping, generally, the products, more or less, work for me. That is one of the other reason why I try to avoid impulse shopping.
- And, there is one more thing. There are some products in the market which are worth their prices so splurging on them makes sense because they really do wonders to your hair and bodies. One of such brands is Kerastese which I desperately want to try but the price ranges are too huge so I am saving up for it 🙂
These are somethings which I consider when I spend money. But, when it comes to reviewing of the products, I am generally more open to options but I still have my own priorities listed in that too. Reviewing well-known brands is safe but I do tend to take my time when I am considering new brands and a lot depends on how much they attract me too. Temptation does play a part, after all 😉
How do you spend and splurge?
wow…so many tips that i can use to control my temptation to splurge…thanks 4 these wise tips..
Hi Swati,
Nice post, I am an impulsive buyer, and most of the times just land up throwing things and feel so bad 🙁
Now I am trying to stick to natural products as much as possible. Ex: since I am at home, I have mixed Aloe vera gel and olive oil in 2:1 proportion and that makes and awesum body lotion for my super dry skin.
I am doing stuff like that to avoid unduly stacking up chemicals in my rack 🙂
Loved your post…thanks
P.S : U wer talking about castile soap, i saw one on e-bay (expensive :p)
I also dont like SLS/SLES in my facewash ,thats why i never tried lakme face wash range(specially strawberry one,although many of my friends are raving about it).But I am ok with parabens as its very difficult to buy a product without them.can you suggest a good face wash without sls/sles?I have dry-normal, not very sensitive skin. .
Nice Post 🙂
hey Monali….ponds face washes do not have SLS and family so you can try the carbon one but the perfect radiance from lakme also doesn’t have SLS and all so you can give that a try and its a good face wash 🙂
hey Megha….that’s a good thing but do you use aloe gel from the plant or the aloe gels available in the market??? if you use aloe from the plant, how many days does the gel keep??? you can use it for hair too…it will be awesome!!!
and, yeah, castile soap is expensive!!! I saw it on mountain herbs.
Oh my!!! A thoughtful post!!!!
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awesum post !!! v well written.. i also follow some of d tips u hav given.. 🙂
thanks 🙂
thanks Ridhi 🙂 would love to read some of yours sometime!!!
Nice post Swati!
Even am not inspired by certain brands… Biotique is one of them :)… I just used their moisturisers twice …though i find the root musk hair pack convincing and using it
I too dont find products having saffron at affordable prices convincing…for such amounts, the quantity wont even work… I dont mind splurging my money on something which contains considerable amount of saffron…and seeing things like fairness face wash makes me wonder… Washing your face with certain face wash can make u fairer ? Really ? 😮
Even the aloe vera gel available in market is unconvincing to me…though i like to buy products which contain aloevera extracts..again depends on the brand
Recently I bought khadi amla oil and neem pack… Now there are three manufacturers under khadi brand… I was expecting something..and they sent me something 🙁 using the oil…not used the pack
hmmm…online portals have only made things worse wrt splurging :p
hey…haha, I really like biotique and you don’t…yes, it happens…musk root is definitely my fav when it comes to biotique and I would definitely get it again!!! yes, seriously, saffron and such things…I mean we need to know that even these ingredients used are original and not adulterated. are btw, did you know about a serum from forest essentials which has 24k gold!!! its like 2400 bucks or something and I seriously wanna give it a try. shall be probably spending on that when there is some special occasion *wink wink*
yeah even aloevera gels!!! but, you know I used rustic art and it was really good just like the original aloe gel. but, I am already thinking of how can I dupe it at home 😀 and, patanjali aloe doesn’t convince me at all.
are khadi is one brand which I never bothered to look into once I found them!!! every time someone reviews it, the feedback is so mixed up and yes, they are made by different different set of people so always the quality varies!!!
after reading ur review, i feeling like giving rustic art alovera gel a try…
Am yet to explore forest essentials Swati… Shall start with their ubtans sometime …
I just chked out the gold serum… You can give it a try since the brand has gud reviews… Still I wonder with current price of gold, how much gold they put in :p
Gold,silver, pearl, diamond whatever it is, I think it’s just the respective powder they use… Khadi has a gold gel with a purity certificate…. u can try it just for the fun of it 🙂
I think you shld seriously think about a DYI gold gel 😉 am ready wid my gold 😀
do let me know if you try the rustic art gel 🙂 me too haven’t yet been to forest essentials and its too expensive for my taste. actually gold is in the bottom most of the ingredient list!!! I checked it last time so got deterred by that fact 😀 haan its the powder only…I had already thought of the DIY but where to get the gold or any powder from???? obviously mom won’t let me powder the necklaces I don’t like 😀 😀
ha ha… U want to powder ur necklaces 😀
Small suggestion if u dont mind… Ur blog is gud navigation wise… but would be nice if recent comments can be displayed and linked…
Also, when we search for something, it would be easy if only the related links are displayed instead of the whole posts..said one ended up giving two..hmmm 🙂
points noted but the comments thingy is a plugin in wordpress and not available to blogger 🙁 and, second, the blog posts are dosplayed entirely in blogger when any label is clicked or anything is searched. I know its annoying sometimes but I really can’t help it but will try to find fixes for both 🙂 thanks for the suggestions!!!
Ohh..ok!
I was going through many of your old posts … so finding lil difficult… but it’s fine 🙂
🙂