November Shopping Reflections

Oh boy, this was an extremely shopping-heavy month, particularly as a matter of total dollars spent. I did get two coats out of it, both of which meet actual wardrobe "needs," which makes the spending not entirely crazy. The only problem is that I'm didn't really find the "perfect" trench or down coat. The items in question have some definite issues, but most of my uncertainty likely comes from my having become an excessively nitpicky shopper with unrealistic expectations, especially given my budget constraints. 

Somewhat accurate, as I knew what I was getting into, but not the exact numbers.

I'm also increasingly conscious of how my spending interacts with my other financial obligations, which makes me suspicious of just about anything I buy. It's difficult to guarantee that something is "worth it" when so many other things are clamoring for my dollars: saving for my emergency fund, retirement, travel and bridesmaid-related expenses, and finally, paying down student loans. I finally had enough information this month to do more concrete repayment calculations, and the numbers are sobering. I have six-figures in graduate student loan debt, all in US federal loans with interest rates ranging from 5% to 7.9%. Refinancing is not an option in the near future due to some reliance on federal protections like income-based repayment. My balance currently accrues interest of roughly $33/day. It's not fun, though it isn't quite as horrific as it sounds because my income is at a level that can pay it down completely by the seven-year mark, but it is also no small thing. I went to graduate school knowing full well that this was the financial life I was signing up for, but well, it is a long, slow road.

Sorry to be such a downer in a monthly shopping post! I'm satisfied with my career choice, it's just that I'm probably at one of the more difficult stages of that path. At some point, if I want to continue writing about this, I probably should just disclose the field I'm in to give an accurate picture, but at this point I'm still feeling a little shy about that. 

Fashion - (TOTAL: $504.29)

• Equipment Lynn Blouse, Peacoat Multi - $103.20 - This print is maybe a bit "much" by most standards, but I enjoy it. I'm wearing it under a trench coat in this post. I find Equipment's sizing to be on the slightly generous side of true-to-size, such that the S doesn't gap despite my being a bit chest. I got it at Equipment's site, but the main link goes to Nordstrom Rack, which has it for a little less than I paid. 
• Everlane Trench, Tan - $189.00* - Detailed review here. From how often I've worn it, it is looking like I'll get excellent cost-per-wear from this, despite my quibbles with it. I haven't had a chance to bring it to a tailor yet, but now that the season for it is ending, I'll probably get a chance to go soon. 
• Elie Tahari Paula Down Coat, Black - $212.09* - Detailed review here. It isn't truly cold enough yet to wear it, but the price I got on it was pretty good. If this coat ends up not being warm enough, I'll update on that later on...

Beauty - (TOTAL: $173.52) 

• Sephora (with 20% off VIB sale): $116.71* - This might well be my last year shopping the VIB sale because I'm still a little less than $100 off from renewing my VIB status.
• Tarte Amazonian Clay Waterproof 12-Hour Concealer, Medium - I accidentally ordered the wrong color from Dermstore a while back, but they were very nice about allowing the return. I ended up getting my replacement during the Sephora VIB sale. My makeup technique is not great, but out of all the concealers I've tried, this one is the best. It's the easiest to work with and has decent coverage. 
• Josie Maran Argan Oil Light - My favorite face oil. I'm not actually sure how this differs from other argan oils including the "regular" Josie Maran argan oil, but I seem to get the best results from this one. 
• Cover FX Liquid Foundation Brush - I used a similar flat-top brush from the Sonia Kashuk line at Target for years, but would occasionally get a streaky finish from it. This Cover FX brush is better. I can't guarantee that it's the best brush for liquid foundations, like the Nars Tinted Moisturizer I currently use, because of my aforementioned lack of makeup skill, but I like the results I get with this. 
• Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner, Espresso Ink - It has been... a fairly long time since I replaced my eyeliner. This is a good gel eyeliner and it stays put very well. 
• Dermstore (with return credit): $56.81*
• DDF Sulfur Therapeutic Mask - DDF discontinued this item for a long while around 2011, but it's back! I use sulfur masks as an overnight treatment for some of my most annoying breakouts to try to encourage those larger, icky bumps to come to a head. I don't recommend this strategy for sensitive skin though. I'd actually prefer a smaller package of this and packaged in a tube instead of a pot because it dries out easily. (Olay had a sulfur mask in a tube way back when. It wasn't a better value, but it was cheaper because it contained less product. Sadly, that one was discontinued too.) 
• Dermalogica AGE Smart Multivitamin Power Recovery Masque - Trying this out on a friend's recommendation, but I probably have a few too many face masks of various types in my "to try" queue right now... 

* indicates that price includes extra costs such as shipping, New York sales tax, etc. 

Linking to Franish and the other Budgeting Bloggers again this month. Be sure to check out what everyone else bought!

With this month's spending, I've now spent $2534.47 of the $3000 I set as my absolute upper limit for the year, which leaves me able to spend $465.34 for December without truly going over. (The goal, however, is to spend much less than that because I don't really need anything for the fall/winter season.) 

Bundling Up: the Elie Tahari Paula Coat

Coat: Elie Tahari Paula down coat*, M 

*(Bluefly discount in limited size/color combos)

Skirt: The Limited pencil skirt, 4

Tights: Mukluk fleece-lined tights, S

Boots: L.L. Bean boots w/ Goretex and Thinsulate

Well I suppose I should stop being in denial about my outfit photography being, er, noticeably lower-quality than that of the blogs I was reading in 2008 or so. (I'm mainly thinking of the super-cool Fops and Dandies, who took the best mirror selfies in a time before selfie was a word. I miss her blog to this day.) Also, happy Thanksgiving to those in the US! I'm fairly certain that my only Black Friday sales shopping plans are entirely online and only for gifts for others this year, because well, I've spent plenty on myself this fall/winter already. 

This has been an incredibly spend-y month for me. I blew past my monthly budget number when I bought the Everlane Trench and then I just kept on going by buying the Elie Tahari Paula down coat (on super-sale from Bluefly with an additional percent off coupon on top, but the current Bloomingdales price on top of their Thanksgiving sale will get you close to the price I paid). I stayed under budget for quite a few months this year, so I can actually overspend in December without going over my limit for the year, but I hope to do minimal shopping between now and New Years.  

Because this coat was originally too pricey to be practical and isn't a particularly sought after style, there probably isn't any actual demand for a review. Still, I enjoy talking about my purchasing decisions, so here goes:

This isn't the down coat I thought I would buy. I was envisioning something more utilitarian, and likely in an olive green, which would match my brown L.L. Bean winter boots well. Honestly, the main factor in my decision to order this for trying on was the dramatic discount, which isn't a particularly wise starting point for any shopping decision. I ended up paying around $220 at Bluefly with tax and shipping included, which is a little less than I likely would have spent on the North Face or Columbia coat I originally planned on and certainly much less than this coat's $550 full price. (The best price outside of Bluefly is currently $330 at Bloomingdales, $275-ish with the Thanksgiving sale code.) I took it out for a road test this past Tuesday, one of the first truly cold days in this unseasonably warm fall we're having in NYC.

For context, I'm not actually particularly picky about my winter coats. I picked out the Larry Levine one I've been wearing for the last three years (in different color) on sale from Amazon with the moderate price being my main criteria. That coat was plenty warm for me, even in the brutal winter NYC had last year and remains in generally fine condition. I'd even just stick with it, were it not for the sticky zipper and the minor annoyance of a hood that doesn't stay up on its own. Sizing-wise, I tend to stick with a M in pretty much all down coats I've tried, for fear that the chest would get a little snug when I have a thick sweater on. Keep reading behind the cut for my thoughts on my new coat.

Review: CosRx Acne Pimple Master Patch

Warning: because this post is about acne-oriented hydrocolloid bandages, the subject matter is a bit gross. I don't have any of my own photos of the before and after of using these, but I link a few photos and it is a little icky to look at.

As I've mentioned before, I don't have great skin. My main problem is acne, mostly the large under-the-skin type that can hang out for weeks at a time. The problem is mostly under control, largely thanks to the Paula's Choice 2% BHA Liquid, which I previously reviewed, but something about the transition to full-time office work was making my skin act up. (By the way, I now recommend purchasing Paula's Choice products at Dermstore because there are often discount codes floating around the web, sometimes for up to 15% off or a little more.)

I first heard about using hydrocolloid bandages (aka blister bandages) as an acne-healing tool while reading r/SkincareAddiction (some icky photos linked in comments there). I had actually seen Nexcare ones designed for acne on the shelves at Taiwanese and Hong Kong drugstores, but I assumed they were just little stickers designed to spot-treat acne with, say, tea tree oil or other topical ingredients that I could just apply directly instead. I've tried a few products from the latter category, including both the A'pieu product I linked and one from The Face Shop. Neither was any good. Hydrocolloid bandages are great though, provided you use them correctly, and the CosRx Acne Pimple Master Patch is a particularly effective one. Read on, but be forewarned that even the basic description of how to use it might be a bit gross.

Blog Thoughts, Year One

via Tumblr

Now that I'm at my new apartment with considerably more space and natural light, I'm hoping to start taking more outfit photos and do more fashion reviews. (Bloggers' reviews of items I'm thinking of buying are always exceedingly helpful to me as a shopper.) Any photos I take will likely still be those headless mirror selfies I tend to do, though.

I'm almost a month shy of my one-year "blogiversary," and I'm having fun with tending this small creative outlet of mine. I'm so thrilled to have people reading along and engaging with me in the comments. Thank you so much to everyone who reads here!

I greatly enjoy having this space to talk freely about shopping, spending, and my forays into being a more conscious shopper and budget-conscious adult. The "aspiring minimalist" focus I started with has faded somewhat because I've internalized the things that are important to me about that lifestyle as best I can or am ready to (avoiding fast fashion when possible, doing my best to buy things with the intention of keeping them for a long time, etc.). 

You might have noticed that I've started using Shopstyle affiliate links despite being one of the many people who raise their eyebrows at some aspects of affiliate link usage. While I strongly dislike the Rewardstyle business model of giving a blogger a percentage of reader purchases at particular retailers (and for a several-weeks long period, at that), I don't mind Shopstyle's up to a few cents per click model. Also, full disclosure: there's no way my blog will ever be big enough or publish the right type of content frequently enough to even be accepted to Rewardstyle. I played around with where I put my "Disclosure" box in my sidebar: I actually think it is easiest to find and read at the bottom where it is now, rather than directly under my "About Me" box closer to the top, where it gets buried in the rest of the sidebar. 

I don't actually anticipate making income from this in the forseeable future, by the way: I've barely made 50 cents total since I started last week, and I don't think I post often enough or have appealing-enough photos for this to be a real thing. At the rate I'm going, it'll be a decade before I even have the $100 minimum required to cash out for the first time. I'll do my best to be detailed and specific about the items I wear or feature in a budget post, so that you can still find the items easily on your own without clicking, if you prefer. I strongly dislike when blogs try to "force" a reader to click through by being absurdly vague about where they bought what they're wearing and linking, and I will strive to not do that. With some items that I'm linking just to illustrate a point, however, I might not be quite as specific because I'm not specifically encouraging a purchase. If you're curious about how affiliate programs and other forms of income from blogging work, this GOMI thread was extremely informative. I've since stopped reading GOMI, but that thread remains an eye-opening favorite.

EDIT: There's now another GOMI thread that further breaks down some of the differences between the Rewardstyle and Shopstyle model.