Final 2017 Purchases & Reverse Rouge Challenge for 2018

New year, new goals! I'm one of those people who does New Years Resolutions, I'm not ashamed to admit it. One of my goals for 2018 is to spend less and be more mindful of what I do spend. But before I talk about that, I wanted to share my last few purchases of 2017!

I decided to make all of my final purchases before the end of the year to get everything out of my system. Probably not the best way to low/no buy, but it works for me! I got everything from Ulta, Sephora, Macy's, and from individual shops online. I'm really excited about a lot of these! (Some are staples, so not as exciting.)

First up is the Morphe 39a palette. I know Morphe brings out a lot of opinions in a lot of people, and this is my first ever purchase from them (via Ulta, because points/return policy) due to the reservations that I know a lot of people have. This palette really caught my eye, and the ability to get it from a trustworthy source with 20% off sealed the deal for me. The layout and shade selection really appeal to me, so hopefully it ends up being a worthwhile purchase.

I spoke about Kat von D limited editions briefly in my Holiday Anti-Haul. (You will also note that I did not mention this platte, because I knew I wanted it!) Even though I know that this palette will most likely resurface again in the first half of 2018, FOMO got the better of me and I purchased the MetalMatte Mini palette. This palette is WAY more manageable than the 2016 MetalMatte, so that lends itself to being within reach more. I swatched it before purchasing, and only that center matte shade was indistinguishable from my skintone. I'm excited to play with it!

The last thing I need is more highlighter, so of course I picked up the mini Becca Vanilla Quartz. I swatched it in store and was super impressed! It's very pretty, and I have a feeling it may replace Becca Moonstone as one of my standby highlighters. I also got a deluxe mini of the new Lancôme Monsieur Big mascara, as you can never have too many luxury mascara minis.

I bought a whooole bunch (okay, four) of lip products! First up is the Bite Beauty Agave lip scrub. I recently pitched my old lip scrub and needed a replacement (and had a gift card.) It was a toss up between this one and their cherry scrub, but this one won. I finally got my hands on a longstanding wishlist item - Chanel Rouge Allure Ink in Séduisant! The first time I tried to buy this before Christmas it was sold out at the Chanel counter I happened upon. I tried again on New Year's Eve on a whim, and was successful! I was heavily influenced by truthlackslyricism on Instagram for these next two products - YSL Tatouage Couture in 05 Rosewood Gang and Dior Addict Lip Tattoo in Natural Cherry. She constantly raves about these lip stains and I wanted to give them a try, so I ordered these in my final Sephora haul of the year.

My big pump bottles of shampoo and conditioner are running out, and I wanted to try something new. I ordered the Living Proof Full shampoo and conditioner travel sizes to see how I like them. They're sulfate and silicone free, so I want to see how my hair reacts to a lack of those ingredients. I also got the IGK Preparty glitter spray for New Year's Eve, which I forgot to include in the photo. The hairspray is super fun - but the glitter gets everywhere. (So it's perfect for NYE!)

The week before Christmas, Ulta put a bunch of holiday scented bath items on sale, so I got a bottle of The Body Shop Vanilla Pumpkin shower gel on the cheap. I have the Vanilla Chai and am digging it, so this will be greatly enjoyed as well! I also repurchased my trusty NYX Micro Brow Pencil.

In terms of skincare, it was a light haul. I finally gotmy hands on the Klairs Supple Preparation Toner that everyone raves about. It's been on my wishlist for a while and I didn't get it for Christmas, so I got it for myself! I also got the $20 Sunday Riley Luna Oil mini, since it was a steal and I really liked how my skin looked when I was using a deluxe sample of it a while back.

Last but not least, two new nail polishes from Cirque Colors! Crystal Tokyo was on clearance and I could not pass up a Sailor Moon reference. I also got the shade Magic Turquoise which is a color changing shade.

Now that I'm all done rehashing my final moments of consumerism of 2017, I want to talk about what I'm going to be doing for 2018!

Reverse Rouge Challenge!

A "reverse rouge" challenge is something commonly found on the Makeup Rehab subreddit. The goal is to use up $1,000 of beauty products, instead of spending $1,000 at Sephora to achieve VIB Rouge status for the year. I have more than enough beauty products to achieve this easily, and it'll be fun to track my empties through the year and attach their monetary value. For 2018, each of my empties posts will have a reverse rouge check in as well. Here are the rules I've set for myself:

• Full size and deluxe sample products will be counted, along with things like sheet masks. I'm bad at math, so I don't want to calculate the value of foil samples.
• Destashed items that have left my possession count as well. (Not fair to just count my entire destash pile as it is now.)
• Trashed items count as well. (Not samples or sheet masks, though.)
• Purchased items will count against me! My goal is to low/no buy this year. I will keep two tallies - value of products used, and value of products used minus purchases. (I haven't decided if I'm going to count gift card purchases against myself.)
• All items will be calculated based off their full value, even if I purchased them on sale.
• Items gifted to me will not count against me, since the goal is to spend less of my own money.

I'm positive I can finish this by the end of the year, and will most likely finish it sooner. I also don't want to requalify for VIB Rouge for 2019. I know I'll requalify for Platinum at Ulta due to the fact that we get our haircuts there, and VIB at Sephora might happen as well. I do not think I'll qualify for the new Diamond tier at Ulta, though. ($1200! Maybe via haircuts?)

I look forward to my first check in at the end of the month. Have you set any beauty goals for the new year? I have a few, but this is the most fun!