Hey, remember when I declared this No Shop August?! hahahahaha is all I have to say to that!
Actually, I didn't do badly for most of August. My "sad mess" Ulta purchases were a huge splurge and what really got me in budgetary trouble. Otherwise, my recent buys can be broken down into several categories: August Purchases (not many!), July Purchases I Decided to Keep in August, and Wedding Purchases (for this wedding and the other three I have coming up this year!).
August purchases:
- Blue Jersey Circle Skirt (Old Navy): $20 on sale for $8
- Lesportsac x Rifle Paper Co. Cleo Crossbody (Amazon): $70 on sale for $38
- IT Cosmetics Bye Bye Under Eye Concealer (Ulta): $24
- IT Cosmetics Heavenly Luxe Dual Airbrush Foundation/Concealer Brush (Ulta): $48
- IT Cosmetics Your Skin But Better CC Cream (Ulta): $38
- Marble Garland Brooch Collar - Pink (Baublebar): $58 on sale for $32
TOTAL: $78! A triumph! ...until I add in the Ulta purchases, which brings the total to $188 (*cringe*)
July purchases that I decided to keep:
- Blue Rib-Knit "Tami" tank top (Old Navy): $10 on sale for $7
- Striped Modern Tank (Gap): $20 on sale for $4
- Floral Pocket Graphic T-Shirt (Target): $13
- BP Washed Chambray Shirt (Nordstrom): $48 on sale for $32
- Blue on blue V-neck Sweater (Gap): $40 on sale for $10
TOTAL: $66
Wedding purchases:
- Blue Scuba Patterned Dress (H&M): $35 (not too shabby for a wedding look!)
- Earrings (Francesca's): $14 on sale for $7
- Baggu Leather Clutch in blush (Amazon): $35
- Jacinth Perforated Clutch (Francesca's): $34 (I planned to return this after getting the Baggu clutch, but then I realized that I would only get store credit annnnd I actually do like this bag! Curses! Hopefully, I will use it for one of my other upcoming weddings!)
TOTAL: $111
GRAND TOTAL: $365 (*DOUBLE CRINGE*)
Favorite purchase: A toss up between the Tami tank and the Lesportac bag of my dreams, both of which I've worn/used a bunch of times already! ...Also, the H&M dress was a great, inexpensive find, as was the buttery soft clutch, which was $19 cheaper on Amazon than other places and was a dressy, on-trend way to hold a ton of stuff (including my DSLR) at a wedding!
Least Favorite Purchase: Ok, so I finally found the perfect chambray shirt (thanks Nordstrom sale!), but the first time I washed it (before even wearing it!), it somehow came out with an oily spot on the pocket! How did that happen?! I don't know how to fix it, other than to cover it with a pin? Any tips?! ...I'm also annoyed at myself for not looking more carefully for travel sizes of the IT Cosmetics stuff I bought, because apparently they exist (at least on Ulta's website). I know it's better in the long run to get the bigger sizes, but the cheaper-priced travel sizes would have saved me some No Shop August guilt!
Annnd I actually made one more purchase, although I am not counting in it as part of my budget because I chose it as my b-day gift to myself: the Longchamp LePliage Neo. (I love the small Le Pliage I found on eBay back in May, but I quickly outgrew it. It was so stuffed on a daily basis that I felt like I was carrying around a pillow!) The Neo is big, it's waterproof, it's lightweight, and it's purple (well, Bilberry)! So perfect for lugging around my work stuff, and I can easily add in a makeup bag and an outfit or two if need be. DONE. Plus, I found it on eBay and saved quite a bit!
