Note to myself (and to you): Stop hoarding your skincare and USE IT!

The problem for everyone, when you develop an interest in a subject like beauty or skincare, is the tendency to go overboard. I attribute this to FOMO – Fear Of Missing Out. A real concern.

Sure, we say we are interested, and we are restrained, but in actual fact, we aren’t. We proclaim we love a product, and then we say in the next breath “I need a back up!” Youtubers and Instagrammers don’t help. They show off their full cupboards and their “shelfies” and they tell you “I need a backup!” and “Look at all my beautiful storage systems” And we run out and buy a back up, and we build our own shelfies. And we see a sale happen. And we buy new items to try, or a back up. And we look at our beauty cabinet with pride, and think “Ah, I have a wonderful stash of products!”

I have news for you – STOP! 

I am not immune to FOMO myself. I am not ashamed to confess this. I have said this year, that I have scaled back on my beauty purchases substantially, when compared to previous years. The reason was because I had built up a substantial stash, and I wanted to try to make a dent in my stash.

I did quite well till towards the year end, when the sales began, and my roving eye picked out new products and skincare brands I was interested to try, that had finally come online. All resolve flew out the window!

But something happened to me, that knocked sense back into my skull. Stop hoarding. Stop buying new stuff. Stop owning back ups. Just stop!

Here’s what happened.

A friend of mine was waxing lyrical about the Niod Copper Amino Isolate Serum that she uses, and I vaguely remembered having bought one from DECIEM during one of their sales. This was some time last year (2016) when they would still ship worldwide for free with a reasonable amount purchased. It’s now very prohibitive and this Black Friday sale, they only shipped to a few countries. While their products are very attractive and, from what I can tell, effective, I do feel that their business practices have left me questioning if I want to buy from them anymore. But that’s another tale.

What I did, was go home and dig through my stash. It is a substantial one. I work with brands and I am gifted with new products now and again, but I do buy a lot of beauty items myself because often, it’s easier to buy your own stuff than to depend on handouts that come with cables attached. Also, my interest reaches far beyond the local beauty industry, and I need to get my beauty fix! 😀

I did find I had 2 boxes of the Niod CAIS 1% serum. Happily, I opened up one of them that came in a smaller quantity (15ml), and activated it. I will not be talking about this serum, because Niod has discontinued this one and there is now a new version. I am not qualified to talk about it, but you can look it up online.

What I found is that after mixing the activator into the serum, it was a dull dark grey-brown sludge. I was curious. That didn’t look right. So I looked online to be sure, and I saw that CAIS should be a clear bright blue serum when activated.

I then opened up the other box, which was a 30ml bottle of CAIS, also bought last year, about a month or two after the first bottle (don’t even ask – FOMO remember?!). Upon activation, the serum was a bright, clear blue. As you see in the picture above.

Further reading told me that the dull grey-brown sludge was an oxidised product. I found it odd, as both products were bought within months of each other, and were further, kept in the same conditions – in a dark cupboard, away from heat. Yet, one was fine and the other wasn’t. I also noted that the 15ml bottle came without a seal, while the 30ml bottle was sealed.

The short story is that I’ve written to Niod about this, and they’ve told me that I cannot be given a refund or replacement, as it is just over a year old. I chose to not quarrel with that, as I suppose it was partly my fault as well, for not checking on the condition of the product immediately upon receiving it. I was waiting to put it into rotation and the opportunity did not arise till now.

But this incident was a wakeup call for me.

Reminder: Skincare products expire.

They have a shelf life that is not very long, especially if you use natural or organic products. This Niod CAIS serum was not cheap. Perhaps, if it was defective at the start (as I suspect, due to the lack of a seal), I’d have discovered it earlier, and received a replacement. As it stands, I am out of pocket for a product that I cannot use (Niod advised to not use the oxidised product).

This isn’t the first time. I occasionally run through my skincare cabinet, and weed out products I’ve bought over time. These usually go to family and friends. A lot of them were bought, because I was interested it in at one time. I just don’t get round to using them, because I have just 1 face, I use other products, I have some obligations, or I lose interest. And using skincare products takes time. This is not like makeup, where you can just swatch and remove and form an opinion quickly. Skincare is technical and takes time. I also read about skincare, and I follow accounts on Instagram about skincare, that have me wanting more than I can practically use.

I will have to stop. Not reading, but wanting.

So, I’m making myself a promise (not a resolution), that I will be cutting back on skincare purchases for a while. I will still make the odd purchase, I know. FOMO doesn’t die just like that. But I will be more restrained. I will stop hoarding, and I no longer believe in buying back-ups. Most of the time, by the time I come round to using my back-ups, I am bored of the product, or I have found something better.

Do let this incident be a reminder to you as well. If you have a skincare cabinet with backups or a range of new products in there, you likely have too much 😛 It’s really not something to be proud of. Stop hoarding, start using!

Have you experienced a similar problem? Do you find yourself hoarding skincare too?

Makeup is different for me, as I find there is a longer shelf life. Powder products especially, seem to work well even years later. But skincare doesn’t. I am going to learn to curb my enthusiasm, and control my FOMO. Let me know if you have the same problem! 😀

Paris B