Last year, I made several reading and beauty resolutions. In some, I failed miserably. With others, I went above and beyond. Let’s take a look at what I planned to accomplish and what actually got done.
For the resolution to “Read at Least 10 Books Written by Women”, I succeeded! All of the books I read in 2019 were written by women. The first book of the year was Becoming by Michelle Obama. The last book I read was Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng. In between, I read my first Zadie Smith, Swing Time, which didn’t slap. I fell in love with The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang. I stepped out of my reading comfort zone with The Children of Men by P.D. James. Since I read only women, I also “Read No More than 2 Books Written by a White Man” because I did not read a single book written by a man!!
When it came to the resolution to “Complete the Goodreads Challenge,” I crashed and burned. I planned to read 15 books in 2019, but I only read 10 books. I didn’t even read 1 book a month, y’all!!! I have to admit the struggle was real in 2019, and it reflected in my reading. It is difficult to say how I fared with my resolution to “Always Carry a Book When I Leave the House.” I sometimes forgot to pack a book in my purse or gym bag, but I think I did a decent job of remembering to bring a book along with me. I will say this one is a push in the positive direction.
When it comes to my beauty resolutions, I mostly failed with flying colors. I went strong with the Pan It Challenge for the first 6 months of the year. I used the Urban Decay Naked palette for an entire month followed by the Too Faced Chocolate Bar and Tarte Tartelette palettes. By the end of June, I had used all three palettes twice. However, I had not made a single dent in any of these eye shadows! I was beyond disappointed. On top of that, I was beyond bored with these palettes. Natural eyes are great and all, but I needed color!!!! The good news is I realized the Tarte Tartelette doesn’t work for me. All the colors looked grey and ashy on me! It quickly hit the declutter pile. I also gave up on the Pan It Challenge, but I continued on my one palette, one month journey.
Another beauty resolution I failed miserably was “Avoiding Impulse Shopping.” No, I didn’t need any makeup in 2019. Did I buy makeup in 2019? Yes, I did. Did I need eyeshadow palettes in 2019? Nope! Did I buy eyeshadow palettes in 2019? Yep! I was able to resist the temptation for most of the year, but by the time November and December rolled around, I was buying them joints left and right!
First, I got the ABH X JA Palette. I justified that purchased because I cashed in my Ulta points to get it. In addition to the Jackie Aina Palette, I bought the Natasha Denona Mini Lila Eyeshadow Palette during the Sephora Holiday Sale. I’ve heard nothing but great things about ND eyeshadows, but I wasn’t ready to pay those prices. This mini palette is an opportunity to see if the ND brands gets high marks from me. I also purchased the Juvia’s Place Mini Nubian Eyeshadow Palette and the Morphe 3B Pure Nude Eyeshadow Palette when Ulta offered a 5X bonus on eyeshadow palettes.
Not only did I buy plenty of eyeshadow palettes when I was supposed to be on a palette ban. I reached Diamond at Ulta before my birthday, and I reached Rouge status at Sephora with relative ease. In a year when I needed no makeup, I was able to add plenty products to both my makeup stash and skincare routine. #EpicFail
The only beauty resolution I successfully completed was to “Participate Weekly in the Sephora Beauty Insider Community.” I ended 2018 as a Level 3 Rookie. By the end of 2019, I was a Level 3 Rising Star!!! I have to admit I might have spent too much time on the BIC threads, which is why the BIC made the list of my Best Beauty in 2019.
Last year I only read books written by women, but I wasn’t able to read 15 books within the year. Although I failed in my efforts to not give Ulta and Sephora all my money, I did enjoy geeking out about all things beauty with like-minded people. This year, I still plan to read at least 15 books, and I definitely want the majority of those books to be written by women, especially women of color. I also want to be diligent with my beauty spending. Although I have been tempted by deals, I am happy to say I haven’t been hoarding too many things. I try to rotate in new items as quickly as possible. So … here’s to reading more books and buying less makeup in 2020!
What are your 2020 resolutions?