Coat - c/o LOTD | Roll Neck - Peacocks | Necklace - Accessorize | Jeans - Boohoo | Boots - Deichmann | Belt - Primark

Black ankle boots have been such a staple in my wardrobe for about the last 5 years. What I wore on my feet on the daily before then is a mystery. I started with a pair from Next at a modest £32, and as well as serving me well, they changed the game when it came to stylish, everyday footwear. I've never been a huge lover of wearing trainers, always preferring to be on the more put-together side of things. I had dolly shoes and ballet flats, which were fine but were hardly weather resistant, and then I had more functional pairs of boots such as Ugg-styles, but I never thought of the humble little black boot. It genuinely makes me feel uneasy thinking of a time when I didn't own a pair of black ankle boots, that's how much I love them now.

You might remember in June, I went the whole month without making a single beauty purchase and documented it in my Diary of a Beauty Spending Ban post. Whilst I named it a "spending ban", that wasn't really the reason I decided to give myself the challenge. Although I can't deny that it saved me a pretty penny, the knock-on effects that my 30 day beauty ban gave me were priceless, and it's something that I want to tap into again, thus bringing me to No-buy November! The main thing that I took from my previous spending ban was that it made me so much more aware of the products I was buying, and it really made me question the value/benefits it would add into my life. It made me research potential purchases a lot more rather than picking them up willy-nilly because it was 'new' or simply 'looked cool'. Through this, I realised that I was coveting higher end brands a lot more than drugstore, so the Boots/Superdrug hauls were slowly phased out.

Something I didn't expect was that it affected my thought processes when it came to non-beauty items. I became less materialistic, and generally started to buy less crap (technical term for the useless rubbish that serves no real purpose). I began questioning whether I really needed to get the train or could I get the bus and save a fiver, or did I really want that £2.50 cup of tea (how can places get away with charging SO much for a brew these days?) when I could have one at home. It changed me, temporarily, and whilst I still retained a lot of the effects, as shown by my capsule wardrobe and declutter videos, that restraint when it came to beauty products soon faded away...


It's pretty easy, no beauty products for the duration of November. This will give me time to really think about what I need and would like to put on my Christmas list. I will allow myself repurchases of essentials, which generally just goes for things like skincare and haircare, as I know I will be in need of more serum and dry shampoo. Last time, I didn't include haircare as I was in the process of dyeing my hair and I found I needed to buy products for toning and a more nourishing shampoo and conditioner. So this time I will be putting a ban on hair products too, with the exception of a box of hair dye as I really want to colour my hair the plummy shade that I had a few years ago before autumn is over. I'll be doing a diary-style update (similar to my last post) at the end of November, which will outline any products that I've been thinking about or tempted to buy. Wish me luck!