How Much Spent On Skincare, Not Makeup

Concluding month, I spent $800 on my skin.

It wasn't intentional, I hope. While spending lots of coin on beauty isn't unheard of, $800 was a new (very high) low.

'Last month, I spent $800 on my skin,' writes 9Honey journalist Josie. (Supplied)

Information technology kind of happened by accident, too: a few Korean beauty products I ordered from eBay, a driblet-in to Priceline, a 'contraction-free' silk pillowcase I'd been meaning to buy, and a trip to a peel specialist for a 'consultation' that ended with a $280 facial and a truckload of premium serums.

In the wake of my spending spree, I was left feeling queasy. Information technology's almost incommunicable to justify spending this sort of greenbacks on such a modest area of my body.

Trying to write it off every bit an investment, or a savage consequence of the patriarchy (*shakes fist*), proved fruitless.

At the end of the day, information technology made me experience proficient! (Until it made me feel guilty.)

The new normal

Nosotros're living in an age of skincare saturation, of FOMO, face up masks and self-care.

Now, beauty products are more than than an arbitrary footstep in your nightly shower: they're revered and whispered nearly and recommended. They're an invisible condition symbol. They're " political warfare ".

And they're really, really expensive.

It'southward incredibly hard to be taken seriously as a adult female if you don't pay attention to your appearance

I regularly notice myself trawling Reddit, joining Facebook groups, reading blogs, and listening to podcasts dedicated to decoding skincare – the communities aid me figure out what micellar water is best, what the hell "essence" is, and why my sunscreen should have zinc in it. I consider myself an amateur beauty sleuth.

But I find it surprising that these conversations rarely involve discussions about the personal finance side of things.

Women will sheepishly post looking for "budget" recommendations, using linguistic communication that implies cheaper products are a means to an end. Tight calendar month, you guys! Or, Trying to save at the moment! As if but wanting to spend less is sacrilege.

Without talking about what is normal, how do we know what'south reasonable and what's excessive?

Naomi, 24, spends around $lxxx per month (Supplied)

Then, what are women spending?

Data tells us that the average Australian woman spends over $iii,600 on beauty products each year, or $300 a month. With my monstrous month included, I call up my monthly number would average about the same.

Or, 8 per cent of my have-habitation pay. Which is most x per cent. Which is well-nigh panic-attack inducing.

Speaking to other Sydney women about 'their number' was one-half-enlightening, half-expected.

Naomi, 24, averages at effectually $80 per calendar month but does ii big makeup shops a year where she spends $700. That includes $120 on primer alone.

While she admits the number is high, she insists it's an investment. "The women in my family unit have e'er drilled into me the importance of skincare, especially due to the harshness of the Australian sunday," she tells 9Style.

Imogen, 28, hovers at around the same average, spending just under $200 a month on many items, including a "disgustingly expensive" cleanser that costs $xc.

Imogen, 28, spends just under $200 a month (Supplied)

Cathy, 24, admits her monthly number is roughly $850, and, colourful bath bombs aside, considers it no more than a necessary evil. "It's incredibly difficult to exist taken seriously as a woman if you lot don't pay attending to your appearance," she says.

While spending tonnes on products "isn't the norm" for her, Tahlia, 28, recently started a new routine that set up her dorsum $910, on top of her roughly $30 per month average.

These purchases came later on months of trying to detect something that soothed her painful breakouts.

"I grappled with a lot of guilt this twelvemonth spending money trying to find products that worked and improved my skin," she says. "I'm finally getting there, but I yet observe it hard to justify the price tag even when information technology is working."

Cathy, 24, admits her monthly number is roughly $850 (Supplied)

Similarly, 1000000, 27, also started a new routine. Her contempo haul of Aesop products prepare her back $205, on top of a regular $150 per month spend, and she feels keenly aware of the privileged position she's in.

"If my financial position were to change, it would be the first thing to go," she says. But right at present, she considers it an investment, and something that only brings her joy.

Meg, 27 spends effectually $150 per month. (Supplied)

"Yes, I at to the lowest degree partially feel that way because of centuries of sexism and gender normativity pressuring me towards some f—ked up ideal no one ever really lives up to," she adds. "But I still love how soft my face feels after taking off a clay mask."

Tahlia, 28, recently started a new routine that set her back $910 (Getty)

Money matters

When Krithika Varagur wrote in her now infamous essay 'The skincare con' "that all of this is a scam", beauty-loving women erupted in defence.

Varagur'southward proffer was that if you spend your cash on retinol, you're no amend than a mindless fool who responded to an e-mail from a Nigerian prince with your credit carte du jour details.

Merely it's not truthful. Skin care isn't a scam because nosotros're getting what we're paying for – we're paying for comfort and hope and self-love, and we're getting it. Peel care makes us feel practiced. Information technology'south designed to.

But, much more quietly, and in a less instantly-gratifying style: coin does too.

I'g far from saying that skin care is an unreasonable matter to spend your coin on. I call back it's a worthy choice, particularly if it makes you lot feel blithesome or confident, like it does for many of the women I spoke to. It does for me too.

I only think that there'southward a limit to what'south reasonable, and I've personally surpassed that limit.

I've slowly figured out that having coin in my banking concern account makes me feel more empowered than owning an centre cream. Hitting the balance betwixt pare care that makes me feel good and skin care that doesn't rob me of my fiscal freedom is the new goal.