Impromptu Makeup Purge / Declutter | March 2020

Since I'm stuck at home due to the Coronavirus, I've had more time to tackle things that I've been putting off.

This Impromptu makeup declutter took place because of an email alert I received stating that my photo storage was full. Since I had the time, I started going through and deleting years worth of old photos. I had pictures dating back to 2009.

As I approached the later years, I was not only shocked at how fast time has gone, but I was a little freaked out at how old I realized a lot of my makeup was! I began throwing out my expired makeup one by one as I went through the pictures, and before long I had this pretty large pile of expired makeup to declutter.

Note: I like ALL of this makeup! None of it was purged/decluttered because I didn't like it, It was solely because of how old they are.

Links to products provided in the product headings when available.

EYESHADOW PALETTES

Eyeshadow Palettes Decluttered:

• L.A Colors trio in Sunflower -awesome little dollar store palette (cannot find online)
• Glo Skin Beauty 8 pan shadows in The Velvets -one of my favourites, I didn't use it enough!
• Glo Skin Beauty quad in Hey, Sailor -Glo Skin Beauty quality is really good!
• Elf Mad for Matte -this is the original one, amazing all matte palette
• Elf Baked Eyeshadow palette in California -loved this one in the summer for a sheer wash of bronze across my lids using a wet and dense shader brush
• Elf Baked Trio in Peach Please -same as above in a mini, great for travel
• Elf Baked Trio in Bronze Bonanza -same as above. Would probably repurchase these minis vs the full size shown above. I like to use them with a dampened brush for a gorgeous wash of sheer colour on the lids. The dark shade works well as a liner. I get bronze goddess vibes from these baked shadows and wear them a lot in the summer. 

Total Decluttered: 7

LIP PRODUCTS

Lip Products:

• Baby Lips -pink shade, probably wouldn't repurchase
• Baby Lips- a great nude shade that I can throw on with any look and I don't need a mirror
• Burt's Bees Lip Balm in Pink Blossom- I like the formula and that it's 100% natural but would probably choose a different shade next time
• Too Faced Sweet Peach lip gloss in Pure Peach -love this one in the Summer!
• Maybelline Lipstick in Nude Lust - great formula and goes with anything- Jlo's Nude is still my fave though as it has a touch more pink than this one
• Glo Skin Beauty Cream Glaze Lip Crayon in Chiffon -dupe for my HG Sonia Kashuk lippie that was discontinued. This crayon is amazing for aging crinkly lips! 
• Burt's Bees Gloss Crayon in Outback Oasis -not as long-lasting as I'd like but the shade makes up for it! It really suits my complexion
• Morphe Liquid Lip in Virgin- Amazing product for a liquid lip considering I don't usually like liquid lip products. It's not too nude and not drying, wears off nicely too

Total Decluttered: 8

EYELINERS / BROW PENCILS/ EYE PRIMER

Eyeliner/ Brow Pencils / Eye Primer:

• Pure Anada liquid liner in Fig - gorgeous deep plum shade but I'm generally not one to reach for liquid liners very often
• Aloette Waterproof eyeliner is Greystone -I used as a liner under my eyes and a brow pencil. Great shade for those uses- they probably don't make anymore, this is super old!
• Annabelle Kohl Eyeliner in Taupe -another great shade for lining the under-eye area and doing my brows
• Mia Adora Unshakeable Liquid Eyeliner in black -very pigmented, easy to use- great liner if you like to work with liquid liners
• Wet N Wild / Fergie Take on The Day Eyeshadow Primer - it did the job but I prefer Essence I Heart Stage Eyeshadow Base)

Total Decluttered: 5

FACE PALETTE

Face Palette:

• Elf Illuminating palette -I replaced the darkest shade (bottom right) with a highlight shade from another ELF palette. I like that you can pop the shades in and out of their face palette quads to customize them. I would repurchase this as I adore the subtle glow that these powders provide. The perfect highlighters for aging or textured skin, or if you just want a subtle, realistic glow without the glitter! These perform like high-end powders IMO.

Total Decluttered: 1

BLUSHES

Blushes:

• Avon True Color Powder Blush in Goddess Pink- This is from at least 2010! I read about it in a magazine and had to have it! I loved it and didn't use it enough because I have too many blushes for one face (like all my makeup products I guess 🤷) Would buy again in a heartbeat!
• Rimmel Blush in Pink Sorbet- Perfect soft neutral pink shade that is difficult to overdo. I love blushes like this!
• Wet N Wild blush in Pearlescent Pink (old formula)- Stunning pink/coral shade that is not too pink nor too coral. This shade in the new formula appears different from this but I would still give it a try as I loved this one so much. Again, didn't use it enough as I have so many blushes! Blush junkie here!

Total decluttered: 3


GRAND TOTAL:

I like to see the numbers, so here is the summary of all of the victims of this declutter...

-Eyeshadow Palettes: 7
-Lip Products: 8
-Eyeliner/Brow/ Eye Primer: 5
-Face Palette: 1
-Blushes: 3

Grand total decluttered: 24 

It feels good to get these expired products out of my makeup collection. Now I can focus on what I have and feel good knowing that none of them are expired. From now on, I will do my best to label my products with the purchase month and year using some stickers. This way, I'll be able to keep on top of my expired products and purge them when they expire.

Thanks go out to Google for alerting me about my full storage! Otherwise, I'm certain that this declutter would not have happened.

Now I'm a little more motivated to tackle other areas that need to be decluttered as well!

Hope everyone is staying safe and finding things to keep you busy. Maybe my declutter will inspire you to tackle your makeup or another area that needs some decluttering. Let me know what you're doing to keep busy during this difficult time.

Some links are referral. Thank you for your support if you choose to use them. xo

Makeup Declutter | Eyeshadows + Lipsticks!

Searching for dupes of my favourite expired products

After reading an article called "What Happens to Your Face When You Use Expired Makeup" the other day (linked here), it freaked me out a bit. It definitely opened my eyes and I'm SO ready to let go of my old makeup now! 

Although I had always been cognisant about tossing cream products and mascaras when they expired, I never paid much attention to powder ones. I adopted the policy that if a powder product changed in consistency or scent, I would toss it.

We cannot always see what may be lurking in our products, especially powder ones, they often don't show signs like cream products can, but they too can be full of bacteria that we do not see. I have bumps on parts of my face (not acne), that look like milia or maybe it's from using such old products that possibly contain bacteria and such that I cannot see. We have to be especially careful with eye products though, as we definitey don't need to get an eye infection!

Decluttering makeup that I love is never easy, but after reading that article and opening my eyes up to how old some of my favourite products actually are, this task became easier. This declutter wasn't about whether or not I liked a product, it was about how old they were and it became a necessity to discard them. 

I've had been hanging onto some of my makeup like its life or death! The truth is that some of these products are up to 10 years old, if not more!

In this post, I'm just tackling my eyeshadows and lipsticks. Let's see what I got rid of, but first I'm sharing a chart that has some general guidelines of eyeshadow and other makeup expiration timelines. There are many different opinions on makeup expiry dates, a quick google and you'll see, so I take this chart with a grain of salt. For example, I cannot imagine tossing eyeshadow every 6-12 months and I noticed that my Essence eyeliners have a 36 month expiry. So make sure to check your products for the little expiry icon that indicates the expiry from the date of opening the product.

Source: Google

ONTO THE DECLUTTER....

Small Palettes (one single slipped in here :)

• Annabelle Nympheas- This was so eye-brightening. I will miss it. Didn't find a dupe. I would repurchase but I don't believe it's available anymore.
• Sally Beauty eyeshadow single- An okay basic satin shadow. I purchased this one to keep in my purse. Probably would not repurchase.
• Aloette -(I think)- this is so old there is no writing on the package. It was my absolute favourite. I loved it so much that I didn't want to use it very often... so silly and such a waste! It's so old, that I have no idea when I got it (probably 2008 or earlier)! I would repurchase but don't think it's available.
• Brian Bailey Foundation duo in Medium -this is a face powder that made the nicest eyeshadow. Discontinued.
• Wet N Wild Vanity Palette -This was an infamous palette. Luckily, I have a lot of these shades in other palettes. Discontinued.

Single Eyeshadows: 

• 13 eyeshadows (Mixed variety: Mac, Stila, Quo, Nyx, Pixi, Elf)
• 2 Jordana blushes 

All of the above were pulled from my Z palette. I don't even want to think about the total value of all of these singles! I should have included the Sally Girl eyeshadow single in this category but it was not in my Z palette.

Large Eyeshadow Palettes:

• Quo Back to Basics (UD Naked Dupe)- I would absolutely repurchase this if I could!
• Pacifica Natural Minerals- I would repurchase if I was looking for some all natural eyeshadows and I didn't have such a large collection.

Front of Quo's Back to Basics LE palette

This Back to Basics eyeshadow palette by Quo was very difficult to part with of because it has all of the shades that I love for my everyday eye look. Granted, I did only use the first 6 shades in the palette (the lighter ones). This palette was supposed to be a dupe for Urban Decay's Naked 1 which is also discontinued now.

Change in texture = product turned. Best not to continue to use it.

I received the above Pacifica palette in 2016, so it's not very old but the texture has changed which is a sign that it's gone bad. I wouldn't have decluttered this palette if it wasn't for signs that it has gone bad.

I used different criteria for purging my lipsticks. Anything 3 years or older had to go. And, I know, lipsticks probably expire long before 3 years but I do sanitize my products and rotate them since I own quite a few.

All of the lip products that were decluttered here are ones that I would purchase again.

Lipstick Declutter:

• L'oreal Fairest Nude -one of my favourite nudes, next to JLo's Nude by L'oreal.
• Sonia Kashuk Nude Pink (discontinued)
• Rimmel Kate #45 - a gorgeous and hydrating nude
• Essence Cool Nude - a beautiful deeper nude, also hydrating
• Elf Matte Lip Colour in Natural - one of the very few non-drying mattes that is great for aging lips too!
• Jordana Easyliner in Tawny- a beautiful MLBB liner.

I know that these aren't part of either of the makeup categories featured in this declutter, but I came across them right after tossing the other items and decided to add them to this declutter. These Essence concealers have a 6-month expiry on the packaging and I've had them for about 3 years. I rarely used them as I prefer my LA Girl Pro Conceal HD Concealers, which have an 18-month expiry stamped on them.

Total decluttered:

• 14 eyeshadow singles
• 6 eyeshadow palettes
• 2 blushes
• 6 lip products
• 2 concealers

A grand total of 30 items decluttered!

I am now labelling all of my products so I know exactly how old they are. I just used some address labels and cut to size.

This was definitely eye-opening in terms of paying more attention to my products and their lifespan, and also in terms of the horrible amount of unnecessary waste of money and products! This is one reason that I lean towards purchasing less expensive products; since they do have a lifespan and there is no way I can use up all of my makeup because I'm constantly trying out new products.

I hope you found this post helpful or maybe it inspired you to let go of old, expired products, too.

Dollar Store Jewelry Organizing Hack #DIY (Frugal Friday on Wednesday)

Like many of you I love to get organized. I found a great way to organize much of my jewelry collection and I thought many of you might be interested. I found this tackle box at the Dollar store and it has workout out so well! I was able to store everything from earrings to necklaces and bracelets and rings, it even holds statement pieces! Some of the compartments have little dividers that you can move around to adjust the size of the compartment. It also has a lid that is attached so you can close it up and keep everything safe and dust-free inside. When organized in this tackle box everything stays tangle free, which is such a bonus! It's not too pretty to look at so I have it stored in my top dresser drawer. All I have to do is open the drawer and pop open the lid and I can see all of my choices. Well, most of them, as I do have some more jewelry that I keep in a jewelry box and some other necklaces on a tower on my dresser. I do LOVE my jewelry!

It's come in so handy. I can imaging using this tackle box for many other organization DIY's. You could organize your sewing supplies, makeup (single eye shadows would be great), as well as other craft supplies.

With the lid closed:

I have things further organized by colour and style as you can see below. 

ps. I found this in the tool section of my dollar store as it was meant for fishing tackle or storing screws and nails etc. It also came in various sizes. So go check out your dollar store! I'd love to hear if you try this out or if you have any frugal DIY's for getting organized.

Amy

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