I recently was asked to help my best friend’s mother out with a massive makeup drawer clean-out at her home. Let me go ahead and preface this blog by saying, this woman had drawers full of makeup that would have made Estee Lauder herself jealous!! You’re my kinda woman Susan! I couldn’t believe the amount of products she had in her possession! And the picture shown above displays that she had everything in Ziploc baggies- CATEGORIZED by face, cheeks, lips, you get the picture. Wow was I impressed.
I got to the bottom of why she had soooo many products and brushes/applicators that she:
A. didn’t know what to do with or
B. didn’t know how long she’d had them or
C. if they were any good anymore/expired
This is a common theme/problem for most women that love makeup and just keep buying and buying and buying. She had tons of stuff that she’d bought while in the heat of passion at the local makeup counter, where the sales people told her she needed this this and this, and she fell for the “oversell.” So those oversell products inevitably make it to the bottom of your makeup drawer because you don’t remember how to use them, they’re unnecessary for your daily makeup routine, and then you forget how long ago you bought them, but feel bad throwing away good money!
That’s where I tried to save the day, clear the chaos, and went through piece by piece dissecting what colors were good, brushes should be kept and how to use them, (and washed. they perform much better when they’re clean!) how to use her current products, and what should be tossed. We even sniff smelled a few things we weren’t sure how long ago had been bought-the ultimate way to tell if something has gone bad! (This pic below is probably after a smell test and I’m questioning if Mrs. Susan remembers exactly how long ago she actually bought this product!)
I actually didn’t have enough time to finish the job because I didn’t realize how much stuff she was actually going to have to go through, so we’ll be doing round 2 very soon! But I think this is a necessary “cleansing process” every makeup lover should do at least once a year (about when all your products are going bad anyway). Our face is only as good as our makeup drawers, right??
Here’s the start of the trash can as we purged old products (see pic below). It hurts to throw away anything Chanel or Dior, but if it doesn’t work or is past it’s 1 or 2 year expiration date, it’s not doing you any good in your drawers or on your face, so get rid of it!
*One other idea besides just throwing away that old makeup is to make a “giveaway pile.” She had some makeup that was still good- just not good for her skin tone or coloring. So she made a pile for friends of hers and was going to offer these products to them and make someone else’s day with basically new makeup!! Just make sure you clean the tops off of lipsticks and concealers with a swipe of rubbing alcohol and blushes with a swipe of a cotton ball to refresh a new layer.*
