Hey guys! Over the summer I bought a lot of makeup, so when I came back to school in September I did not have room for all my makeup products. I decided it was time to declutter my makeup (and skincare and hair care) collection. It took me a while to go through all of it, but I did it! I originally was going to write about all the products I was getting rid of, but that post would have been huge. So instead I’m just sharing some tips and tricks to help you guys declutter your own collection.
1. Sort through one category at a time
It’s really overwhelming to look at a huge collection and just pick through it. Instead I went through one category – makeup palettes, eyeliners, lipsticks, etc. – at a time and just compared things in that category.
2. Lay out all the products of that category in front of you
It is way easier to be able to decide what to keep and get rid of when everything is in front of you. For example, I laid out all my blushes in front of me and realized I had four pink blushes. I decided that I didn’t need four pink blushes and that I should get rid of some of them.
3. Swatching similar products to help decide
This is really helpful for products like lipstick or eyeliner when you don’t necessarily know what a product is like by looking at it. For example, I have so many nude lipsticks, and I knew I didn’t need as many. I swatched all my nudes, and decided I didn’t need to keep as many with cool undertones since I don’t wear that very often. Using the swatches I decided which ones I liked and which ones to get rid of.
4. Be realistic
I am a collector my nature, and I basically want everything. So decluttering is really hard for me. But I try to be realistic by asking myself how often I use a product. Sometimes I keep an eyeshadow palette because I think it’s really pretty, but I don’t use it very often. If I could create a similar look with a different palette, then I decide to get rid of that palette. I got rid of so many palettes because I found I wasn’t using them!
5. Create two piles for decluttered makeup: garbage and pass along
The first pile is pretty obvious – some makeup should just be thrown away. I threw quite a few expired eyeliners and mascara. I also threw out some lipsticks that I thought would be hard to sanitize, and also anything that was broken. The second pile is a pass along pile. I personally like all my friends go through this pile, and then whatever they don’t like I will try to sale. I mentioned this before, but there are some great online groups to buy and sell makeup. Whatever I have after that I might to donate if I can find a local place that will take used makeup. If you have any un-open I highly suggest donating that!
6. No ‘maybe’ piles
At first, when I was decluttering my makeup, I created a maybe pile. This pile was makeup I was unsure if I wanted to keep or not. The next day I decided to just get rid of all the maybe pile. I decided that if I wasn’t sure if I wanted a product, that I should get rid of it. I already have so much makeup, so why bother keeping products that I’m unsure of?
7. Clean makeup and storage before putting anything away
Once I went through all my makeup, I decided to clean up my makeup products and storage containers before I put my makeup away. Since everything is out, it’s the perfect time to clean up!
And those are my seven tips for decluttering makeup! This tips can also be used for other products like skincare or hair care! Hope this was helpful for you guys 🙂
xoxo
Lea
Leave it to Lea 