POPSUGAR

The 10 Commandments of Purging Your Beauty Stash

Nov 9 2016 - 7:00pm

Beauty products can amass in your home for a billion different reasons — gift with purchase, sample boxes, party favors, mailings — you get the idea, it's hitting you from all angles. And that's hardly something to complain about; I mean, who doesn't love a new lipstick or dry shampoo? But it's easy to forget you even have those things when the flood of products continues to accumulate and build up to a mountain of clutter right under your nose. That's where the purge comes into play. It's never easy parting with what could maybe one day be something you possibly think about trying (see what we did there?), so we enlisted the help of organizational geniuses Julie Morgenstern [1] and Barbara Reich [2] to get their best tips for getting the job done. Here are the 10 commandments to live by when purging your beauty stash.

Take inventory.

Start by emptying all drawers and cabinets where you keep your makeup and beauty products and sort products into groups. Put all lip glosses together, all eye shadow together, moisturizers, serums, body wash, you get the idea. It will help you to see what you're working with (and will likely be a LOT more than you even think).

Decide what you want to keep and what you should get rid of.

Setting up two bags is the easiest way to go about this: one garbage and another giveaways. Keep them close by, so you can add products directly into each when necessary. This also eliminates the urge to pick through small piles of giveaway or garbage products for a second or third time (where you'll likely be tempted to reconsider keeping unnecessary products) before they get into a bag.

Cardinal rule: Only unwanted makeup that hasn't been opened or expired can be given away. Otherwise, it belongs in the garbage, Reich advises.

Toss the no-brainers.

Like products that are expired. Makeup that's old can harbor dangerous bacteria, so discard any products that have exceeded their shelf life [3].

Expert tip: When you purchase a new beauty product, put a sticker on it with a "dispose of" date so you know the correct time frame, Reich notes.

Makeup shelf-life cheat sheet:

Product When to toss
Powders (including blushes, bronzers, and shadows) Two years
Cream shadows and blushes 12-18 months
Oil-free foundation One year
Cream compact foundation 18 months
Concealers 12-18 months
Lipstick and lip liner One year
Lip gloss 18-24 months
Pencil eyeliner Two years
Liquid or gel eyeliner Three months
Mascara Three months

Take the thinking out of it.

Most of us only use about 20 percent of the products that we own. In order to make that 20 percent visually obvious, Morgenstern recommends the dot technique. Give yourself a month where every time you use a beauty product, you put a little dot on it. After a month, everything that doesn't have a dot gets purged. It's that easy.

Be honest with yourself.

If you don't use a product or you haven't used it in the last year, toss it. Purge anything you wouldn't purchase again if you could do it over. Getting rid of excess clutter will make you feel good about yourself. "You're just using what you love and using it up," Morgenstern adds. If you only use part of a palette, consider depotting the shades you love into a magnetic palette like Z palette [4]. Don't save 90 percent of the palette that you aren't using.

Separate special-occasion makeup.

Find a place to store the products that you don't use every day but you do crack into for special occasions. You don't need these products to clutter the area with your everyday cosmetics, Reich explains.

Eliminate duplicates.

The same goes for dupes. Find a safe place for these. You don't need them in plain sight. But keep these products in an organized closet out of the way so you can easily locate them when the time comes.

Create a travel cosmetic bag.

This is a great place to store duplicates and the samples of cosmetics that you do like to use but don't have a spot for in your starting lineup. Have this travel bag packed with everything you need for a weekend away so packing is as easy as zipping it up and tossing it into your suitcase.

Use up and then replenish.

"Keeping half-used lotions and potions prevents you from feeling good about buying something new," Morgenstern notes. Finish what you started before cracking into the next product. If you're bored with a product halfway through the bottle, get rid of it and commit to something new. A shower with one shampoo is a lot more pleasant of an experience than one with four half-used bottles.

Keep it organized.

An organized bathroom drawer or medicine cabinet will make you smile every time you open it and allow you to see everything that you have. As for the everyday makeup you want to keep out, rest it on a pretty tray or in apothecary jars to make your vanity appear more decorative and less messy [5].

Pin it!


Source URL
https://www.popsugar.com/beauty/Beauty-Product-Organization-Tips-41580125