And by makeup bag, I mean bags, and bins, and random compacts and tools scattered throughout my bathroom, bedroom, and purse. I have to admit, my makeup collection is a bit absurd. I have so many different brushes, and shadows, and blushes from every brand under the sun. The other day I hit what I would call makeup rock bottom. I was looking everywhere for my favorite dark blue mineral eye shadow to go with this fabulous new dress. I got on my hands and knees, crawling around searching under my bed, in my bathroom drawers, and even on the floor of my clothes closet. Where did I find it? With the cover open, spilled over, in my desk drawer. How it got there I’ll never know? As I lamented my spilled eyeshadow and tried to save as much of it as I could, I thought...this is a sad, sad moment. (for both my eyeshadow and my lack of organizational skills)
Where do you start?
1. Gather it all in one place & organize
Dump everything on a flat surface so you can see it all at once. Then go through each piece one by one and toss out anything that is old, damaged, or you know you don’t use (and never will. Like that frosted pink lipstick). Then arrange everything in sections like lip products, eye products, foundation and blush, and brushes.
2. Check expiration dates
Generally, you don’t want to keep any of your makeup longer than two or three years. But you can usually tell if the makeup has run its course by its smell or texture. Yes, I know that favorite lipstick shade still has a tiny bit left in it, but when it starts to feel like its dried up, time to toss the tube, and cross your fingers the colour hasn’t been discontinued.
Expiration is especially important for products like eyeliners and mascara. Don’t keep mascara for more than a few months and eyeliner for more than a year. Bacteria lingering on the products can increase your chance of an eye infection. And I don’t know about you, but my eyes are some of my best features. So I’d like to keep them in tip top shape!
3. Clean
your brushes
I have to admit, this is something I can get a bit lazy about. So I took this as an excuse to do a major brush clean and to promise that I’ll keep up to date with the cleaning. All you have to do is use a small amount of shampoo on the brushes with water. Make sure to rinse out all the soap, then lay the brushes out to dry overnight. Also, take a moment to go through and throw out any brushes that have seen better days. Toss them if they’re frayed or ancient (if you’re using the same brush you used as a teenager in the 80s, it might be time to retire it).
And of course, I always need a little dose of fun and style in order to help keep me organized. I’m loving the following ideas:
This is a great craft idea, for organizing your brushes
image from pinterest
I wish I owned a makeup desk like this. Oh well, a girl can
dream. (that’s what pinterest is for after all anyways)
image from pinterest
And for a perhaps more achievable means of organization, I
love this palette. The available colours, first and foremost, are beyond adorable.
Pastels are my favorite part of spring, so of course I’m drooling over the
lavender and pink. Because I love to use eyeshadows from a variety of brands, I
find myself dragging around huge bags of makeup. So not convenient. Instead
I depotted all my eyeshadows (watch this video for steps on how to do this)
Then I created a magnetic board like this for my bathroom:
image and idea from Laura Thoughts
I stick most of my depotted eyeshadows on here (instead of keeping them in their smaller cases like the eyeshadows on the original magnetic board idea), and then put
my favorite ones in my UNII magnetic palette. Then, when I’m on the go, I can
mix and match the eyeshadows, so I always have the exact ones I need on me in
an easy to transport, compact device. Gotta tell you, this was probably my
favorite part of my makeup spring cleaning. Finally a system that actually
works for me! Looks like I won’t be crawling around looking for my eyeshadow
any time soon.
Also, I am loving these adorable cosmetic bags to put my palettes in! Nautical is a fav this summer for me!
No comments:
Post a Comment