A couple of weeks ago, Paula from Naturally Paula proposed a January no buy and a bunch of us were quick to jump on board. If you aren't familiar with the concept, basically, we're committing to not buying anything beauty or cosmetic-related for the whole month of January. Saving money is always good and I've never attempted a full-on spending ban, so I figured, why not? I'm good at keeping to a budget and while I'm not in ridiculous hoarder territory yet, I do have a decent number of products, so I don't anticipate having too much stress over using what I already have. (Famous last words?)
Look for #NoBuyJanuary-themed posts every Friday this month.
Along the same lines, I took the time over the holidays to do a bit of reorganization and give the ol' makeup collection a declutter. I ended up with three distinct piles:
- Products to get rid of
- Forgotten products I need to re-try and decide what do with
- Products I want to focus on using up
Yes, those are The All Natural Face cream blushes. I was sent almost the entire range to photograph and it's just way too much cream blush for one person to ever reasonably get through, so I've weeded out colours I don't use. My mom already took a couple (I think there were 10 to start with) and I'm hoping to re-home the rest too. The Zuzu Luxe glosses are super old and just need to go. The Honeybee Gardens and Silk Naturals glosses are both quite lovely, but I never reach for them because of how they smell (like super sweet watermelon and strawberry, respectively), so there's no point hanging onto them any longer. The Figs & Rouge balm has started to smell funny and the Silk Naturals concealer sample is completely dried up, so they're both heading for the bin. Does anyone else remember the Burt's Bees lip shimmers in these silver pots? They were some of my first natural makeup purchases and favorites as, ironically, cream eye shadows, but they're ridiculously old now and pretty dried out. I'm a little sad to see them go, but it's for the best.
The two squeeze tubes are Simplicity Cosmetics lip glosses. They're pretty enough, but a little on the slick, thinner side if I recall correctly. The first pink tube is The All Natural Face Peppermint Stick Lip Gloss, which, as you can see in the photo, has completely separated. I need to see if I can remix it to make it usable again, as it's a nice pink. Also from The All Natural Face is their Magic Eye Shadow Primer. I wasn't a big fan when I first tried it, but I'm going to give it another shot this month. Lastly, Sobe Botanicals Cream Puff Lip Gloss and Just Pure Minerals Romance Lip Gloss, which both made it into this pile because of how they smell. The Just Pure Minerals is a weirdly strong peppermint and the Sobe Botanicals is some kind of vanilla/mint combo. Not sure if the scents are enough reason to give these the boot, but I'll be deciding either way by the end of the month.
In the top left, are a few homemade lip products. Next, a whole bunch of lipstick samples from Honeybee Gardens, Gabriel Color, and Zuzu Luxe. I love being able to try samples before committing to colors, but lip products in tubes are that much more convenient, so after I've tried them once, the samples tend to just sit here. The two Burt's Bees Lip Shimmers are both nearly empty, as is the Zosimos Raspberry Mini Lipstick, so it shouldn't take too much effort to finish them off completely. I was excited when Shiro Cosmetics' Default Intertube was released, without any colour, but I find the texture a little too hard for a pot. I bought two of these and I've been saying I should melt them down and switch them into tubes for months now. Last up is the remnants of a Yes to Carrots Rosy Bloom Tinted Colorbalm. I liked it so much that I scraped out every last bit...and then promptly forgot about it. Without a conscious effort, lip products in pots just don't get a lot of love around here. Hopefully you'll be seeing a bunch of these in my next empties post!
And just for fun, I took a photo of my beauty cabinet too. I have a few skincare products in the bathroom and a tray with my everyday makeup on the dresser, but this holds pretty much everything else. It's not the most glamorous setup, nor is it perfectly organized, but it's functional and I'm pretty happy with it.
Have you ever done a No Buy? #NoBuyJanuary is open to anyone, so feel free to join us! More info, plus a list of participating bloggers, can be found here.
Good focus on tossing, trying, and using up. Your cabinet is full. You'll have no issue ;)
ReplyDeleteWhat colors did you decide to give away for the ANF cream blushes? Were they not suited for fair skin? I can't imagine trying to use up that much blush in a short period of time. Blush take a good long time to use up.
Thanks! I'm getting rid of the darker reds and browny/terracotta shades. The ANF blushes are super blendable, so I think they could work on any skintone, depending how much you use, but they're just not the kind of colours I prefer on me. They're all basically new too, just swatched for the photos I did for them, so I'm hoping my family/friends will be happy to take them off my hands!
DeleteGood look Caitie and thanks for sharing your beauty cabinet :) That's always fun to see :) xx
ReplyDeleteThanks! I love seeing other people's stashes too :)
DeleteI love how organised you are. Good luck x
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteYou are very organised, good luck with the ban :) Xx
ReplyDeleteThanks! I don't feel very organized, haha :) It's still a work in progress...
DeleteLoved taking a peek at your beauty cabinet, you have a endless supply of products :P. Good luck on using up those samples. I swear samples take forever to get through xo
ReplyDeleteI told you I had a bit of a problem with hoarding lately! Some stuff is definitely running on its final legs though, so working on clearing those bits out first :)
DeleteOh lala...so many things....my beauty cabinet is not even 1/10 of yours :-))). I am quite good and buy moderatly :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!x
Good for you :) I'm usually better too, but I've definitely accumulated a good bit of stuff in the last little while. Now to get through some of it!
DeleteLove how you've sorted your goodies into three piles, and your beauty cabinet is so organised! I don't even have a cabinet haha, it's in different boxes between three rooms! Maybe I should use this challenge to organise my products ;-) Look forward to your weekly posts, good luck :-) ox
ReplyDeleteThanks! Maybe odd, but I enjoy organizing things like this...makeup, skincare, etc. Plus, I don't think I'd be able to remember/use everything if it wasn't at least moderately organized!
DeleteI like the way you've sorted the piles into 'to go', 'to use up'! A really good idea to get things sorted out. My beauty 'drawer' (no cabinet, sad times!) is full of products that really need 'to go'. Leanne x
ReplyDeleteThanks! There's so many great products out there and it's so easy to just accumulate them! It feels really good to move some of them out this month...both by using some up and passing others onto someone else who can enjoy them :)
DeleteGreat stash! Love your beauty cupboard x
ReplyDeleteThanks! It's so much easier having everything in the same place :)
DeleteHaha I wish I'd seen this in Jan! My bank accounts suffering from a January splurge, this is such a good idea! Next year.... x
ReplyDeleteThanks! It ended up being a lot easier than I expected :) You can always do it in a different month too!
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