5 Questions I Ask myself When De-cluttering Makeup

This week I had a huge de-clutter of my makeup and removed a huge bag of products from my collection. When I first got into beauty blogging and youtube I thought the aim of the game was to have the biggest makeup collection. I used to watch youtubers collections and be so envious of the size of theirs and the different products they had to hand. That made me end up buying makeup every time I went out and picking up bargain products I found in random shops so that I had products to bulk up my collection.

I know now that that is stupid since I hardly used the majority of the products because I had my favourites, thankfully people started focusing on steamline makeup collections and the 'makeup declutter videos' were born. As silly as it sounds, now that big youtubers are reducing the size of their makeup collections I now don't feel deflated with my small collection and enjoy reducing my own to the essentials.

So here are 5 questions that I ask myself when I am de-cluttering my makeup! 

1. Is it used up?
Sounds simple but I find so many products which are basically empty but are still in my collection. Whether its a reminder to repurchase the product or you just forgot to throw it away get rid of it. Luckily with my blog I can talk about the products that I love so in the future I can look back and know the formula and shade I want to repurchase.

2. Have I used it in the last 3 months?
Like I said when I was trying to expand my makeup collection I had quite a few products in my collection that never got used so I had wasted my money and time in purchasing them. Now I like to go through my collection and see if I have actually used the products. If I haven't used the products in the last 3 months then I will either give them away or put them in my everyday makeup bag to use them and see if I like them. The worst thing is throwing away a product to later find out you would have loved it if you had tried it. If when I next sort through my makeup I still haven't used that product it then goes in the give away pile.

3. What is the expiry date?
I am someone who will hold onto a product because I love it even if it is a little bit old... I know it is disgusting but you ignore the fact that the product is gloppy and just spend an extra 10 minutes blending it in... I have stopped doing that you will be pleased to know and I follow a strict process now where every 6 months I go through the items which I know would have expired during that time. I do use the little icon on the back of products to identify if I need to get rid of them but lets be honest, who remember exactly when they bought that lipstick? I also use this cheat sheet to remind myself of the time frames for makeup.

Photo Credit - show some love!

4. Do I like it?
Sounds very strange when you have spent money on this product to ask if you like it but so many times you are keeping products you don't actually like because of sentimental value or because you spent a lot of money on it. I am quite careful with high end products because I will always research them before giving over any money, the idea of spending so much money on a product I won't like scares me. So I always ask myself if I like this product when I am going through my makeup because a lot of the time the products that always make it through your sort outs are sentimental but not your shade or formula at all. You might be thinking I couldn't do that my nans best friends son's girlfriend got me that eye shadow palette but when you have minimal room for your storage and the palette hasn't been used once, isn't it better to give it to someone who will use it?

5. Do I have anything similar
Lastly the question we are all guilty of, have the same product in 5 different variations. I am not that adventurous with my makeup because I like the natural look most days so this can mean I end up with 5 eye palettes all with the same shades in which is obviously silly and wasteful. I don't need two matte nude palettes or two shimmer pink palettes sadly so I like to pick my favourite one and pass on the other to a friend. It is the same with lipsticks so many shades right now are basically the same with different packaging so who needs two browny nudes with look exactly the same.

I hate the idea of waste so any products that aren't out of date or a bit grim go to my sister or friends who love rummaging through and finding treats. I find that I might not like a product but my sister who is different in her style of makeup and shades might love the product so at least it goes to a loving home.

I hope this post helps you de-clutter and spring clean your makeup collection.