Five Easy Steps to Minimize Your Makeup Collection

Don’t be worried, this isn’t as scary as you might think!

• Remove everything –  that you consider to be part of your collection. Skincare, makeup, body lotions, all of it. Leave nothing in the cabinets. It’s easier to see the scope of the project when you aren’t tucking things away.

• Start Three Piles – one to toss outright, one to keep, and one for later. Just throw away anything that has changed scent or texture, it’s probably past the expiration date. Also, throw out anything that you have not used in a year. Obviously set aside those items that you use on a daily basis. The third pile is for things that you are not ready to part with, but that don’t belong in the daily pile. Set this third bin aside and date it. If you have not opened that bin in a set amount of time (six months is usually good), then go back through it and whittle it down again.

• Decide What To Keep or Toss – Do not base your decisions to keep or toss on the cost of the individual item. That money is already spent so keeping the crimson lipstick because ‘you might wear it someday’ does not put that money back in your wallet.

• Make A List Of what You Keep – When you see the hard numbers of just how many lipsticks you already own, that can hold you accountable for not buying yet another identical nude rose shade. It can also help you see if indeed there are gaps in what you would like to have.

• Only Keep The Essentials – Keep that collection down to what you truly need. This is possibly the most important step – to not give in to the impulse of wanting to recreate the stash you just downsized.