Declutter and organize your Make up drawer

If you’re a girl like me, you love your make up. All those wonderful colours and textures, the sparkle and lovely scent; it’s heaven! But it can get a bit overwhelming sometimes and you might end up more like a make up hoarder rather than a make up collector. You have different make up bags full of old mascara and lip liners you don’t use anymore and a pile of perfume samples in some corner and a handful of almost empty foundation bottles, about which you keep telling yourself you’ll use them up at some point. Sound familiar? That was my make up situation, until I had a real chat with myself. Here is what I did:

Tip number 1:
Throw everything away that exceeded the shelf life

That primer you used last time in 2012. The nail polish that separated into two phases. The lipstick you bought for a wedding and haven’t worn ever since. What do they all have in common? They belong in the trash! Seriously, we’ve all done this and kept make up items way too long.
While there’s probably nothing wrong with keeping something only a few more months after the recommended use (after all, make up is expensive and these are hard economical times), you could seriously harm yourself, if you use something that’s out of date. Especially with products with natural ingredients like oils and without preservatives. These products can go rancid or might even grow mold and just think about the amount of bacteria that will grow over time - but is invisible to you. There could be a risk of infection or inflammation, and pink eye is never instagram worthy.
So take a close look at your products, find the little cream pot symbol with a number in it, which indicates the amount of months you can safely use the product once it;s opened and throw everything away that needs to go. I know, it can be hard, but it’s not worth risking an infection. Go through your make up every few month, to repeat this step and avoid accumulating bacteria bombs again.

Tip number 2:
Keeping it real

Okay, so you have downsized your amount of make up products. I’m proud of you, that was a good first step. Now I’m going to tell you, that you need to throw away even more! What? Is she crazy? But wait, hear me out! I want you to bring more consciousness and awareness to your make up habits, which will save you not only money, but also disappointments for the future.
While I’m guessing that you’ve been left with a good portion of make up products that you like and use frequently, there is probably a large number of products, that you rarely use, but are too hesitant to get rid of, because they were expensive or products for “special occasions” in your mind.
Take every single item in your hand and ask yourself “does this spark joy to me? Do I like the way the product works? The colour, scent texture?” If you say “yes” then keep it, but if you say “no” in one category, it is worth thinking about throwing it out.
Here is why: Let’s say, You treated yourself to an Chanel eye shadow palette once and it costed a fortune. But when you started using it, you discovered that the colours don’t actually suit you and so you stopped wearing them. Now you haven’t touched them in months, but in your mind you’re not willing to throw this palette away, because it was so expensive. You could still do it. If you’re not using it, it’s of nobodies use. You’re not getting the money back, it’s just sitting there collecting dust. But you have learned a valuable lesson. Certain colours don’t suit you and so you can avoid buying them in the future. Sometimes it’s a lesson with a bigger price tag.
So get real with yourself. Are you keeping certain items for that special occasion that never comes? Are you hoarding 25 different shades of pink lipstick, even though you are more a deep red person? Are you really going to use the product up? If you’re honest to yourself and you can admit, that you won’t, then just get rid of it.
And another thing: Look closer at what you are throwing away, there might be a pattern. If you figure it out, you can avoid buying unnecessary items in the future. Maybe you realize that you got rid of a lot of products from a certain brand. Then that brand might not be worth buying anymore, because the quality is not that good. Or you realize that you keep buying nail polish, but rarely ever use them and so they dry up. Just get aware of your habits and own up to them. You can buy better make up in the future, if you learn from your past mistakes.

Tip number 3:
Organize by category

This is another favourite of mine based on the Marie Kondo method. Keep everything that belongs to the same category together at one place. While this seems to be a no brainer for some people, for others who haven’t tried it and kind of just thrown their stuff into one bag, it’s worth trying out.
If you fancy it, you could buy some clear plastic make up organizers for your dressing table and arrange your items neatly. Or store your products in separate boxes or make up bags in your drawer. Whatever you chose, make sure that you like the end result and it’s a pleasure to look at.
The reason why organizing by category is so wonderful is, that you immediately know, where a product is and you also constantly see, how many of these products you have, therefore you can avoid overstocking. The next step is, that whenever you are done applying your make up, immediately put the product back to where it belongs. You have an instant tidy dressing table again! Seriously, it doesn’t take more effort to put the mascara back to where it belongs, compared to just mindlessly throwing it somewhere on the table. Next time you need it, you might not know where you placed it last time. Once you implemented this new habit for a while, it takes no effort to keep your make up area clean and neat.

Tip number 4:
Use your samples

Whenever you get a free sample at the make up counter or as a freebee in a magazine, instead of just collecting and forgetting about them, start using them right away. If you put them away, you easily forget about them and after a while you’ll throw them away anyways.
I’ve never heard anyone say, that their stash of samples they kept over the years saved the day, so why even have one in the first place? You’ll have more space in your drawers and maybe one of these new products turn out to be your new favourite.
Some of you might argue, that you can use samples when you go on vacation, so you don’t have to bring a full size product. If that works for you and you’re actually doing it, that’s great! If you want to start doing it, then I would recommend storing all of your samples in your travel cosmetic bag right away, so you don’t forget them, when you travel. But I prefer using samples right away to get a little exciting change from my daily skincare and make up routine.

If you want to know, how you can organize the rest of your house, so you will never return to clutter, then visit my website www.tidywithjoy.com to book a free consultation with me or send an email to tidywithjoy@gmail.com.

I wish everyone a wonderful weekend!
Love, Isabelle