My Top Five: Tips For Downsizing/Controlling Your Make Up Collection

Almost every beauty blogger or enthusiast will have issues keeping their make up collection under control. We can't help it if we want to try lots of pretty or new products. The path to a holy grail foundation is often long and expensive, eyeshadows and lipsticks come in a plethora of beautiful shades and we need them all, don't we?

I thought I'd share a few tips on how I keep my make up collection under control (under the watchful eye of my boyfriend who says it's all 'brown and the same') in the hope that it will be helpful to some of you. Please feel free to share yours in the comments too!

1) Spring Clean Often

One of the easiest ways to keep your stash under control is to go through your collection regularly. I do it at least once a month and sometimes more depending on how many new products I've added to it. I throw away anything which has gone off and set aside any products I know I don't like or ones which no longer work for me. I find that this helps me a lot because it reminds me about products I have which may have been neglected.

2) Keep What Suits You

This may seem really obvious but I've been guilty myself of buying a certain product because I know I have nothing like it only to try it and find that it doesn't suit me at all. I used to have a lot of colourful eyeshadow palettes and whilst it was great to have the option of wearing colour, I rarely used them. I've seen some people suggest that you should swatch similar shades together and then decide which you want to keep but that doesn't work for me all the time. I love neutral eyeshadows and peach toned blushes. I'm always going to love those shades because they suit me and I'd rather have a collection of make up that I can wear all the time than a range of colours which I'll only wear a couple of times. Be honest with yourself; if you don't suit that bright purple lipstick, it's probably time to pass it on.

3) Rotate The Make Up You Use

I've been trying this most weeks for the past few months and I like the concept. It used to take me forever to do my make up when I laid all my products out to choose from. I still do that sometimes if I've got lots of time or if I want to do a very specific look, though. I put a mix of old favourites and new products in the bag so that I have products I can depend on as well as the excitement of trying something new. I will rarely get into a rut of using the same eyeshadow palette or blush for weeks on end now, which I like. If I feel as though I'm forcing myself to use something just because it's in the make up bag, it might not be a keeper.

4) Finish Products!

For the longest time I was terrified of using up a product I loved. I don't know why because I think it feels pretty good to use something up. I feel that the product was worth what I paid for it if I used it so much that it ran out and regularly using up products makes me feel that my collection size is justified (a little). I'm rubbish at those 'project ten pan' challenges I see others trying. I always try to cheat by including a bunch of products which are almost finished anyway or three mascaras which are just about to go off. I went on a no-buy once and ended up spending a fortune once I came off it which kind of defeated the purpose, really! I wouldn't force myself to use up something I didn't like (see point one!) however it is possible to find other uses for some products. I wasn't the biggest fan of MAC Fix+ as an all over face mist but I love using it on my brushes before applying foundation, for example.

5) Write A Wish List

I like to keep a running wish list of products I'd like to try in the hope that this will help me make more sensible purchases. I stick to it quite well when it comes to higher end make up but I do sometimes struggle in the aisles of Boots when everything's on 3 for 2 and one more product won't hurt. My wish list often includes products I'm about to run out of, for example, right now I'm running low on eyeshadow primer so the NARS Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base is on my wish list. I look up swatches and reviews of the products before I add them to the list. Sometimes I'll just write down something like 'peach lipstick' to remind me that I want to track down that sort of product. If I go through and add up the value of my wish list, it's often a shocking amount of money so it reminds me that I can't have everything on the list at once. I also go through and cross products off when I've purchased them or if I've decided it's not something I 'need'.

That's it for now; if you'd like to see more posts like these, let me know and please share your tips in the comments or if you write a similar blog post, send me the link!

Stace xx