2017 Use your hoard challenge!!!

[luvgloss13]

Ok BT  members. I know you all have a lot of goodies in your hoard, er collection!

Let's talk about a way to use our goodies! 

It can be makeup, clothes, new luxury items, anything!

Fine China  that we could have a nice cup a tea and a snack on , a new bag with tags on it, waiting for a special occasion, an LE palette we are scared to swatch.

But we could start by posting what we want to use, a pic of it , if it did work for us and what we will do with it! 

I need inspiration, because I admit I hoard and collect . 

For example.

1. I have LE powder highlighter , I am hoarding this like it will pay my mortgage, lol.

2. I will post a pic of item to commit to trying it .

3. I will use my item and report  back, if it was good it stays and gets into the rotation , if it unperformed I can purge it or find a better place for it.

[alexasteph]

Here is my tea stash...

I also have a box of Tazo English Breakfast at work and a box of Tazo Refresh Mint at my parent's house so I'll never be without. To use up my stash, I'm trying to drink at least 2 cups a day. I go through the Refresh Mint the fastest, it's my favorite. It's the other teas I need to remind myself to drink. It's not that I don't like them, I just don't think to drink a second cup after I've finished the first, and my first is usually Refresh Mint.

Today after work I did have a cup of Refresh Mint, and am currently drinking a Mango Passionfruit from the Stash Herbal Sampler. I actually got that one and the Perfect Peach in this last Secret Santa round, and I've been enjoying them. The peach is really nice. I don't like to sweeten my teas or add milk/cream (to my coffee either, either), and the peach is just sweet enough.

My "special" ones are the Whittard canisters I brought back with me from London this past summer. I got two Piccadilly Blends, it's a black tea with rose and strawberry and some other florals. I don't want to go through those very quickly because I can't replenish it as easily. 

Since I just discovered David's Tea (thanks to BT), I am going to reward myself with a David's Tea order after I finish up what I have (save for Refresh Mint, English Breakfast, and the Piccadilly Blends). I'm really excited to try some of the blends.

EDIT: On my third cup... It's very cold in my apartment and my last heating bill was high 😕 I'm having the Wyoming Wild Huckleberry. 

[Ispend2much6]

@alexasteph  I've never heard of Whittard.  I love the canister!  It reminds me a little bit of Mariage Freres tea.

[alexasteph]

They are all over London, and other parts of England and Scotland. I haven't figured out a way to permanently move there, so I have to use the tea when I go on my mental vacations and/or pretend I'm actually British (I totally was in a past life).

[underwhelmed11]

Finally did a clear out of my skincare samples and corralled all of my masks together - definitely don't need to buy anymore, probably could go a year wouldn't purchasing any more! I'm going to save the foils for travelling and work on using a mask twice a week. I also have a full drawer of sheet masks, upwards of 70, so I don't need any more masks at all!!!!

[snoflakefaerie]

OK, I just finished organizing my beauty stuff. It kind of got out of control since Thanksgiving with all the travel I was doing. I thought I wasn't hoarding that much. I was just being delusional.

Here are the boxes I'm hoping to attack this year: 

As you can maybe see, some of them are too full to close. I felt like it was under control until this last reorganizing. All the bags in the basket are makeup, with the boxes being skin and haircare for the most part.

In the meantime, here are the things I'd like to get through this month. I think having them out in front of me will really be helpful to force me to use things. 

Spoiler

 

It's A 10 miracle leave in

Davies OI all in one milk

Klorane makeup remover 

Dermalogica multi active toner 

Caudalie polyphenol SPF 20 protect fluid*

Caudalue polyphenol eye cream*

Bobbi Brown makeup remover 

DE C Firma day serum 

PTR instant firmx eye*

Dr Jart water drop moisturizer (Sephora made sample) 

Origins ginzing eye cream 

Caudalie vinoperfect cell renewal night cream *

IPKN NY pore apple sun cream SPF 40*

Clinique pep start eye cream*

Nourish Organic argan face serum* 

Belief aqua bomb*

Glamglow youth cleanse exfoliating cleanser 

Murad Aha/BHA exfoliating cleanser 

Mario Badescu seaweed cleansing soap 

Michael Todd charcoal detoxifying mask*

Boscia black mask 

Epice hydrating mask 

Dr Hart ceramidin cream*

Products marked with * are reallly close to being finished.

I also have 9 sheet masks I've just been accumulating, so if I can use one a week, I'll be happy.

[underwhelmed11]

@snoflakefaerie yes, i find when products are out of sight they are definitely out of mind and I don't get around to using them. Is that pink tray/box from the Smashbox set this year? it's sooooo cute! I'll have to look or something like that. 

[snoflakefaerie]

@underwhelmed11 yes the tray is from the Smashbox set! I'm a sucker for mini lipsticks. But the box is proving useful for this. This way I can have a bunch of minis and samples out without completely cluttering up the sink. And I love the color, so it makes me happy when I see the pop of color on the counter and it makes me want to use the stuff. Probably silly to do, but hey, whatever works!

[alexasteph]

First (poorly documented) hoard... Nail polishes. I got really in to nail art last summer as an attempt to use more of my collection, which just turned in to having to purchase more things because I didn't have the right color or the right tool or the right whatever. I didn't have painted nails for a few months, so I decided to paint them last night and will try to keep up with it weekly like I used to (minus all the nail art, I think that trend has officially passed).

[snoflakefaerie]

Please don't say nail art is over..... I still love it.

[alexasteph]

Haha! Maybe I just haven't noticed it as much because I decluttered my Instagram feed and deleted a bunch of beauty accounts to help me avoid temptation. 

[pixiedust2]

@snoflakefaerie Me too! I love nail art. Not the crazy dagger type stuff with crap glued all over it LOL. 

I follow a ton of nail pages on IG and I love looking at all of it. 

[Beadshopgirl]

Did you try nail stamping? So much fun!!!

[alexasteph]

I never got in to stamping, but water marbling was my jam. 

[Beadshopgirl]

Love water marbling!

Spoiler

[pixiedust2]

@Beadshopgirl This looks awesome! I've tried water marbling twice, with disastrous results. I've watched a million tutorials but I'm doing something wrong. 

I keep telling myself take the time and make my own nail polish strips. Then I can probably marble it that way. 

And I have a bunch of stamps, and can't master that either. I'm a dud in the nail art dept. maybe that's my goal this year! Start using up the 300 bottles of polish I have 😐

[Beadshopgirl]

Is it the actual marbling that's giving you trouble, or the application? If it's the former, then try different polishes. Newer ones spread better, and it takes some experimenting to figure out which polishes work. If it's the application, I don't dip my nails into the polish. I let it dry on the surface of the water then carefully remove it to a piece of parchment paper. Once it's completely dry, I cut it up and use them as decals. It's less messy that way.

Other things that can affect your water marble are the size of your container, water temperature, and water composition.

Edited to tag @pixiedust2

[pixiedust2]

@Beadshopgirl Wow! Thanks for the tips. I think I've been having trouble with all of it haha! 

Ive tried different cups, distilled water, let it set overnight, blah, blah, and it's always a wreck. But your idea of letting it set to dry is awesome!!! This I think I can do. How do you remove it from the cup? Do you use tweezers?

I'm definitely trying this technique. Thanks for telling me about it. Isn't parchment paper just the best? I keep finding more uses for it. 

[Beadshopgirl]

@pixiedust2 I use a large beading needle to carefully scrape the sides of the cup and loosen the dried water marble.  Then I use an orange stick to start to pry it up, and slide my fingers under it so it doesn't fold on itself. 

[alexasteph]

Super cute! Those colors are so cute together! 

[Beadshopgirl]

Thanks! I keep reaching for China Glaze Strawberry Fields. The blue is Blue Ming from Color Club. I have a teensy polish addiction too! 😉