topic Re: Show Me Your Declutters! in Beauty Confidential

Show Me Your Declutters!

RGbrown — Wed, 07 Sep 2022 20:20:21 GMT

I received an order today with four new lipsticks,

(Lancome L'Absolue Lacquer...I will never ever stop mentioning these every-dang-where 😄😍)

but had absolutely no room for them in my containers. While the thought "buy more containers" crossed my mind for a brief second, I quickly dismissed it as I'm starting to feel overwhelmed with too much stuff. I'd been pulling out one or two here and there, but today was the big reckoning!Sorry I didn't stage a better pic, but that's 55 lip items that are now gloriously gone from my stash!

This is only the stuff I pulled today; I have a small train case packed full of the other lippies (and some palettes) that I've been slowly pulling over the last couple of months. Do I still have more I could get rid of? Yeah, most likely...if I was on the fence, I erred on the side of keeping it rather than tossing. And I didn't swatch every single keeper to weed out similar shades, so there's probably still a good bit of overlap in my berry-heavy collection. But my oh my, I feel soooo much better now. I found not only things I had forgotten about, but things I really had no clue I even owned in the first place 🤣

So...do you have too much too? Ready to clear up some space and salvage a little sanity? Share your declutters with us; we wanna see it!

Re: Show Me Your Declutters!

suzyo — Sat, 07 Jul 2018 02:21:03 GMT

@RGbrown Isn't it amazing how much one can accumulate? I go through everything every few months, but I was more cut throat the last time I did. Luckily I noticed that what I tossed was all GWP items. I can remember a time when I would have to toss expired things that I actually paid for and I would always get this sick feeling from it. I started making wiser purchases and now it's the freebees I'm tossing. I hardly ever select samples or GWP anymore too. I'm hoping for less waste overall 🙂

Re: Show Me Your Declutters!

txcatx — Sat, 07 Jul 2018 02:50:32 GMT

This is a brilliant idea for a thread, and I totally need to do this sometime this weekend!

Re: Show Me Your Declutters!

RGbrown — Sat, 07 Jul 2018 03:38:27 GMT

@suzyo lipsticks are ridiculously easy to overstock, and I am quite prone to hoarding tendencies. Lots of GWPs here, but also quite a few I paid for 😞 A good many of these are from my early days, when I was just getting into makeup and completely clueless as to what I liked and what I was looking for in a product. Lots of bad colors and bad formulas, for my tastes and wants, at least. Thankfully, I hope I have a better handle on what I have now and can keep the incoming stuff to a minimum. I know I *need* nothing at this point, but I'll allow myself a few small things here and there as long as they aren't just more dupes of stuff I already have. But I will always be a sucker for a good gwp 😝

I'm happy with what I accomplished today...this was an awesome start...but I could definitely see an urge for me to go through what's left again in a few months, and really pare down. 😲

Re: Show Me Your Declutters!

RGbrown — Sat, 07 Jul 2018 03:50:25 GMT

@txcatx can't wait for you to join in! It's an amazing feeling to trim some of the fat and narrow down the collection a bit. I do think I'm due one more good lippie purge, but I feel better already 😋

RE: Show Me Your Declutters!

eshoe — Mon, 09 Jul 2018 04:04:50 GMT

@RGbrown, it’s nothing near your declutter, but i figure if I can reduce by at least one x day, that would be around 30 a month! Anyway here is my first go-round. The Tata Harper, I don’t know what I was thinking as I have dry skin! I love her products, this just wasn’t meant for my skin. The Kiehl’s Glow Formula...not sure what this was supposed to do, but I thought it was a mask when I ordered it as a GWP😆 I don’t recall where the Vasant moisturizer was from, a Beauty Box but it’s not rich enough for my skin. Last, the Jane Iredale was SO cute but it had a weird bumpy surface then broke the 2nd time I used it. I tried to fix it as it’s the perfect size for a clutch but gave up.

Re: Show Me Your Declutters!

Shosh85 — Mon, 09 Jul 2018 04:12:40 GMT

This is a wonderful idea for a thread! 🙌 I’ve been meaning to go through all my makeup and skincare – this will be the perfect motivation to do so! Stay tuned, I’ll be back! 👌😊😉

P.S. That’s an impressive pile, I’m sure that’s got to feel good! Great job, @RGbrown!!

Re: Show Me Your Declutters!

curlychiquita — Mon, 09 Jul 2018 13:29:34 GMT

This is a great declutter @RGbrown! I've been trying to force myself to use up the things I have, but some of the items just don't seem worth it. For instance, if a shampoo is drying my hair out and making it tangle when I take such good care of it and deep condition like crazy, it is worth throwing out - which is why I recently threw out my DevaCurl products (well, I gave my husband some of the gel before I threw it out). I'll definitely be posting here as I simplify my life.

Re: Show Me Your Declutters!

JenniferOhJenny — Mon, 09 Jul 2018 15:01:38 GMT

@RGbrown What a great idea for a thread! Weird question - are you throwing away the items you decluttered? I only ask because every time I contemplate going through my stuff I feel terribly guilty when I think about throwing things away. I hate the thought of wasting money, but having too much makeup/skincare to use up makes me anxious.

*I was proud of myself this morning, though. I had a little sampler set of Etude House products that I only bought because I thought they were going to smell like honey. I tried them this morning and they actually smell very flowery and headache-inducing. So I threw them away :). They were really small samples and not very expensive, but still, progress.

Re: Show Me Your Declutters!

RGbrown — Mon, 09 Jul 2018 20:02:27 GMT

@JenniferOhJenny

Congrats on decluttering! Every little bit helps, no matter how small 👏👏

I admit I don't have much of a plan for this stuff yet. The thought of actually putting in the garbage can gives me knots in my stomach, so for now they're sitting in a box under my cabinet. I feel no urge to go through it and pull stuff back out...I'm happy it's "gone" and won't be missing it one bit...but I also hate to just throw it out lol. I actually get this weird feeling of accomplishment when I see the box, "see, look, I *can* pare down" 😅 So it's all in a bit of purgatory right now...I don't want it, but I haven't figured out its final fate yet either 🤔

Re: Show Me Your Declutters!

RGbrown — Mon, 09 Jul 2018 20:09:16 GMT

@curlychiquita

I hear you! I always have a hard time finding the balance between "not my favorite but it's fine, I can use it up" and "omg this is the worst thing ever". I recently tossed a couple of shampoos and conditioners myself that just weren't cutting it. I hated wasting the product, but...if it's ruining my hair and leaving me frizzy, I really should just let it go.

Re: Show Me Your Declutters!

RGbrown — Mon, 09 Jul 2018 20:14:11 GMT

@Shosh85 can't wait for you to join in! Paring down feels so good. I'll never have a tiny "capsule" collection, but just having a better handle on what I do have, and being able to find it easier, is such a relief 💕

Re: RE: Show Me Your Declutters!

RGbrown — Mon, 09 Jul 2018 20:17:31 GMT

@eshoe congrats on clearing up some space! Getting rid of stuff that just doesn't work feels so good! 💞

Re: Show Me Your Declutters!

SpaceLlama — Mon, 09 Jul 2018 20:48:33 GMT

I agree that bad shampoos are worth tossing, @curlychiquita & @RGbrown! I usually send mine to my sister since her hair is different and if it doesn't work out for her, she has other roommates and people she knows that she can pass it on to. We do the same for makeup & skincare, but we're sisters so we feel okay about sharing beauty products. I recently threw out a bunch of old makeup from when I was starting makeup, but it was quite old and disgusting so I felt no regret. I still have a bag of less old stuff in "purgatory" as you said that I need to decide what to do with. 😬

Re: Show Me Your Declutters!

RGbrown — Mon, 09 Jul 2018 21:13:05 GMT

@SpaceLlama

Oh, that's awesome that you have a hand-me-down network! That's an awesome way to make sure some unloved items can get some use 🙂

Ah, decluttering the super-old stuff reminds me of one regret. I had some makeup that was 12-13 years old when I first started getting back into it on my current level a couple of years ago. I went through and tossed pretty much all of it with no regrets, except one piece (there's always one, isn't there!). At the time I tossed that stuff, I didn't wear blush and wasn't really interested in it at all, so I threw out all that I had. But of course, a few months later I started dabbling with it some and I was heartbroken to realize my Revlon A Rose Is A Rouge blush was gone. I always remembered it being the perfect shade for me, and haven't found anything exactly like it yet (or, well, exactly like I remember it, at least lol). I found it on eBay for $20+, but it's just not quite worth that to me, especially now that I have entirely too many other blushes in my collection. As old as it was, it may not have even been any good anymore, but I certainly wish I had bothered to save it so I could at least know for sure lol.

I think this helps explain my desire to keep stuff in purgatory for a while too 😛

Re: Show Me Your Declutters!

SpaceLlama — Mon, 09 Jul 2018 21:25:51 GMT

Oh no, @RGbrown! That really sucks! Luckily the stuff I started out with was really cheap makeup from Ardene, Claire's and (believe it or not) La Senza that was definitely unusable by now. I do have that fear for other products though 😬 I hope you can one day find a good dupe for it!

Hi RGbrown congrats on your decluttering. I also hate to...

laurakristie — Tue, 10 Jul 2018 05:43:11 GMT

Hi RGbrown congrats on your decluttering. I also hate to throw away things and think about money wasted... I remember someone mentioning project beauty share and they take some gently used cosmetics- I've got a box in the works to send them... anyone have any other suggestions for what to do with the products not being used?

Re: Show Me Your Declutters!

JenniferOhJenny — Tue, 10 Jul 2018 13:23:24 GMT

@RGbrown I'm glad I'm not the only one who doesn't like to throw things away! My problem is (almost) everything I have, I really like. Especially with my lippies - I like them but I just don't wear them enough. (Right now I have a Juicy Shaker on my desk to remind myself to reapply every time I get up to go to the bathroom.) I think life was a little easier when my only lipgloss was the Jennifer shade from Buxom!

Re: Show Me Your Declutters!

mganeshaly — Tue, 10 Jul 2018 14:15:50 GMT

So glad I found this thread as I'm sort of going through this right now! I have way more lip products than I would ever use but it's so hard to just get rid of them! What I've been doing in the past couple of weeks is committing to using a different lip product each day or every other day. At the end of the day, if I don't feel like I love it or something just doesn't work as I wish (too drying, not long lasting enough, wears off weird, etc.), I decide whether to keep it, toss it or give it another chance. I could never bring myself to throw away a lot of makeup at once (like a big declutter). I've tried and I still haven't gotten rid of more than half of it thinking I'll send them to Project Beauty as someone else mentioned, local women shelters or friends. Everything is still in a box. So by just focussing on one lip product at a time I'm sort of tricking myself ("it's only this one lipstick that I don't even like") to let go little by little.

Re: Show Me Your Declutters!

RGbrown — Tue, 10 Jul 2018 16:26:58 GMT

@mganeshaly

I totally agree it can be quite difficult to let go! I'd been slowly building up to this purge...I was pulling one palette here, one lippie there for a couple of months, then apparently reached my tipping point the other day. Now that I have the bulk of my least favorites gone, I need to do like you are...go through what's left one by one with a more critical approach to formula, staying power, comfort, and just overall satisfaction. I don't necessarily want a small collection, but I want to love everything I have.

I looked up Project Beauty last night, and while they do take some used cosmetics, unfortunately they don't take used lipsticks 😞