Shop Your Stash Challenge: Spring 2026 🦋

[itsfi]

Hey there BIC beauties! Spring is here! 🦋 The transition from winter to spring can serve as a time to refresh for many. Some do a deep clean and declutter of their homes; some swap out heavier cold weather fabrics for lighter ones, or heavier skincare products to lighter cleansers, toners, moisturizers, etc. Or, for some, it's about introducing, slowly, or all in one fell swoop, spring colors to their home decor and/or their  makeup and clothing options.

As we move towards longer, sunnier days and warmer weather, consider taking some time to look through your beauty collection to pick out a few items to focus on using this spring. It can be for a month, the entire spring season, or any amount of time in between. There are a host of ways to go about this challenge, including, but not limited to, some of the approaches mentioned here.   

You can start on the spring equinox (March 20, 2026), or on April 1 if the beginning of a month suits you better, or after you've shopped the upcoming spring savings event or completed the current Spring Beauty Challenge. Shopping your stash could mean using the new beauties you've picked up during either or both of those events. 

What Is "Shopping Your Stash"?

"Shopping your stash" is the practice of using / making the most of the beauty products in your existing collection. Check out the posts below for more info regarding:

• Why Shop Your Stash / Benefits of Shopping Your Stash; and
• How To Shop Your Stash. 

If you're interested in or looking to work on a year long project with the aim of using up / finishing or hitting pan on products check out the Pan It! - 2026 Challenge thread. For those wondering, what's the difference between "Shop Your Stash" and the Pan It! Challenge or project pan?, that's great question, because they do have some similarities to them. Everyone has their own approach to panning projects. I've briefly noted in the spoiler below how I look at each and how I approach both challenges.

Spoiler

• I use the Pan It! Challenge to work through products over the course of the year, with the aim of trying to use up the product, hit pan or to see how much I can get through in a year. The Pan It! Challenge has been great for accountability and encouragement. For myself, I have, in the past picked a smaller number of products to focus on panning during the year and the items I select are usually made in an effort to try to get myself into a routine of using them or reaching for something and being consistent with it. The monthly check-ins on that thread help me hold myself accountable, and let's face it, they often spur me to use one or more of the items I've set aside for the pan it! challenge before it's time to check in, which usually causes me to be better about using those items at the start of the next month. 
  
  
• The Shop Your Stash challenge, on the other hand, for me, at least, have a more seasonal approach to them, whether due to the product's functionality or because it's something I want to focus on for a particular period of time (but not the entire year). For instance, while there are no hard line rules on what shades to wear during a particular season, I am more likely to wear deeper tones or do a smokey eye more often in the winter season. In that vein, in an effort to help me actually use those types of products in my collection, I may identify 1 or 2 blush shades or eyeshadows to primarily rotate through during the winter months. That's not to say that I won't use other products or buy other items but my focus is to try to get as much use out of what I already have during that time period. 

[itsfi]

@caitbird, sorry to hear about your laptop. I'm now looking at it as an opportunity for a bit of a fresh start. 😀 Not a bad thing. 

[danielledanielle]

Oh no, RIP @itsfi FiTop 😕

[itsfi]

I know 😩😭 10+ years. It had a good run @danielledanielle, far longer than I'm told most commonly last. These new ones sure are a lot lighter 😆 but my word they take forever to do anything. 🙄  At least this initial set up. It's like, what moves slower - a turtle? a snail? Fi's new laptop? 🤣

Long ago there was a content creator who's work I found insightful whose computer crashed or material was somehow lost and she decided to just stop posting altogether. I was really bummed, but between last night and right now, I'm sorta understanding where she was coming from, though what I had on my computer was far from what she must have had. Anyhow, we still have a ways to go with restoring/recovering some things, but I'll find ways to make do. 

[danielledanielle]

This is a level of stash I like to see! @caitbird 

[caitbird]

@danielledanielle  thank you! I'm definitely a maximalist at heart, haha!

[itsfi]

How To Shop Your Stash

Just as there are several reasons why someone might want to shop their stash, there are also several ways to go about it. Here are some things to consider:

1a.  (Optional) Organize Your Collection 

If you're like me, this could be daunting and might scare you away from even thinking further about shopping your stash. But here me out. Yes, organizing your collection can be helpful, but you don't have to have a perfectly organized, pristinely laid out stash to get started. In fact, you can use this shop my stash challenge to help you organize your collection and do it as you go about using the very products you already have. 

1b.  Select the product(s) from your existing beauty collection that you want to use or that you want to incorporate for this season (see #2 below for how we'll calculate the spring season). 

• This could be as few as one or two items. Or a few, like 3 or 4. Or several.
• The item(s) you select can be of one type (e.g., milky toners, body lotion/cream, hair care, red lipsticks, woodsy fragrances, etc.) or it can be a mix of skincare, makeup, hair care products or fragrance discovery kits, etc.) Feel free to check out previous Shop Your Stash Challenges for examples of what others have included - 
  Shop Your Stash Challenge: Winter 2026 ❄️

  Shop Your Stash / Use Your Stash Challenge: Fall 2025 🍂🍁 

2.  Identify how long you want to use the product(s).  

• After you've pulled the product(s) from your stash you want to use this spring, think about how long you want to work on using them. Know that including an item in the Shop Your Stash challenge doesn't mean you are limited to using just that / those item(s). 

• All spring long - You may want to rotate through the selected for the entire spring (this mean just using these items OR using them along with other products in your collection - identifying them in your Shop Your Stash just means these are the ones you are intentionally planning on using during the designated period). 

• A month at a time - You may want to pick product(s) now that you want to use for the month of January (or from now until the end of January) and use them exclusively or in conjunction with other products in your collection for that specified period. At the end of that month, you can (a) roll all, some or none of those items into the next month's usage (or another time period); (b) roll all, some or none of those items into the next month and add additional items for another month or another period; (c) decide you're done with Shopping Your Stash for the spring; (d) decide you want to try a different approach to Shop Your Stash than you did for the previous period.

• Some other interval from now until end of June 2026

• For this spring edition of Shop Your Stash, feel free to: (i) start today, tomorrow, March 20 (or April 1 or anytime during the spring season and (ii) conclude the challenge (A) on or before the summer solstice (June 21, 2026) or (B) at the end of June, 2026 or (C) some other time that suits you.

3.  (Optional): Share the product(s) you will be including in Shop Your Stash: Spring 2026 edition, as well as updates and how the challenge went for you - did you rediscover any favorites, or find new ones? Is it something you would do again? What, if anything, you would do differently? Any tips, tricks or techniques you found were helpful? You can list the items, tag them, post a photo, or any combination of those things. We love seeing and hearing about what everyone's experience with shopping their stash but completely understand that's not everyone's preference. All good.

[itsfi]

Why Shop Your Stash / Benefits of Shopping Your Stash:

There are several reasons why you might be interested in shopping your stash, including, but not limited to:

• Rediscover Favorites (or Find New Favorites) - Going through what you already own allows you to rediscover items that you may have forgotten about. Or, sometimes, you can find new favorites or new ways to use a product.

• Save Money - Using existing products can keep you from making unnecessary or duplicative purchases, which, in turn, can help save money.

• Reduce Waste - Shopping your stash promotes use / reuse of products you already have, thereby minimizing wasted products and supporting sustainability.

• Foster Creativity - Using what you already have affords you an opportunity to create new looks or routine without spending additional money. Also, you may have a go-to look/style or routine that you love, shopping your stash can allow you to do those looks/routine with different products, that you already have. Or, it can allow you the chance to create more or try different looks/routines, while saving money.

• Refines Your Collection - By going through and using what you already have in your stash, you get a more realistic idea of (i) what products are the keepers in your collection, (ii) which are ones that may not serve you as you had hoped (and that should be decluttered), and/or (iii) which beauty product(s) you might need to make your collection more well rounded or better suited to your needs.

If you're new to shopping your stash and/or would like to get some (more) tips and tricks on how to go about shopping your stash, you might be interested in checking out the post on How To Shop Your Stash.