Show Me Your Declutters!

[RGbrown]

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! 

[eshoe]

@Aaliaa, yeah, I did a major declutter after reading this thread months ago. No pics, then decided to be more active and I wish I had the pictures to prove it 😄oh well, it helped me reorganize!

[fieldsofclover]

@Aaliaa Nice! Your purge is pretty much complete, then... what a great feeling 🚮

[RGbrown]

Congrats @Aaliaa! 😀

Haha, I'm making myself use up a Buxom sample right now. I don't care about it much one way or the other, so I just slap it on around the house when I think about it. I kept a few no/low color glosses to finish off that way just so I wouldn't feel as bad about tossing them lol.

[Aaliaa]

Thats a good idea @RGbrown! I don't wear makeup everyday and this colour is SOOO light on me I look a little sickly. 

[PinkEvergreen]

@RGbrown Now I wish I had taken photos of my recent five-part declutter for the ages! 😁

Part 1 was decluttering skin care products and samples. I gave about 75 items to a friend. I’ve spent the last two years discovering what will keep my skin healthy, clear of acne, and help my rosacea stay in long-term remission. Along the way, I’ve tried and liked many products. However, now I’ve found products I absolutely love and am decluttering the likes. 

Part 2 was decluttering more skin care samples. I found a container full that I had forgotten about. I gave another 20 to another friend. Same situation as above. 

Part 3 was decluttering highlighter palettes and singles, eyeshadow palettes and singles, mascara samples, unused lip glosses, lipsticks, and liquid lipsticks, eyebrow gels, primers, setting sprays, makeup brushes of all sizes, cleansers, and setting powders. I gave this group of about 120 products to a young, aspriring MUA who has made such great use of previous declutter hauls I’ve sent her way. She’s super-talented and I love seeing her creations. The Part 3 declutter reflected the fact that I’ve found some solid go-to products over the last two years and it’s time to admit to myself that I won’t be going back to a number of products that I used in the beginning. Parting with classics from ABH, UD, CoverFX, Too Faced, MAC, Tarte, LM, etc. was such sweet sorrow 💔 😅

Part 4 was decluttering fragrance samples and minis. I decided to part with about 50 of those because I have about 10 favourites now that I reach for consistently. This declutter went to a family member, along with another 20 skin care samples. 

Part 5 was decluttering yet more highlighter palettes, mascara samples, eyeshadow singles, unused lip glosses, lipsticks, and liquid lipsticks, makeup brushes, cleansers, as well as foundation samples, concealer, bronzer palettes, and a ton of nail polish. This declutter went to a family friend’s teen who is just starting to try out makeup. I like the idea of her getting to start her own makeup journey with high-quality makeup for free. Who wouldn’t want to skip the wallet-draining experimentation stage?? 😊

I have found that decluttering with a purpose in mind causes me to be far more aggressive with my declutters. Knowing who will be using the makeup motivates me to put together a nice, customized package that will suit their skin tone, needs, and tastes. I ask for special requests, too, and always mention that they are free to give away/pass on any products that don’t work for them. I just prefer that it gets used by someone, instead of sitting in a landfill somewhere. 

Now I’m down to reasonable amounts of products in every category and I have set up a rotation system so I use different products every week to keep things fun and to make sure everything will be used up before it expires. I feel much happier about how my makeup shelves look and function now! 💅🏻💄😊

[RGbrown]

@PinkEvergreen

Wow, that's amazing! Like @fieldsofclover, I wish I had a network of folks like you do...I don't really have a lot of people to foist tons of stuff on right now, so I hate just throwing it out. 

Congratulations on the massive overhaul! 👏👏👏

[fieldsofclover]

@PinkEvergreen That's fantastic! I know part of what's holding me back from a much deeper cut is that a lot of it would involve sending perfectly good products to the landfill. I don't have people in my life right now who I could share hand-me-downs with.

What I need is a friend with a teenager! Haha

[PinkEvergreen]

@fieldsofclover @RGbrown Teenagers are definitely where it’s at lol 😂 They aren’t picky like adults, love to experiment, and have already seen most of what you give them used on YouTube and have ideas on how to use it. 

As for having a network... it did take me some time to create my “makeup recycling network.” I honestly don’t know anyone as devoted (okay, obsessed) with makeup as I am, and most of my friends don’t even wear makeup. So I spoke to colleagues, friends, family, and neighbours, and even cross-country, to find people who would be interested in it. I don’t mind mailing declutter boxes if it means makeup finds a good home. 

So, yah, that part was a bit of a chore, because I didn’t want to give good makeup to people who would just toss it. Doing the declutters was actually much more fun than establishing who would make use of the products — go figure 😊

[ohheyitscindyk]

@PinkEvergreen Same here, I got one friend into makeup, but that's it. Once, I set some stuff to someone (not on BIC) & they later revealed to me that they tossed most of it, without even trying it!

[sprocketta]

@RGbrown Great idea for a thread!  I don't have pictures, but I went through in December and took out everything I hadn't used in the preceding month, at a recommendation from a book (Lazy Perfection by Jenny Patinkin).  After the purge, I stopped reading the book, lol.  So I didn't finish it.  But the purge was worth it!

I didn't have much makeup to start and most of it was trash, just really old and expired or stuff I wasn't that into.  And I was ruthless.  It hurt to throw some of that stuff away, but I'm thrilled I did.  I don't regret it at all.  Of course, I'm now accumulating more.  Just better stuff and things I actually use (for the most part).  If only I could stop!  I just counted the other day and I have 18 lippies in my purse, but to be fair that's almost everything I own in that category.  I look forward to seeing more declutter from other people.

[eshoe]

@sprocketta, 2 thoughts- 1) realizing you don’t need to finish a book is an accomplishment all of its own. That deserves a 🙌🏼 and 2) 18 lippies in one purse? I think I had 10 at 1 point, and realized I had a problem bc there was no way in decluttering that mess. I needed them all. Then this month, thanks to this thread I tossed the majority of them. No pics, but I guess personal satisfaction is better than none.

[sprocketta]

@eshoeUnidentified the 18 is most of my lip collection. I hate putting lipstick/lip gloss on at home because it's just going to end up on my coffee cup at work (I'm not a fan of mattes). So I carry it with me so I have choices. It is kinda risky because if I lost the purse I would be super upset about losing those. One day I was on a hot bus with the sun beating down on my purse and I was terrified they would melt. Thankfully they didn't.

Glad you got your purse under control. Decluttering is tough. It's hard to let go!

[mganeshaly]

@sprocketta lol! That used to happen to me too! I kept forgetting to put the lipsticks away day to day, just kept them in the purse adding whichever I wore the next day. Then I ended up with a bunch of lipsticks in my purse at the end of the week!😂

[RGbrown]

@sprocketta

Congrats on the lazy purge 😄

It's a vicious cycle though, isn't it? Getting rid of it all just to start right back over. I'm hoping to break that cycle and keep new buys at a minimum...all this trash is so overwhelming and wasteful. ☹️

[sprocketta]

Yes @RGbrown my goal is to use what I have without going crazy and buying tons more. Hard to say no sometimes though.

[ohheyitscindyk]

@RGbrown What a great idea! I just did this the other day, I'll have to go through what I pulled & take some pictures 🙂

[RGbrown]

@ohheyitscindyk oh yay, can't wait to see more declutters! 😀

[Anastasiya13]

This is such a great thread, I declutter, but then I have a problem throwing some of the items away. I have too many darn lipsticks, but I just dont have the heart to throw them away. I just store them in a different area, and try to get around to using them

[RGbrown]

@Anastasiya13 yep, just tossing them is hard to do. I'll probably have this box sitting around for eternity 😄

[fieldsofclover]

This is from back in March... I took the photo but didn't really know where to post it 😂 The first two were were well-loved but the Chanel is old and had turned and the Dior met an unfortunate death (open tube rolled off the dresser onto the carpet).

The rest are regular declutters... not oily anymore so half the Becca sat until way past it expired, and some colors that were no good for me.

[PinkEvergreen]

@fieldsofclover Why did you declutter the Bite High Pigment pencil on the far right?

The reason I ask is because I bought several on sale and they don’t smell very nice... sort of like old mineral oil. I’m wondering if they’ve expired or that’s their normal odour. I don’t really enjoy applying them because of that, and because they have a slightly gritty texture.