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! 

[WinglessOne]

As I gut my lipstick hoard, I’m also downsizing other makeup items. Here’s my latest non-lipstick declutter batch. 

I’m FINALLY getting that Full Spectrum palette out of my home, so it can’t aggravate me anymore. 😄

Yes, that’s Tatcha Silk Canvas. It’s a sad sad situation: 

Spoiler

My skin reacts badly to the Too Faced Born This Way concealers, Bare Minerals Complexion Rescue, and Tatcha Silk Canvas. I spent 2 months doing product isolation patch tests to figure out what was causing my itchy rashes. These are some of the guilty parties. Silk Canvas particularly bums me out because it feels silky smooth on my skin—but within 10 minutes, I get bumps wherever I put that primer, followed by itchiness. So it’s gotta go. 😞 

The plastic bag’s full of mascaras (some are admittedly years old), in addition to the two I pulled out for display: Clinique High Impact and Too Faced Better Than Sex. My eyes are too sensitive for a lot of mascaras, and last month I finally decided to stop suffering through BTS. High Impact is a second chance mascara: I tried it years ago, wasn’t impressed by it, decided to give it another chance last month and still don’t like it. Oh, and special shoutout to Urban Decay Troublemaker (in the bag), one of the worst mascaras I’ve ever tried.

I’m going to wash all those mascara wands and donate them to Wands for Wildlife. 🙂 

Too Faced Mascara Melt Off hurts my eyes even more than some of those mascaras. I know it works for some folks, but for me it’s terrible. 

The 2 powders are Laura Mercier. I’ve never loved them but hadn’t found powders that worked any better under my eyes, so I put up with them for a long time. This year I found something much better, so I’ll empty the LM jars and reuse them to travel with other powders. 

The 3 Charlotte Tilbury Magic Away concealers simply don’t work for me. Not only are all 3 shades a bit wrong, the formula really accentuates my under eye lines. I don’t freak out about my lines (psh, I’ve earned those lines!) but hate things that really chisel ‘em into my skin. That’s what this concealer does. 

The other concealers are just bad shades on me and I never returned them for some dumb reason. (I use other NARS concealers that are the right shades for me.) Plus, the ColourPop No Filter concealer is too drying under my eyes. 

The eyeshadow palettes are a combo of “I have better performing shadows than these,” “I’m bored/unimpressed by this palette,” and “I HATE THIS PALETTE WITH THE POWER OF 1000 SUNS” (glaring at Full Spectrum) so it’s finally time to ditch ‘em all. 

I can’t show my entire lipstick declutter because I’ve shipped 2 large chunks of it to relatives and friends, who are now picking out what they want. But here’s a box of mostly liquids. There are 73 lipsticks in there. The plastic bag holds any MAC lipsticks I’m ditching: I always save my MAC empties/declutter for their recycle program, so I can get free makeup. 🙂 

[eshoe]

I’m especially sorry the CT didn’t work out, as I remember that was kind of a whim purchase and sounded like so much fun! The Tatcha...I have loved and struggled and it took me awhile...but it’s my HG now. But I have had to adjust everything in my routine around it😆 

[WinglessOne]

@eshoe If I frequently wore foundation, I’d probably try to make Silk Canvas work because it’s such a nice primer. But honestly, I wear foundation maybe once every 2 or 3 months, so I can’t justify keeping this primer. Even though I like it so much. I’m glad you were able to make it work for you, even if it took a lot of adjustment elsewhere. 🙂

[eshoe]

@WinglessOne even if you used this twice a day, it would probably last over a year. If you’re using it once or twice over 2-3 months...this could be an heirloom. You are a 😎 at lips, you don’t even need this.

[christyrc]

@WinglessOne I had to google “Wands for Wildlife” and very glad I did! Thanks for the tip!

[WinglessOne]

You’re welcome, @christyrc! It’s a great cause. 🙂 And it makes me happy that a product I didn’t like will actually do some good after all! 

[RGbrown]

@WinglessOneUnidentified

What's the story on the Juvia's palette? That's one brand I haven't tried yet, and keep thinking I should grab something to try (but at the same time, I'm trying to not buy more palettes 😅)

And I have to ask about Full Spectrum. Why the hatred? It was on clearance when I first started getting into makeup...it was too bold for me (I thought) at the time, but by the time I decided I might like it after all, it was gone, and I didn't feel the need to hunt it down. It's one of those, hmmmm, not quite a full blown regret, but one I kinda sorta wish I had every now and again.

[WinglessOne]

@RGbrown @PinkEvergreen Here’s the Full Spectrum tale of woe. 

Obligatory disclaimer:  

Spoiler

I’m aware that UD Full Spectrum works perfectly fine for some people, and that’s fantastic for them! However, I’m not one of those people. Certain products work great for me—yay for me!—but perform terribly for others. That doesn’t mean others are wrong for hating a product I like, and vice versa. 

Full Spectrum - my main problems: 

  - Colors aren’t nearly as bold as they look in their pans; some are pitifully faint 

  - Shadows are too chalky and/or dusty 

  - Some shadows “blend” into a muddy mess 

  - Others dust right off my face as I try to lightly blend them 

Spoiler

I bought this palette maybe a year ago. I’ve tried using it more than once. When my normal application method didn’t go well, I tried using a light hand, heavy hand, wet brushes, dry brushes, fingers, synthetic vs. natural brushes, no primer, various different primers, concealer as primer (lighter than my dark skin tone)... but nope, this palette and I were simply not meant to be. Trying to make it work was ridiculously frustrating. I’ve hated this palette ever since. It hurt my feelings, man. 

The Huda Obsessions Electric palette performs better than Full Spectrum. UD’s Electric palette also performs better—and that’s kind of a shame, because some of the prettiest Electric shades can’t be used on the eye. (They’re identified on UD’s warning label.) 

For giggles, here are some comparison swatches I did before I got Viseart Editorial Brights. These swatches were all done with a dry shader brush, and they’re all mattes except MUFE ME400, which is a metallic. You can also see how the JP Afrique yellow compares (kinda poorly) to others. 
Full Spectrum is the clear loser of the bunch.

Juvia’s Afrique palette: 

It’s not up to par with previous Juvia’s palettes. Even the shimmers are lackluster here. 

I have 3 other JP palettes. Of those, Masquerade is my hands-down favorite. But I don’t often use the mattes in any of these palettes, especially now that Viseart has spoiled me rotten in the matte category. JP mattes tend to be patchy. It’s their foils/metallics and shimmers that win people over, and with good reason—except in the Afrique palette. 

I’m sure some folks love that palette, and again, that’s fantastic for them! I’m just not one of them. 

[RGbrown]

@WinglessOneUnidentified

UD quality can vary wildly, especially in their LE palettes, so I understand not liking that one. Heavy Metals is my holy Grail formula, but the Basquiat palette I have is just pitifully patchy and a powdery mess. I use the lightest shade to set my primer if whatever palette I'm using doesn't have a suitable selection, but other than that, I don't think I'll use it again. 

Good to know about Juvia's...I don't do a lot of mattes anyways, so it's nice to hear their shimmers are (mostly) good. I'll have to consider one some day 😏

[WinglessOne]

@RGbrown Yeah, I always say UD eyeshadows are very hit or miss for me. Of all their palettes I’ve ever owned, Petite Heat is the best performer—and honestly a nice little neutral palette for travel. But I don’t really need it anymore, now that I have Viseart Dark Mattes which contains outperforming dupes plus more shades to work with. I gave up on UD palettes after Petite Heat. I won’t buy anymore of them. 

While I’m thinking about it, here are my swatches of the Juvia’s Masquerade palette. There were all done with a dry shader brush. Someday I’ll depot all the JP shadows I want to keep, so I can offload the mattes I don’t want. 

Dry Masquerade swatches, interior lighting, no primer.

[RGbrown]

@WinglessOneUnidentified

Holy mackerel, I'm practically crying over how pretty that is. 😍 I wouldn't get much use out of the browns, but the rest of the colors make up for that in spades. Just wish it had a charcoal and/or black. 

[PinkEvergreen]

@RGbrown Wait, what?? Lol, UD actually said some shades in their Electric eyeshadow palette couldn’t be used on the eyes?? 😂 Where else were you supposed to use them?

As for Full Spectrum — I was just curious. Definitely not questioning your experience 😊 I know all about certain products not working for everyone. ColourPop Super Shock shadows and Stila liquid eyeshadows practically jump off my eyelids, whereas they look so good and are loved by so many others. No matter what I do, I can’t get them to stay put. So I totally understand that everyone’s mileage will vary with every product 👍

[WinglessOne]

@PinkEvergreen I kid you not. According to UD (from their website), “Slowburn, Savage, Jilted and Urban contain a colorant that is not approved for the eye area in the US, Canada and Brazil.” Um, that’s 40% of the palette, UD! 😄 

Spoiler

Back of Electric palette.Gosh, hope you don’t like red/pink/purple eye looks.

And no worries about Full Spectrum. 🙂 I usually make that disclaimer when I rant about that palette because I know someone—not necessarily you, but perhaps others who happen upon this thread—will take my complaints as some kind of personal insult, or will want to tell me “NO YOU’RE JUST LIKE DOING IT WRONG LIKE OMG” and stuff. Some people are just a bit too brand loyal. 

[teufel]

UD had to put the "not intended for use in the immediate eye area" warning label on some of the shades in the Electric Palette because those shades contain pigments that are not approved by the FDA for use in the eye area. This does not mean that all of the pigments are bad to be used on the eyes. It just means that the FDA has not evaluated or has insufficient evidence on those pigments for use in the eye area. In the case of the Electric Palette, the warning was most noticeable in the US. The palette was released in a number of countries without a warning. However, in the US, the warning was mandated by law so UD put in on.

[WinglessOne]

@teufel Yeah, I know. 🙂 I just always chuckle about the warning because it renders 40% of the palette useless (for eye looks) to anyone who cares about government safety warnings. 

[PinkEvergreen]

@RGbrown @WinglessOne I’m curious about Full Spectrum too! I created some of my favourite looks with that palette 😊

I found that the trick to using it successfully was applying it with a patting motion only and with a priming or setting spray. I was able to create gorgeous, vibrant gradient looks that way. 

[ohheyitscindyk]

@WinglessOne I just returned the Tatcha myself, I wish it worked for me 😞

[WinglessOne]

@ohheyitscindyk It’s such a heartbreaker. 😞 I kept thinking “it can’t possibly be Silk Canvas that’s causing this. It just can’t be. I refuse to believe it!” But my skin proved me wrong. I’m almost tempted to take it to a doctor to help figure out exactly which ingredient(s) I react to, because I might not be able to use any Tatcha products at all. 

Since it’s a jarred cream product, I can’t easily sanitize it to give away or donate. Most charities/shelters probably wouldn’t accept it anyway for that reason. But I always used the little disc to scoop out tiny amounts of product, so I might be able to decootiefy some of it after all. I’d hate to see this huge jar of product go to waste. 

[divaknits]

These are just a few of the things I decluttered. The rest are headed to the women’s shelter. As I was going through this stuff I was wondering what the hell was I thinking when I bought it. Some of it was barely or not used.  

[Guessgal]

Great job with the de-clutter @divaknits! I believe I spot a mini YSL Tattouage lip stain. I’ve been tempted to buy colours from this line a few times. Was curious as to why you didn’t like it? 🙂

[divaknits]

@Guessgal, it was old. I have no idea how long I had it. Most of the things I had were bad colors on me but I bought them on impulse because of the brand name. 🙂 I’m trying to curb that since I let go of so manu

 things.