Time for the Beyond 50 Beauty to revitalize the beauty stash and clean out that tired, old makeup drawer. Out with the old and in with the new!
We’ve spent lots of time and money curating that fabulous makeup collection, but we must let go of items that aren’t helping us and might even be harming us. Because letting go can be difficult, we are going to attack in stages.
Stage 1: The good, the bad, and the ugly
Stage 2: UBOs
Stage 3: Object d’Art
Stage 4: Recovery
Stage 1: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. This stage is the easiest. Put all of your makeup (and hair care products) in three piles.
The Good: Anything that you use at least once a week. EVERY WEEK! (No cheating). This is the stuff you get to keep. Replace items per the following schedule:
- 6 months: Mascara (I know it still has stuff in it, but pink-eye ain’t cute, girl!)
- 2 years: Foundation (liquid), blush, eye shadow, face powder,
- 2 years: Moisturizer (Only if you stock up when it’s on sale. If you haven’t used that $200 pot of La Mer in TWO years, it probably doesn’t work for you, so toss it….or give it to a VERY good friend, if that makes you feel better)
- 1 year: lip, eye, and brow pencils and nail polish
The Bad: Anything that smells bad or has separated or dried up should be thrown away. Anything in broken packaging or that has fallen into the toilet MUST be thrown away!
The Ugly: Anything that does not look good on you.
- If it doesn’t make you look or feel beautiful, throw it away (PERIOD!)
- Let go of that nude lipstick that is all the rage, but makes you look like a corpse.
- I know you paid $75 for that blue sparkly Dior eye shadow in the gorgeous blue compact, but it doesn’t look good on YOU. LET IT GO! If it makes you feel better, you can give it to your niece, or give it the object d’art treatment described below. Bottom line: it’s got to go.
Stage 2: UBO’s (Unidentified Beauty-Related Objects). UBOs are never-used beauty items that you receive as gifts from friends, family, or free with another makeup purchase. Consider this: If that stinky bath gel set or neon eye shadow palette is on your vanity, the gift-giver thinks you like it, and give you MORE of it. We are all guilty of holding on to things for sentimental reasons, because we love the person that gave the gift, or because the items were “free”, but if you haven’t used a product in the last 30 days, toss it.
Other UBOs include gadgets (heated eyelash curler anyone?) or beauty products that you do not know how to use. Just pay the eyelash lady $30 and toss those individual eyelashes, applicators, glues, and other beauty items that you thought you would learn to use…..someday (sigh)…into the trash bin.
Stage 3: Object d’Art. The compact or packaging is so lovely that you cannot bear to part with it, refill it with something you love. Once you’ve used the last crumb of eye shadow in that slick Chanel compact with logo on the lid, use it again, and again, and again. Pack your favorite lip colors into an empty eye shadow palette. If the container is larger, refill it with hand crème, lip balm, mints, pills, or something that you will use every day. Every time you take that beautiful compact out of your purse, you will smile, and when you smile you FEEL beautiful and you ARE beautiful!
Stage 4: Recovery. Stage 4 is where the fun begins. Now that your makeup drawer is “clean”, you get to play.
- Take stock of what works and (more importantly) what does not work. I’ll bet your mistakes and throw away pile is like mine. Full of items that are of the moment, but don’t work for you. Now that you are free of that stuff, you can focus on what works.
- Look at your keep pile. This is the stuff that makes you FEEL beautiful. And when you feel beautiful, you ARE beautiful.
- Now you get to go shopping! Replenish expired items (mascara, eye/lip/brow pencils at the very least) and try new things.
Remember Beyond 50 Beauties, it’s only makeup! Have fun with it!
B50B
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