Declutter With Me : Lipsticks
Of all the things to binge watch on YouTube, decluttering/organizing videos have to be some of my favorite ones out there. If I ever considered YouTube, most likely a majority of my videos would be to show a declutter or organization of some part of my home. Over the holidays, I had told myself that I would work on decluttering my makeup/skincare. In general, I try my best to look through things on the regular and toss expired products or pass along any unused/unloved items to friends and family. But for a lot of things, I do hold onto them and really go back and forth on whether or not I need it or can let it go.
One of my guiltiest pleasures when it comes to beauty products has to be lipstick. When I first started out growing my makeup collection, almost all of my makeup/brushes/tools fit in this Muji’s 5-drawer (that you see in the photo next to this) and a Muji 2-drawer. The 2-drawer was mostly for products that were larger and required a deeper drawer. I remember the time when my lip products would all fit in one shelf, and then two, and then three. At one point I even had the acrylic lipstick holders which I would put my MAC lipsticks in. These days I can fill up all 5 drawers with lipsticks (yikes) and it’s gotten a bit out of control. As someone who rarely puts on lipsticks these days, I fully understand that this is a serious problem and I needed to do something about it.
As such, I had a major lipstick swatching session and swatched every. single. lip. product. that I own. It took a few cotton rounds soaked with makeup remover to get rid of all of it, but I made it out alive. I think a lot of people tend to go for similar hued colors, and for a while I think a lot of people were quite obsessed with finding good dupes for some of their favorite lipstick products. While I never got too into that, I know that I do tend to go for similarly hued colors and that meant I had a lot of similar colors in similar finishes. I clearly don’t need 2-3 bullet lipsticks that tend to be similar as I know I’ll always reach for the same one. I ended up being firm with myself and only let myself keep one of each “shade” as there would always be one I’d reach for in general.
Makeup was never something I really tossed or passed on as I was relatively well behaved when it came to buying it. However, I’ve been very fortunate to have been added to some PR lists over the last few years and with that have come some generous samples of products. I try my best to look at swatches online and even head in stores to swatch so that I can pass on un-used / un-swatched lipsticks to friends and family and to even include some in giveaways for you all! I tend to do a lot of giveaways over on Instagram as I find that to be the easiest, so be sure to follow me on there if you aren’t already.
If you’re looking to have a lipstick declutter, here are some tips:
Pull out ALL of your lipsticks, a la Marie Kondo. I did this years ago when I first read her book on The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up. For years I’ve sorted my lipsticks by category and try my best to keep them all in the same vicinity so that I don’t have to rummage through everything to find that one shade.
Sort your lipsticks into categories: bullet lipsticks, liquid lipsticks, lip glosses, lip balms, etc.
Sort each category by color: neutrals, pinks, reds, dark vampy hues (my fav)
Take note of expiration dates and expired products. Most beauty products will come with a little jar that states the number of months/years a product will be good for. Ideally you should stick to this suggested shelf life date, especially if it’s a liquid/gloss because that is just germ central. I’ll be honest that with lipstick bullets, I’ll push those for longer unless (and that’s a big unless) it started to change colors (i.e. has that white cast around the bullet) or smells off (don’t be in denial, you know when it smells different). Even more so, you may notice that the lipstick just does not apply like it used to - the product may look more dried up, cracked, or the color just does not apply the same as it used to. Throw. It. Out. Your lip products are exposed to oil, bacteria, and oxygen and in turn will go bad over time. It happens!
Have a big ol’ swatch fest. I usually sort everything into columns and do the same color category across all finish categories. Usually if you have a particular hue in mind, you’re gonna keep reaching for one so cross and compare and make sure that your collection is filled with the products you love. Sometimes I had to re-swatch products because products come out differently on your skin than it does when you see it in it’s packaging. Find dupes within your collection and choose which one you like more. If you can 100% state that you love them both, then keep them! I know products often look similar but if you’re gonna wear the different finishes then by all means, go for it.
In the end I decided to pass on 18 lip products to friends and family, and ended up tossing 7 products that were a bit past their shelf life or were definitely expired. That’s a whopping 25 products that I’m saying goodbye to and I’m shocked that I still have enough to fill these drawers. Granted these drawers aren’t filled to the brim anymore and I have room for my collection to grow a bit. My friends are definitely having field days swatching lipsticks and taking them to add to their own collection! Be open to having swap parties with your friends because a shade that no longer works for you or interests you may be the shade another friend has been wanting to try!