The Makeup Drawer: It's a love-hate kind of thing.

My makeup drawer needed help yesterday. Well actually it needed help LONG before that. But I just got fed up yesterday. You see I don't wear much makeup on a daily basis. I can get dolled up for a photo shoot or a public speaking event. But daily? I can't be bothered. I don't know if it is because I was raised on a farm until I was 12 and mom never had a ton of time for makeup back then either. (Later she became a beautician so go figure!) Or maybe it was because it was Oregon in the 70's when I hit my teen years and everything cosmetic was aloe vera this and avacado that. Those are good ingredients but I didn't feel compelled to put things on my face to wear that I was also seeing on my dinner plate and on my grandfathers sunburn.

So now I am an adult and I do wear some makeup. But for some reason, I have accumulated a ton of suppplies. My makeup drawer overflows into the medicine cabinet and the hall linen closet. Maybe that has something to do with having a beautician mom --and a college daughter who is a professional model in her 'spare' time. It is mandatory among teen girls to give body wash and eyeshadow for birthdays? I think so! Because we have lots. Now that daughter has picked through the 34 bottles of body wash (You think I am joking don't you?) and saved out her favorite scents, I end up with the rest. Mascaras, we have every color of the rainbow from high school but she only wears brown and black now she is a big girl. :) I willl toss the others.

Makeup. There is just too much for me. I didn't even know there was such a thing as SpaGlo Moca Cocoa eyeshadow. It sounds like something we should have in a coffee cup over gossip. But then we might glow in the dark afterwards. And Red Berry Ice sounds like something I had for dessert the other day. Red is not really a color I even need to ADD to my eye region. I am lucky to get a good night sleep. Out that goes.

I DONATE unopened items. I toss my daughters stuff that was anything creamy or used near her eyes. I confess I have shared cheek blush but it's a powder. Toss toss toss. Donate. That is pretty much what my evening was last night. But I did get out the compact and use the tweezers while I had them there and added a new moisturizer. My skin did thank me.

My goal was to streamline my supplies and keep only my own cosmetics--and USE what I keep.
Here is the tally of what stayed.

Oil of Olay cream
Cover Girl foundation true blend -tossed two mini misc kinds
brown eyeshadows- tossed 4 used containers
brown and pink blush- tossed 1 container
Clinique foundation powder
Dior foundaton
Dior travel perfumes
Avon deoderant- donated a brand I don't care for
two best tweezers- got rid of two (trash)
vanilla perfumes- donated 5 bottles of other kinds
nail polis- kept a neutral tan, a mauve and a clear topcoat. Out with pale pink, hot pink, and oranges.
kept the peach (for my mom) and vanilla body wash. Donated 37 assorted bottles of other gels and washes
Avon mini lipsitck samples-tossed 3, kept 5
Cover girl lipstick- love this one
safety pins
needle and thread

I now have room in my makeup drawer for it all. Yeah!

I placed it in the drawer in groupings by what it is.Honestly I feel I will actually use the items more often. I like them. I trust them. No little voices in my head saying "Oh I don't really like that color, scent, size, style." or "That is kind of old...do I dare put it on my face?"

Now if you still end up with a lot of stuff, consider what we did for my daughter's makeup and toiletry collection. 3 drawer units! She started with 3 of them (9 drawers) but has now got hers down to 2 units. She also keeps her hair curlers and hair accessories in one.

Whether you love makeup or hate it, tackle this area. Clean out your makeup drawer or cabinet. STREAMLINE! Toss and donate. We all tend to let this area slide but for hygiene sake, do it. For clarity of routine and for more storage space, do it. You'll be glad you did.

And for my birthday, don't give me any body wash gels, ok?

:)
Rockester