I’ve received many questions on how to clear out cosmetics without the grief of feeling that you are throwing your hard earned money away.  I’m not sure how holding on to an unflattering eyeshadow or a failed bottle of conditioner can hold so much power over us, but it sometimes can.  It is important that we take that power back.

Every item that we own holds energy.  The more you free up space from items that are unused, disliked, and unnecessary, the more energetic space you have for what you do desire.  Instead of viewing it as throwing away money, you are instead creating space, beauty, and abundance by getting rid of things that no longer serve you.

Ways To Creatively Declutter Your Beauty Products

1. The Beauty Bin

Give yourself a limit to how much space your cosmetics will take up.  Your beauty bins are not necessarily a specific size, yet I prefer mine to be somewhat small to medium.   I have three beauty bins.

–A cosmetic bag that holds my makeup, nail polishes, makeup brushes, and natural fragrances

–A medium sized container for products or items that I do not use daily, for example bath salts, henna, flexi rod rollers, sunscreen, etc.

–A small container for what I use daily such as rhassoul clay, raw honey face wash, moisturizer, body oil, tooth brush, deodorant, conditioner, etc.

When my beauty bins become disorganized and overflowing, I know that it’s time to let something go.  This is one area that needs to be organized often as I can get ahead of myself when “discovering” a new natural oil, product, or ingredient.  Limiting the amount of space allowed for beauty items keeps them from taking over the entire bathroom.

2. Half Empty Bottles

You just found the latest most innovative beauty product.  You stop using the old product to begin using the new one.  Somehow this happens time and time again.  You are left with a ton of half empty bottles.  You have a few options to break the cycle.

–Swap your gently used products with others on beauty forums

–Pass them on to family or friends who may want to try a “new” product

–Become a “mixtress”

3. A “Mixtress”?

Yes, become a “mixtress” and consolidate like products that didn’t work out for one use and give them a new purpose.  Being creative can reinvent former unloved items.  This past December I bought an emerald green Zoya nail polish thinking that it would be a fun color.  It turned out to be absolutely awful, and also not returnable.  I happened to have a sample of turquoise mica powder that I hadn’t really used.  I did an experiment using a tiny piece of paper to funnel the mica into the nail polish to create a new color.  I ended up with a gorgeous new nail polish using exactly what I already had at home.

Another example of renewing products is mixing half empty conditioner bottles together with a bit of oil and honey for a deep conditioner.  Here is a simple way to use up those empty bottles and give an old conditioner new life.  You can do this with many of the products you already have.  Mixing unloved beauty products to create something new is the perfect way to consolidate and declutter.

4. Use Up What You Have

With all of the lavish beauty product marketing and advertising, it is so tempting to keep buying the latest.  There is nothing wrong with trying new things.  I enjoy discovering a wonderful beauty product.  The only problem is that you may already have something similar at home.  Instead finish what you have, and then purchase the new product.

5.  Expiration and Ingredients

When decluttering makeup, figure out if the item is still safe to use.  In Cosmetic Expires!!, I share the expiration dates for your makeup items.  Makeup can grow bacteria over time, and really shouldn’t be keep for more than 1-1.5 years.  The items that can be kept the longest are loose and pressed powders.  I personally would swap out a pressed face powder sooner than a pressed eyeshadow or blush.

As you are learn more about the cosmetic ingredients to avoid, it will be easier to toss beauty products that contain harsh and toxic chemicals.  The beauty industry isn’t monitored like others.  This is a big disservice especially since our skin is our largest organ.  Everything that we put on our skin is absorbed into our bodies.  If this wasn’t the case, then nicotine patches wouldn’t be affective.

6. Make Your Own

In A More Minimalist Approach To Beauty, I write about 10 ingredients that I wanted to downsize to for creating my own beauty products.  I would currently add two more items to this list which are rhassoul clay and a botanical conditioner.  When making your own beauty products or using simple ingredients in place of traditional cosmetics, you often have multipurpose ingredients that can be used in many many ways.  This can greatly cut back on clutter.

What tips have you used to cut back on beauty products?

(Image by Dawn Michelle)

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