I’m honing down my makeup kit to the things that give me the best value for money.
One problem with only buying your makeup every so often is the phenomenon of running out of everything at once. It’s happening to me at the moment – I’m down to my last couple of squirts of Smashbox skin primer – the adult woman’s spackle -; have just finished my Christian Dior Airflash foundation and am now running out of Touche Eclat.
What’s a girl to do? Clearly one can’t go out and face the public without the primer (well, I jest, as I only wear it about once a week, which is why the same bottle’s lasted me about six years), so I’ve splurged to buy a new one. But the foundation – meh. I’ve decided that it’s a bit chalky for my taste, so am currently working my way through some free magazine samples – one by Clinique is the lead so far.
Touch Eclat used to come in just the one pale pinky-beige shade, but now apparently comes in six varieties. This can only be good as the original is a little pink for my freckly complexion. So I’m on the hunt for shade no 2 from some reseller, as I’m obviously not going to walk into Nocibé and pay a whopping 32.50 euros for it.
There are only a few things in my kit that have really done me great duty over the years, and as you get older and have no need for glitter, colours and jazzy effects, it’s pretty much down to your daily drivers.
My decluttering phase therefore has spread to my makeup kit and the other day when I sat down to do my slap, I placed each thing I used in a nice old Victorian sewing box, as part of my ‘daily’ toolkit. At the finish, there isn’t much in there: eyebrow, eyeshadow and lip brushes; a big fluffy powder brush; foundation sachets, oil-free wipes, cream blush, lip balm, nude lip liner, a pink lipstick (Yves Rocher) and a red lipstick (Maybelline); a beige lipstick I use as an eyeshadow; pressed powder, loose powder, Touche Eclat, Smashbox, an eyeshadow palette in four shades of brown, a pale pink kohl pencil for the eyebrow area, a dark brown Revlon Wet n Dry eyeliner, beige under-eye liner, eyelash curlers, and brown mascara.
That’s pretty much my daily kit, from the days when I wear no slap at all (maybe five days a week), to the days that I do the full monty.
The rest of my kit, I carefully edited, chucking a lot of it out (unsatisfactory pale blue eyeliner, three lip glosses that were all identical, too-dark lipsticks etc), and the rump I’ve placed in a tiny drawer in the bathroom for ‘special occasions’ when I might wear a different shade of lipstick, or black mascara, for instance. I have no need, btw, for anything to do with nails as my hands are a disaster zone…
Honing down my daily makeup kit has freed up a lot of space on my landing windowsill, which is where I sit to do my slap in the only bright north light available. When I’m done, I now put it all back in the box, push the box into the window recess, and leave everything clear – more light to come in, less mess to clean up.
Going through your makeup kit is something you should do every six months or so, as your makeup isn’t designed to be used for very long. It’s constantly picking up bacteria from your skin, so make sure that you renew it on a regular basis (unless, like the Smashbox, it’s in an airless dispenser).