It’s January, so it’s time to sort out the makeup stash. 
Going through your makeup stash is something I recommend doing once or twice a year. Makeup has a way of proliferating and getting snarled up, and the simpler you can make your makeup application routine, the better.
Go through your stash and throw away anything you never use, if it is opened (if it’s never been used and still has the hygiene seals, give it to charity). Dried-out mascaras, crumbling eyeshadows, foundation that didn’t quite suit you – you know the drill.
Then check the use-by dates of what’s left. Here, mascara is the most crucial – if you wear out-of-date foundation, you might give yourself spots, but wear old mascara and you could be looking at eye infections, which is much more serious. As a rule of thumb, if a product has been open for more than a year, throw it out.
Another thing I recommend is sorting out the stuff you actually wear every day from the other stuff you wear only once in a while, and keeping your evening and morning cosmetics separate.
The easiest way to do this is to sit down one weekend morning and do your ‘normal’ slap, whatever that is. Personally I’m in favour of a lighter touch as time goes on – too much makeup on a woman over 40 is dragging and ageing, and much of your routine becomes simply about trying to look a bit healthier.
As you use each item on your face, place it to one side on a tray, and when you’ve finished, assess what you’re looking at – these are the items that you really need every time you put your slap on, so you should keep them all to hand in one place.
My basic makeup tray (not that I wear makeup every day) contains:
* Lip brush, Nocibé.
* Lip salve.
* ‘Nude’ (ie: pink) lip pencil, Yves Rocher.
* Red lipstick, Maybelline.
* Eyebrow scissors
* Eyebrow tweezers (Tweezerman).
* Taupe eyebrow pencil with brush, Ultima.
* Brown eye pencil, Revlon.
* Brown kohl pencil, Revlon.
* Pale pink kohl pencil, Eyecare.
* 12-colour eyeshadow palette in shades of brown (some cheap Eastern European brand from a discount store).
* Eyeshadow brush, Nocibé.
* Eyeliner brush, Nocibé.
* Eyelash curler.
* Cils de Cellophane waterproof mascara by Serge Lutens (for swimming days).
* A water soluble mascara for non-swimming days, currently Maybelline Colossal Volume, hopefully to be replaced with something better. (My favourite Respectissime mascara by La Roche-Posay has been discontinued.)
* Touche Eclat concealer, Yves St Laurent.
* Pressed powder, Yves Rocher.
* Pencil sharpener, cotton buds, cotton-wool pads
Written down as a list, that seems like quite a lot, but it doesn’t take up much space, and this is the kit I keep on my desk. It enables me to quickly moisturise, line and fill in my lips, pluck out stray eyebrow hairs (best, and least painfully done on a daily basis), emphasise my eyes and take the shine off my face. Done.
On a daily basis, I have little need for any other eyeshadow colour than some shade of brown, whether it’s a rosy brown, a grey brown or a chocolate brown. Colours are best left for younger girls with smooth, unlined eyes. The pale pink eye pencil brightens the inner eyelid and the inner corners of your eyes where the skin can look sad and blue, and highlights the browbone. I don’t need blusher because I have a pretty high colour anyway, though I do wear it sometimes in the evening. And the eagle-eyed among you may have noticed one big omission – there’s no foundation.
This is because I recently gave up foundation in favour of a BB cream. My fave is the Rivoli Active Radiance Primer (see separate review), but I’m down to my last few mils of this, so I’m now keeping it for special occasions. For a more quotidian solution I’m trying out Nivea’s new BB Cream, which isn’t as good but isn’t half bad either, especially for the very modest price of around 10.50 euros.
With a BB cream, you get the effectiveness of a moisturiser with the coverage of a foundation – it’s a more matt, less translucent version of the old tinted moisturiser and should effectively act as a foundation, reducing one step in your daily routine. You apply it like a moisturiser, not like makeup – squeeze out a small quantity (try less than you’d imagine, to start with), spread it between your hands and smooth it all over your face and down under your jawline. (On your neck, switch to your normal daytime moisturiser unless you want makeup all over your clothes.) You will, obviously, have to wash your hands afterwards.
I haven’t listed the BB cream in my makeup kit, because it’s kept under my bathroom mirror with my skincare kit and not at my makeup station.
For evening, you might need a few more bits of makeup: blushers in peach (for summer) and rose (for winter); half a dozen shades of lipstick and gloss; loose powder and its attendant brush; Smashbox skin primer and foundation; and black kohl liner. But really, that’s about it – no more green and blue shadows, lipsticks in weird colours, glitter to put all over yourself, etc. For evening, it’s enough to recurl your eyelashes and apply a brighter shade of lipstick.
By evaluating your makeup kit annually, or even twice a year, you can easily work out what’s working for you and what’s not, and make your life easier. Keep what works: jettison the rest.