Whether you have a huge collection of makeup products or an overstuffed makeup bag living in your purse, it has probably been a minute since you gave it a spruce up. When was the last time you cleaned your brushes? Or replaced your dried-out mascara? Or checked the date on your foundation? All of these things slip our minds as we are living our lives. But just as you need to clean your house from time to time, beauty upkeep is important.
From holding onto your products for too long to using dirty sponges and brushes, try to take a few minutes and clear out. Just like clothes, some items you have had too long, some have an unbeatable stain, and others are just beyond hope. So reboot your collection and do some beauty cleaning.
Up first, dump everything out of your makeup bag or clear your drawers. Separate everything into three piles: keep, throw away, and not sure. The keep section should include products you use every day, recently bought, or investment products like palettes. The throwaway section should be things you forgot you owned. This would be a foundation you haven’t worn in over a year, a blush that smells funny, anything that made you breakout, etc. And then the not sure pile is everything in between.
At this point, you can clean your storage. Take a cleansing wipe, get rid of any residue in your drawers, turn your makeup bag inside out, get rid of any pencil shavings, powder spills, and wipe up any stains. If your products sit in filth, they will obtain some of it, making everything less sanitary. These items are going on your face, so you want them to be as clean as possible.
Toss out the stuff you know has to go, then look through your maybe pile. Open everything, and if it smells weird, has changed color, or the texture is off, it needs to go. If you are unsure if something is bad or not, check out a website like checkfresh.com or checkcosmetic.net. Here you can find the brand of the beauty product and type in the batch code that is either printed or stamped somewhere on the packaging, and you can find out when the item was manufactured. We all know makeup has a shelf life from when it has been opened.
But you may not have known that beauty products only last so long from when they were created as well. Usually, three years is the cut-off. Now for things like eyeshadow, you can get away with extending that as long as everything looks okay. But for cream products, especially skincare, concealer, and foundation, if it is more than three years old based on the batch code, it is time for it to go. If neither of the websites can give you an answer or you can’t find the batch code on the product, use your beauty judgment. Think about when you last used the product, and if it was more than nine months ago, you should probably toss it.
Up next is cleaning any tools you have. That goes for tweezers, brushes, and sponges. You can wipe down metal things like tweezers with a disinfectant wipe. And use a brush cleaner for both your sponges and brushes. If it has been a while, you will want to do a deep cleaning on these. When you use old beauty products, bacteria can cause breakouts, uneven skin, and sensitivity.
Once all is clean, you can start putting everything back where it belongs. But before you just dump it back in a drawer or bag, revaluate. Is there something you want to start using? A new lipstick or powder? If so, move those items to the front of your collection, so they are the first things you see. This will help you break out of a beauty rut and use up any products you might want to replace. Think about it this way, whenever you clean out, you make space for new products. That means shopping!
But before you head out to Sephora, make a list. You do not want to end up with a bunch of stuff you won’t use and will end up throwing out next spring cleaning. Go in organized. If you just got rid of your mascara, foundation, and coral lipstick, only look for those products. And if you want to try something new, ask for a sample so you won’t have an overload of unused products. You do not want to replace every single thing you got rid of, only the essentials.
Try to do this every season so that the process isn’t so overwhelming and time-consuming. Cleaning your beauty collection does more than keep you sane. It helps to keep your skin clear, your routine running smoothly, and a little part of your life less chaotic.
