Letting go of my fantasy self

Hi everyone,

Do you have clothes that you are saving for special occasions, especially those that you need to change weight for or for the events that are not even scheduled to happen? Those events: Just in case, maybe someday type of things? I find that I do that with makeup. I love green eyeshadow and love how they look in the palettes. While I can pull off the green shadows, the truth is I will always resort to muted ones and not bright, bold colors. So, due to the house move, I took another hard look of everything I own and weeded out all the things that I realistically won’t get much use of. I didn’t want them to just go bad in my drawer, so here we are with another declutter blog. It should be the last declutter in a while.

I had a lot of single eyeshadows, mostly from Colourpop and some from Sydney Grace. I got Mountain trail bundle for free once upon a time, as I was buying something else from theirs website. Those shadows are beautiful (it’s all those dark, earthy greens in the big single palette in the photo). I used them a couple of times, but they always looked too dark on me. I love the quality of them, but realistically I will not wear them when I can reach for something more muted and more suited for my skintone and my taste. The same goes for those purple and pinky Colourpop shadows. I was influenced by some spring tutorials and thought I needed them. Turns out I didn’t. I probably used it once and I would have never use up those shadows, so I let them go.

I thought Urban Decay Wild greens would satisfy my green needs. Still, it wasn’t very many times that I reached into it. It looks like something I would wear daily, with neutrals and a warm earthy tones. However, I had to force myself to use it. Same goes for BH cosmetics Avocado toast. I thought this would be also used a lot in my collection, but some of those greens are soooo bright, that I looked ridiculous. I love to look at those greens, but that’s it. I just keep on looking at them, instead of wearing them.

I loved and used Zoeva Melody palette. Once upon a time, I loved that it had those purple and icy shadows, mixed with neutrals. Those shadows made this palette looks special. I ended up not using it much, as shimmery purple looked silly on me. I reached into neutrals in that palette, but then I ended up using just a few shades in it. I have similar colors in the rest of my collection, so I said goodbye to it as well.

My beautiful Tiny Marvels was also too bold and too bright for me. I love love love the quality and color story in it, but that’s what it comes down to: I love watching it. If I don’t use it, I shouldn’t own it.  Just like Lime crime Venus II XL. This it to this day, it is one of the most beautiful palettes that I have seen or owned. I used it for a bit, again few selected shades as the rest looked silly on me. I kept trying and trying to make it work on me. This is such a beautiful spring color story and I didn’t care it got mixed reviews for having some of the less pigmented shades (I loved those topper shades that are very trendy right now). Realistically I didn’t use it in the last 12 months, so what are the chances that I use it in the next year? Same as my chances of becoming a magic fairy and use this palette to make my fairy look complete. Fantasy!

I never thought I would let go of my Persona Identity palette. Again, realistically I use 5 of the 12 shades in it, as half of it is just too dark for my eyes. I love the quality of it, it is still in great shape and the eyeshadows perform just as good as when I got it, but I can get find neutrals in the rest of my collection. There were also some neutral single eyeshadows in the smaller single shadow palette, like the remaining six shadows from my Colourpop Going coconuts palette and other Colourpop singles, but I also decided I didn’t need them. And finally there was a face palette. Alamar cosmetics bronze palette. I think it was good quality, but I have a few of other bronzers that I use more, so I could part with this one.

I finally let go of my EM cosmetics Divine sky palette. I used two shadows when I would reach into it, and I have a few softer pinks in other palettes if I need them. Saie gel highlighter is too dark for me, and it was a gift with purchase, so I never choose this color for my skintone.  Jouer Blush palette was lost in my collection as I had too many blushes. Even though I love that blush on the left, I don’t need the other one, so someone will get more use out of that palette. Same with Nabla blush in the shade Truth. I bought it thinking it is filling the gap in my collecition: bolder warm pink shimmery bliss. I used it and loved it, but if I have to be so careful when I put it on and risk looking like a clown, then it is not the right product for me. Shockingly, I let go of my Hourglass Diffused heat blush. I love this blush, but since every blush is a unique mix of powder and color, I got a large part of powder in it, so it ends up looking like a highlighter on my cheeks. I realized I stopped using it for that reason, so maybe someone else would use it as a highlighter. I have a coral looking blush in an Hourglass Ambient lighting palette, which I can use instead of this one. Buxom blush looks like a weird color in this photo, but Seychelles is supposed to be their most neutral blush color. Due to my undertone, it always looked weird on me, as it pulled a bit murky and even metallic looking on me. It is supposed to be satin finish. It is very well loved color in a makeup community, so I will easily find a home for it.

When I was trying to get some of the most interesting Urban Decay singles, I bought Space cowboy and Lithium. While I love and use Space cowboy, I stopped reaching into Lithium as it looked too dark on my fair skin. (again, the same pattern). I am giving up on Colourpop Lunch money highlighter as it is too icy looking on my skin. Also, letting go of two lip glosses. Kaja is a beautiful formula, non sticky, plush formula, but I don’t love this color on me. Milani lip oil is one of the best formula not just in the drugstore, but in general, but I don’t love this brown shade on me either. I need to get a clear one maybe, but his Coco cocao looks too cooled toned on me. I made a mistake of buying Jane Iredale lip and cheek color on the last ULTA sale. I bought it in orange thinking it would look nice on my warmish undertone, but it is straight up orange. I don’t like it on my lips. I could make it work on my cheeks with certain looks, but then I just decided to clean it up and put it in the “pass along bin”. Lastly, I am passing along two green eye liners: NYX All time olive and Urban Decay Stash. They are both similar, UD maybe a slightly cooler in the tone than NYX, but I never end up using these. And finally, Lawless lip liner in Honey nude. It is too dark and pulls slightly too cool toned looking on me.

I also came across some expired make up, so there is an overview of them. I can see myself replacing the ABH Soft Glam palette. It is a great one, but this one was just too old and my eyes were a bit itchy last time I wore it. I had it since 2018…ups. I checked the batch number and it was manufactured in November 2017, so I don’t feel bad throwing it away, especially since I can replace it. Some of my cream products went bad, like Milk make up Werk lip and cheek color, Uoma contour stick and highlighter and ELF eyeshadow primer which they don’t even make anymore (that was really old). I won’t particularly miss those products. They were ok, but not unique. Lisa Eldridge Lurex eyeshadow got dried out, but I already replaced it in a different color that suits me better than this one. NYX lipliner in Lavander and lace was a purchase influenced by someone who has very cool undertone, so it looks bad on me, plus it is very dry and hard now, it expired. Just like Essence lip liner that was dried out and brittle and I wouldn’t wear this red color now. Exa was a good color corrector, but it has been over 12 months since I bought it, so I am trying to be more mindful about what I put around my eyes and got rid of it. Maybe I will replace it in the future. I also had a Sydney Grace eyeshadow in bronzy red color which shattered on the floor, so it didn’t make it in the picture. I never wore that color, as it was a freebie from Sydney and I would not replace it, so it is not a big deal. Speaking of replacing, I bought Juvias Place The Nomad palette again. I had one before, but it was so old, and then I got a great deal for Black Friday (paid less than 3$!) so I replaced it.

Those are all the products that left my collection, due to decluttering or going bad. 68 products less (many of them are single shadows so it looks more dramatic than it is). One of the things I let go was the idea of making a makeup related youtube channel. I collected and tested makeup for years as I was very excited about it and influenced by the community. I became a bit of a hoarder. Over time, I realized that a huge amount of makeup stresses me out more than it excites me. At one point, in the end of 2020, I had a collection of 400 products. At that time, I had 10 face primers, 12 foundations, 10 concealers, 10 powders, 18 bronzers, 34 blushes, 17 highlighters, 50 lip glosses and lip balms, 39 lipsticks, 54 eyeshadow palettes, 14 mascaras…just way too much of everything. I started to curate my collection, giving it away to my friends and family, and using up products through project pan and of course no-buy periods. I have slowly dwindled down my collection to something more reasonable and more manageable and much less wasteful. I couldn’t have used up those products before they get expired, so I found them new homes. Having a more reasonable collection gives me more peace of mind and I get to use the things I love and that actually look good on me. I am more into demure, sophisticated natural looks than editorial, edgy makeup like you see online. I am not a makeup artist nor do I aspire to be.

I really have a good and realistic makeup collection now (sure I still have almost 20 eyeshadow palettes, but now they are on the smaller side, rather than big palettes), with all of the things I use regularly and love. Next time I write, it will be about my updated makeup collection: a showdown of what I love and use.

Talk to you soon and have a wonderful day!

XOXO, Iva