Spring declutter

Hi everyone! Every time the Spring comes around I have the biggest urge to clean and reorganize. Since I have washed all the windows, reorganized our kitchen cabinets (patting myself on the back!), cleaned out the closets and all, the time has come to clear out some make up. As much as I try to make sure I use it all, sometimes it happens that some items expire. I don’t like when it happens, but I don’t like eye or skin problems either, so it was time to do it.

I am trying to be aware of the dates when I purchase or open certain products, so some of the items need to be gone from my collection. First of all Too Faced Chocolate bar eyeshadow palette. I did really love this palette at the time. I have had it since 2016, which made it the oldest palette I have. I loved most of the shades in here, especially those shimmers: marzipan and crème brulee, and of course the milk chocolate and semi-sweet as excellent base shades. Those light colors in bigger shimmer pans were nice to have too. However, I have noticed that the formula has changed (not surprising since it is 5 years old!). So I have said good bye to her, thanked her for the time we had but I am not sad to see her go, as there are much better formulas out there now.

I am much sadder to see my In the Balm of your Hand greatest hits vol.1 to go. I loved this palette a lot! I loved that I could travel with her and have all that I needed (and I have great memories from one amazing family trip to Paris in 2016 and our legendary trip to Japan in 2017). I loved all the blushes, and a bronzer and I was able to use them as eye shadow, so it made this palette super versatile. I loved having Mary-Lou Manizer in there, as to this day it is one of the best highlighters in the market. I will miss you, but loved having you around.

I really liked this little six pan palette from The Collection eyes Uncovered in rose matte. I have bought it on the recommendation of some British you tuber and I liked using those peachy pink all matte shades. Again, this one was great at the time, but the formula became very powdery recently which was not the case when I first got it, so I am ok with parting with it. I have de-potted it to this little z palette, as the original packaging was too bulky for my taste, but I think this palette might still be available. I bought it on Amazon a while ago. Too many moons ago to be ok with putting them on my eyes again.

As for the Tarte amazonian clay 12 hour blush is concerned, shade Celebrated was my go-to blush for a long time. I really loved it. It paired so well with any make up look: cool toned, neutral or warm. It was a limited edition shade, so I am not sure I will be able to get it again. These blushes are known for being one of the best on the market, and I completely agree. They also tend to change after a while, and that is what happened to me. It was a clear sign that it expired, since the blush became all crumbly and even changed the smell. Well, I still have a mini blush in shade Paarty which still performs as new, so I have a replacement for this expired one. Blush/highlighter from The Balm in Cindy-Lou Manizer is also expired, so I need to let it go. I wore it like a blush topper as it was too dark for me as a highlighter. I did like it, but I am ok without it in my life.

I almost got every little bit of Becca skin love glow elixir. I am not sad this product is gone, as I was not sure it did anything for my skin or makeup. It was just ok. Plus, Becca is closing down in September so I am sure it is not available anymore. You are not missing out on it anyway.

I loved how black the Balm Schwing eyeliner is. It is still black and nice, but I really don’t wear black eye liner…like ever. Why did I even think I needed this? (oh yeah, you tube made me buy it). I only wore it couple of times for some special events like Mardi gras. It performs really well. Very mate and black. It is just not for me. Also, did I mention it is from 2017?! Time to go!

One more product I am saying goodbye to even though it is not used much is from Revolution pro foundation mixer lightning. This was ok when I had some foundations that were a bit too dark for me (for example if I bought them in the summer and I wanted to continue on using them in the winter months). It gets tricks with these kind of products, as you can have a foundation that is oil based and the lightning product that is water based, so it might not mix well. Anyway, this was not as useful as I thought it might be, and since it is on the older side (this is kind of the theme of this post) it has to go bye bye.

Colourpop So juicy lip gloss in Princess cut was not my favorite at all. The only nice thing was a minty scent, but OMG this is the stickiest gloss I have had in years. I really could not bring myself to use it anymore. I have other clear glosses that I want to use, so why should I torture myself with this one?!

Nakeup liquid lipstick was one of those purchases that was made when I watched too many you tube videos on K beauty. Sometimes you have that fantasy self who will definitely use liquid lipstick or black eyeliner. No….just no! I wore this one maybe two times, and I did not like the color on me nor I love liquid lipsticks in general on me. Plus, the smell has changed, so I don’t need it to clutter my drawer. Thank you, next!

Stila shimmer and glow shadows were fun to use and I loved all 3 shades. They came in a pack of 3: Kitten (champagne pink), Cloud (purple) and Twig (bronzy shade). However, these are too expensive for what you get. These dry out so quickly and are just not worth it. Elf has a similar formula now, so if I were to buy it again, I would buy Elf single shadow in color Moon and be perfectly content. Well, I tried them and they served my research purpose.

Finally, I liked the ELF makeup eraser pen. It lasted a while, but eventually dried out. I used it on those rare occasions with liquid eyeliner. For someone like me, who has no idea how to draw two matching lines of eyeliner, this is a very useful tool. I would repurchase this, but I do not see it on Elf website anymore. Then again, I do not really use liquid eye liners, so maybe not.

This was my mini declutter for the time being. I feel refreshed and happy with the rest of my collection especially knowing that with less products, it is less likely I will forget to use something from the back of the drawers. Do you like or dread spring cleaning?

Hope you are having a great sunny springtime day! Talk to you soon! XOXO, Iva