Makeup Drawer Makeover

If you’re anything like many women, your makeup drawer houses a selection of your latest purchases, old favourites and, well, very old ‘not-so-favourites’.

For some reason, most women have an issue surrounding letting go of ‘past-it’ makeup and skincare purchases – something, no doubt, related to cost, label or sentiment.

But either way, the reality is that even your rarely-used Estee Lauder eye shadow has a life-span, and using it next year for the office party may actually be a poor choice for your skin.So, let’s have a realistic view of how long you can hold on to old makeup and when to bite the bullet and sweep away the cobwebs accumulating on that dusty foundation you never wear:

• For foundations: oil-based formulas last around 12 months, cream a little longer at 18-24 months and powder style products around 2 years. Consider this when purchasing you next jar if you don’t wear it that often.
• Concealer, for those that use it, 12-18 months.

• Similarly, powder blush and bronzers last about 2 years, so these may be the better choice for the ‘natural look’ ladies.

• Cream blush falls into the same category as cream bases, 18-24 months.

• Powder eye shadow and eyeliner pencils – 2 years

• Liquid liner – 3-6 months. Damn! I’ve only worn mine 3 times. How does that fare in the old ‘cost-per-wear’ equation?

• Mascara – 3 months. Well, I’m lucky if it lasts this long!

• Lipstick – 2 years. Some of the ones that come with the ‘gift-with-purchase’ promos are real bomb shades – get RID of them unless you love them!

• Lip liner – 2 years.

• Gloss – 18-24 months – I’ve eaten so much of this stuff in the last 2 years (ahem…read ‘lifetime’) it never gets outdated…

• And fragrance – 18-24 months. If you haven’t finished your fragrance by then, try to get over your granny’s ‘keep it for best’ mentality and get spraying! (I sometimes put a little on before I go to bed, for the sheer pleasure of it!).

So, in a nutshell: powders and pencils last the longest, but for many of the drier-skinned ladies out there, creams feel delicious and just need to be used that bit more quickly.

Really, as much as anything, what we’re on about is clearing the decks, dusting off the clutter and paring down to the essentials that you really use! That would be the products that you take with you when you are up for a 2-day trip. If you have doubles of skin care products, use the oldest first and keep spares in a basket. Know what you have so you’re not out buying extras you don’t need!

We’ll get onto the subject of disposing of skincare products in our next post. Out with the old..!