Curate a Makeup Collection You Love with More Mindfulness (2022 Guide)

If you find yourself prone to purchasing on impulse or often feel like you purchase products that are well-reviewed, popular, or buzzed about but don’t actually find you love them like you feel you should, this list of tips might help you figure out how to better understand your own preferences and needs and purchasing behavior.

Step 1: Create a Makeup Inventory

Before you even think about purchasing another product, STOP! Let’s work through what you’ve purchased in the past, how that’s worked out (or not worked out), and what the takeaways might be from past purchases.  By figuring out where you’ve gone right and where you’ve gone wrong, you’ll know what areas have room for improvement.

It’s a good idea to have a good recollection of what products you have as this will ensure that you’re using the products you have regularly.  If you get to the point where it’s hard to remember it all, you might want to consider a more formal inventory process, like a spreadsheet, bullet journal, or use Temptalia’s Vanity.  The upside to any digital version is that you can easily find or sort by various parameters (like finding out what eyeshadows you have or what MAC products you have).

If you’ve purchased products and returned or otherwise removed them from your stash and you can remember them, consider keeping an additional tab on a spreadsheet or use our Archive functionality in the Vanity (for products you have tried but no longer have).  Knowing what didn’t work can be just as useful in building up self-knowledge as knowing what has worked well!

If you’ve destashed a dozen liquid lipsticks and kept one, maybe liquid lipsticks aren’t really your thing so you can mentally note to temper excitement in the future if you see a color that catches your eye but comes in a liquid lipstick formula.

If you’re setting up your own spreadsheet or journal, here are some characteristics you might want to include:

• Brand + Shade
• Type of Formula (e.g. Lipstick)
  • If a type has enough variety in formulas, you may want to include additional information like loose vs. pressed or liquid vs. cream.
• Color
  • Depending on how many products you have and how you think about color (or how you decide what to use), additional parameters like undertone and finish may be useful.
• Price
  • You might put the price you paid if you want to keep track of spending or the retail price at the time you purchased.
• Photos/Swatches
  • If you’re feeling particularly industrious, you could include your own photos/swatches of the products you own!

Step 2: How to Declutter Your Makeup Collection

It’s entirely possible that you’ve already done so or have managed to make fantastic purchases and have nothing you want to part with, and if that’s the case, congratulations, and you can skip ahead!  For those who have felt like they’ve just accumulated a little too much or haven’t been as discerning as they’d like, now that you know what you have, it’s a good time to work through what you have with a more mindful eye.

Let me introduce you to: makeup decluttering or makeup destashing.  What is decluttering? It’s removing products that you no longer use from your makeup collection — clutter.  They’re products taking up space, that might create noise and make other products harder to find/see, and are no longer, rarely, or begrudgingly used.

I’ve touched on some of my recommendations and advice on fine-tuning the products you own previously when I wrote about how to organize your makeup collection, so you may find some of the tips below familiar.

If and when the amount of makeup you own starts to give you negative feelings or reactions, that’s when it’s time to reassess what you have, why, and whether it’s time to let it go.  If you love everything you have, and there’s no outside reason to downsize, there’s nothing wrong with having more products.  It’s not a competition of who has the most or who can get by with the least.

It’s about getting to a size that you find manageable, whatever that means for you; it doesn’t have to be manageable for someone else, just you.

First, these are the five questions I think are important to ask about products I’m trying to decide whether to keep or declutter…

1. Does this product work well for how I want to use it?
2. When was the last time I used this?
3. Did I like it last time I used it?
4. Do I have other products that are similar to it (whether in color or function) that I use more often and/or prefer to it?
5. Do I see myself using it again?

What are the obvious things to declutter?

The easiest products to let go are the ones that are expired, whether you follow strict use-by dates (on most labels) or if you go by smell/texture/performance tests.  If there are particular products that are sentimental to you (and that’s why you’ve been keeping them long past the expiration date!), go through your memories and evaluate if keeping the product adds to that memory or if you really hold the memory in yourself already.

Consider separating these types of products out and finding a way to display and honor them, if they are so sentimental, instead of keeping them in a box or drawer that you forget about.

The products that worked terribly for you should be the next easiest to say ta-ta to. These are the ones that you’ve tried, hated, and shoved in the back of the drawer and never reached for again.  These are products that you feel look bad on you (wrong color, one star!), wore poorly, were difficult to work with, etc.

If there are products that did not work for you and you cannot let go, then set them aside and make a point to use them again, then reassess if it’s really adding usability and/or joy to what you have.

What else should you declutter?

Based on what I’ve seen readers and others in the community speak about, and what I’ve personally experienced as I’ve become more and more discerning about what I keep myself, these are the types of products that can make you waffle a little…

Expensive flops.  The money’s spent.  Keeping a product you don’t like and don’t use just takes up space and doesn’t pay you rent. You aren’t getting your money back by keeping it.

So-so products.  If it’s so-so but you don’t use it, it’s likely because you don’t like it much on yourself, you rarely have reason to use it (e.g. maybe it’s the type of color you only like for special occasions, which leads me to my next point…), or have a better-performing product that is comparable in purpose (color, finish, function).

Unicorns.  These are going to be products that you just have the one of, maybe for you it’s a super, glittery highlighter.  The question is whether you use it, enjoy it, and does serve a purpose in your collection. There might be a reason why you only have one, and it might be because you don’t really enjoy that type of product but felt compelled to give a chance for a myriad of potential of reasons.

But limited edition.  Use it or lose it. What good is that gorgeous limited edition that you love every time you wear it but only allow yourself to wear very occasionally for fear of running out of it? How many products you do you actually finish? What is the real likelihood that you’ll finish? Just how amazing and unique and utterly special is this one limited edition item that even if you used it regularly and finished it that you’d be destroyed because it was no more? There’s always something new and shiny right around the corner in beauty, and our tastes and preferences change over time – you might be sick of that shade after using it ’til the bitter end!

What if I have trouble decluttering?

There are some common excuses I’ve come across for why a product that seems like it doesn’t have a good purpose for someone is otherwise kept (and rarely or never used), which I’ve summarized and countered below.  I do, however, want to make it clear that curating your makeup collection is about making you happier, not more miserable.  If you find yourself struggling, that’s okay; everyone’s journey is different and certain parts may be harder for some than others.  Maybe for you success is destashing one product–just make sure you’re putting in a conscious effort to make your collection work better for you.

For those where the mental block goes beyond just feeling like you wasted money but goes deeper and is more rooted in a fear of no longer being in the position of being able to afford products, consider decluttering as a way to remove the noise from what you have today but store the decluttered products in a safe place until you are able to move past that fear (to whatever degree you may be able to).

Decluttering is not about minimalism or capsule collections or aspiring to a specific aesthetic or size of a collection.  Anyone who takes what they have and adopts a minimalist lifestyle by the acquisition of more things is doing so from a place of privilege.  Adopting more mindful purchasing habits, being more aware of how and what we use in our collections, and having the willingness to accept that sometimes products don’t work for us or we shouldn’t have purchased something (so we can let go of it) are the goals.

“I already spent money on this, so I should have to use it because I wasted money on it!” If you have additional products that you could be using, there’s no reason to punish yourself for past mistakes. This is supposed to be a fun, creative outlet.  You want to learn from mistakes you’ve made in the past to make better decisions in the future; that’s what you should be taking away from bad purchases.

“What if I need this product-I’ve-used-once-and-doesn’t-fit-my-preferences-at -all someday?”  That excuse can work a few times, but it can’t be the excuse used for every single item you have and never use.  Is this someday a real, feasible event? Maybe you don’t love neutrals but are about to graduate school and will be entering a career that often requires neutrals you can grab at this excuse, but if you think teal eyeshadow looks awful on you, want to remove it every time you wear it, then what is this someday you’re looking for?  You want to realistic about potential changes, especially when it comes to personal preferences.

“I’ll regret it if I get rid of it!” Take everything you’re willing to part with but are afraid you’ll regret parting with and put it into a box.  Take that box and put it somewhere you rarely see, like the back of a closet or under a bed.  Leave it for at least a few weeks, and then think about whether you actually missed any of the products you put in it.

“The packaging is so pretty!”  If you find the design/packaging/presentation attractive, then it’s not makeup, it’s art. You bought 3D art, and art is meant to be enjoyed, e.g. be on display, not tucked in a drawer or bin or wherever so you better find a place to display it!

Step 3: Questions to Ask Before You Purchase

When adjusting purchasing habits, one of the keys is to be more diligent about the process before the purchase.  This is the time spent deliberating over the purchase, which may be subject to a number of questions, checklists, steps, and processes based on your individual needs and what works for you.  Here are some actions I like to take when making purchasing decisions, both big and small, that can be applied to beauty purchases but also purchasing in general:

Is it within my budget for beauty (or “fun” money) for the time period?

Creating a budget is an excellent tool to see where your money goes each month, as this helps see if you’re over-spending in a particular area while providing a better idea of cash inflows and outflows.  If you have the ability to do so, you can set a spending amount for a time period for a category, like $X per month allowed on makeup.   If you find it harder to reduce spending, you may find stricter rules and specific limits to be more useful than more arbitrary ones.

How would this purchase impact my financial goals?

I always find having a financial goal in mind helps to curb excess and unnecessary spending because I have a bigger picture in mind.  This might be something like taking a great vacation, paying off student loans, contributing to retirement, buying property, or any number of worthy goals.

I like having both short-term and long-term financial goals setup so that I have more immediate satisfaction of contributing to a short-term goal while also working towards a long-term goal.  For example, I try to contribute as much as I can to pre-tax retirement each year for my long-term goal of being able to retire early (which is really the goal of working because I want to, not because I have to).

How will I use this product? Where does it fit into my collection?

If you’re adding a product to what you already own, then ideally, it should be adding something of value. It should serve a purpose and be a product you expect to use and enjoy.  A lot of what I ask myself here are the same questions I ask about whether I should keep or destash a product: will I use it, how often will I use it, do I have anything similar to it (do I really think this is going to be better? why?), etc.

Have I done my research on it?

If you can find reviews, swatches, or even try it in person, you should be attempting to do so!  You might have to set aside some time to be more proactive finding reviewers that you trust and align with, or to filter and skim through dozens of consumer reviews on various retailer websites.  If it’s a brand new product, you’ll want to consider your history with the brand and their products, whether you’re comfortable purchasing blindly or if you’d really rather wait for some reviews.

Step 4: Track New Purchases Critically

If you thought the process stopped there, you’d be so wrong — that’s how products we don’t love and use accumulate!  Once you’ve decided to purchase something, the next step is to try it and see how it works for you.  This will allow you to see exactly how it will or will not work for your needs and within your collection of products.

If you’re fortunate enough to live in a region that allows returns or exchanges, returning a product that does not work for you, that was hopefully purchased mindfully (not everything works out!), in a timely manner is a good way to avoid accumulating products that do not work for you.  The ability to try and return is a nice-to-have, but it isn’t an excuse to buy products willy-nilly because you can return (as in beauty, most returned products are destroyed/thrown away/disposed of, not resold), which results in unnecessary waste.

If you keep the product, make sure you have a place to put it, as an organized stash leads the way to a more well-loved and well-used collection of products. If you’re keeping track of what you own, add it to your inventory. And enjoy!

How-to Buy Less Makeup: Guide to Makeup No-Buys & Low-Buys (2022)

With the beauty industry releasing more and more products and with greater accessibility to those launches, it’s no surprise that some have felt like they’ve overindulged or have reached a point of saturation and are approaching future purchases with a more critical eye.  Whether you’re on a makeup no-buy, low-buy, or are just being more conscious about future beauty purchases going forward, this guide is a great starting point on learning the rules of a no buy and helpful tips on sticking with your no buy (or low buy!).

Here are some other helpful posts:

• How-to Create New Shades with What You Own
• How-to Declutter Your Makeup Collection
• How-to Shop Your Stash
• How-to Use Temptalia to Save Money

How-to Create Your Makeup No Buy Rules

If you haven’t already, outline the “rules” of your no-buy, low-buy, or what exactly you’re reducing or limiting purchases of. You’ll want to determine what you plan to allow yourself to purchase, if anything, and under what circumstances. It’s your plan, so it can be as specific or as broad as you want to be, though I recommend trying to be less broad where it makes sense to make it easier to stick with the plan. Think about the length of time you want to commit to the plan; it might be an initial commitment of six months or a year or even just a month.

If you’ve tried a no-buy or low-buy, and it did not work out, perhaps the guidelines need some work; think about what rules worked and which ones didn’t and try to retrace why those rules didn’t work (perhaps too confining or perhaps too much too quickly). Here are a few suggestions:

• Replacement only: if and when a product that is well-loved and well-used is finished, it can be purchased again
• One-in, one-out: if and when a certain product is finished, something can be purchased to replace it (could be finishing a lipgloss and getting a lipstick)
• Fill in the Blanks: there are certain gaps in your stash, make note of them, and only if an item meets that need you have can it be purchased
• [Product Type] only: this could be skincare or haircare, basics, and often is related to replacement-only kind of low- or no-buys
• Set budget: determine the amount of money you’re allowed to spend per period (week, month, year), whether unused money can be rolled over, and so forth
• Planned purchases only: either purchases you’ve mapped out well in advance of starting the low- or no-buy (e.g. “that palette releasing in December”) or if you’ve thoroughly researched a product, determined it fits within your guidelines, and so forth
• Project Pan: purchases can’t be made until certain items, a certain number of items, etc. have been used up (panning, de-tubing, etc.)

Unless there is a dire financial situation, try to set reasonable guidelines; it is better to start off with a more moderate low-buy and succeed than go cold turkey and fail within a week.

Create + Focus on Your Goals

There’s usually some reason why one consciously changes how and what they’re purchasing. When you created your guidelines, you may have set goals, or you may have a goal in mind that has set off the need for reducing your beauty purchases. This could range from shifting your money to something different (e.g. buying a house, paying down debt, taking a vacation) to feeling overwhelmed by what you own to curbing impulse buys to simply wanting to spend less when it comes to beauty products. Whatever your goal may be, when you’re tempted, think about the goal you’re trying to achieve, look at the progress you’ve made, and reaffirm why that goal is a priority for you.

Here are some suggestions on keeping your eye on the prize:

• Track expenses: go back and track how much you spent prior to your new plan, and then track what you’ve spent (or not spent!) since
• Track progress: whenever possible, tracking and being able to reflect on the progress made toward a goal is useful and can make a goal seem a lot more tangible and doable
• Track usage: go through and inventory your collection (you can even use our vanity system!), see what you’re using (or not using), see how often you use certain things, and it can help make the driving force behind the need for a low- or no-buy clearer
• Find support: let friends and family know about your goals and ask for support; look for online communities like /r/MakeupRehab with like-minded individuals

How to Stop Buying Makeup – 5 Steps

To be successful at reducing purchases, especially when making significant reductions, is to think more critically about your purchasing habits and what purchases you actually make and why. We don’t want to buy things on a whim any more; we want to buy products that fit our guidelines and are, ultimately, going to be products we love and use often. Are you READY?

• Research: Thoroughly read/watch reviews, look for swatches, learn more about the brand/formulation
• Explain: Why do you want this product? What need will it fill? Why is it tempting? Why now?
• Apply: How does it fit into your plan? How will it affect your progress? How does it fit into your collection? How often will you use it?
• Dupes: Do you have similar shades or something that is functionally the same?
• You: Will it make you happy or will it make you feel guilty? Will the happiness be from the acquisition or from actually using the product?

How to Resist Buying Makeup – 9 Tips

1. Unsubscribe from as many mailing lists as you can; these brands exist to sell to you, and some brands are particularly aggressive with daily emails, talk of FOMO, etc.
2. Make an inventory of all the products you own. It is helpful to know what you have, but it may also give you greater insight into what you have too many of (for you), products you seem to gravitate toward (and ones you can’t remember ever using).
3. Shop your stash for dupes or layering combinations to recreate whatever shade it was that made you feel tempted. You would be surprised just how far the art of layering can go to getting you close enough to just about any shade.
   • If you’ve made your inventory using Temptalia, you can view dupes in your vanity but also dupes between what you own and what’s on your wishlist, too!
4. Get through the clutter in your stash. I’m a big believer in destashing products you don’t like or don’t work for you; unless it’s truly necessary, sometimes recycling, trashing, or passing on to someone who would enjoy it more is far better than using it up. You paid for it already; you are not saving money by using it if you have something else you’d rather use. Do you know how long it takes to finish most color cosmetics? There’s little need to own 10 coral blushes and keep four you never use because you have six still to use! By removing the “noise” in your collection, it’ll let you appreciate and enjoy what you have more thoroughly–no wading through mediocre products, no more trying to use them just to say you did.
5. Save it for later, whether that’s to a real or mentalwish list and revisit in a week, two weeks, etc. and see if the pull of temptation is really there or was it just a knee-jerk reaction.
6. Try to avoid emotional shopping because you aren’t in the right headspace to do so thoughtfully. If you’re having a bad day, week, or month, try to find different ways to bring a smile to your face (watch a sappy movie, spend time with friends/family/pets, do your makeup instead, look at your progress, exercise, etc.) rather than simply buying something new and shiny. New and shiny lasts about as long as it takes to open the box.
7. Read reviews, look for swatches, and watch tutorials of products you’re interested in. Reviews can indicate whether it’ll even be worth acquiring, while watching tutorials can show you how something can come together (or not) and often show that, “Yeah, I can create that look with what I have” rather than, “Wow, that’s different than any other look I’ve ever, ever seen!!”
8. Accept any weaknesses and make adjustments. If it’s hard for you to physically go into a Sephora without making a purchase, avoid going to Ulta until you’ve made more progress toward your goal. Change doesn’t have to happen overnight!
9. If a sample is available of a product, see if that helps curb the need for it; you can try it without buying it, which will give you more hands-on experience using it. This could be an actual, deluxe-sized sample or just going to a counter and swatching (but maybe leave your form of payment at home to avoid impulse buying!).

5 Reasons to Skip Value Sets + Kits

1. You aren’t going to use everything in that set/palette.  10 lipsticks at a steal of a price, but if you’re only going to use two of them, that’s not really worth it, is it?
2. Why are you trying something you had no interest in before?  Just because it’s a good value or it’s on sale doesn’t mean you need it.  If you weren’t interested in it at full price, is it really something to be considering?
3. Limited edition is here today, gone tomorrow but repeated forever.  After awhile, a lot of the holiday sets and palettes start looking the same, especially by certain brands.  If you can’t partake this year to meet your goals, there’s always next year, and frankly, at the rate the industry is going, spring and summer and fall are going to turn into release bonanzas anyway.
4. The quality isn’t always the same in holiday sets as in full-sized products.  Again, even if it’s “cheaper,” is it really worth buying when the quality is lower? Why would you want a medicore or so-so product in your collection? There are so many excellent products that there’s no reason to settle for so-so!
5. You can dupe it.  No, seriously, do you know how many dupes I pull for most products?  It’s getting to be obscene.  A 15-pan palette might result in adding 500+ dupes to the database.  And if you can’t dupe it, maybe there’s a reason why you don’t already own something like it (e.g. doesn’t work for you, not practical, etc.).  Always check our Dupe List!  You can also compare two palettes to see similar shades (or even dupes).

Keep Going! Forgive Yourself for Mistakes.

If you purchase something that wasn’t part of your plan, don’t give up on your low- or no-buy. Be kind to yourself by thinking about what happened, what you can learn from it, whether there should be adjustments made to your guidelines/plan/goals, and how to do better in the future. You want to avoid making the same mistakes over and over again, so the focus should be on how to improve and move forward.

Have you tried a low- or no-buy? How did it go? Do you have any advice to share?