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Many of us grew up in the era of watching YouTube videos of huge makeup collections and incredibly intricate vanity tables, tons of beauty product hauls, and the latest releases. All these made us feel like that was the goal—to have this huge makeup collection, a full drugstore of beauty products in our bathrooms.
As I went through this decluttering journey, I realised that in reality, having less makes my life so much easier. I can still enjoy makeup, which I do, but I do not need to have so many products to look and feel my best.
In this article, I’m going to share with you 8 easy steps to declutter your makeup, steps I took to declutter my entire collection, which now fits in just one makeup bag.
Keep reading below or watch the video:
8 Easy Steps to Declutter Your Entire Makeup collection
1. Check the expiration dates
The first step I would recommend, if you are trying to declutter your own makeup products, is to check the expiration dates.
This is one of the first things I did. I went through and checked the expiration date for all my makeup products, which were taking up a whole drawer of a big vanity table – though, in reality, I wasn’t using that many.
Checking for expiry date is quite easy: if you look at the back of the products, it will usually say 6 months, 12 months, or sometimes even 3 months, depending on the product: you’re supposed to change mascaras more often for example, but eyeshadows only after maybe 12 months.
As you’re going through your products, check if the items you are currently using on your face every single day are still good to use or if they’re expired. Then get rid of anything that is expired.
2. Keep only one product per category
The second step I took that really helped me was to keep only one product in each category. This is just a rough guideline, but for me, it helped me realise what I was actually using and what I wasn’t.
I used to keep quite a few spares—spares that I never got around to using. I don’t know why I used to think that having three mascaras at one time was a good idea when they expire quite quickly. Items like mascaras need to be changed often, so it’s a bit wasteful to have that many in one go.
Nowadays, I only keep one mascara, one eyeshadow palette, one bronzer, one foundation—everything like that, just basically one of each. I think the only category that I make an exception for is lip products. I think I have about four lip products: a lip balm and a few different lip colours, but they are all my go-to. I do wear them all the time.
3. Be realistic with your categories
Speaking about categories, another thing I did was I tried to be more realistic with my categories. I realised that I don’t have to own every single type of product that’s available to me because sometimes, I might not actually use them.
For example, I realised, during my decluttering, that I wasn’t using my liquid eyeliner anymore. I wasn’t using a blusher very much either. So I got rid of them and I didn’t replace them. I don’t really feel the need for them. I prefer using a bronzer these days, a bit of highlight, a bit of black eyeshadow on the lash line, and that’s it. This is what works for me.
I’m not saying you have to get rid of the products I let go of. I’m just saying that it’s helpful to try and be realistic with what categories of products you are actually using and enjoying.
4. Stick with tried and true
The next thing I did was to try and stick with my tried and true, for the most part, that is. Occasionally, I might feel like experimenting, but for the most part, I buy the products that I love and work for me.
This approach works so much better not only for my skin, my face, and the level of confidence I feel in what I wear but also for my budget. If I buy products that I know I love, my purchases aren’t wasteful because I’m definitely going to get my use out of those products.
Constantly testing various makeup products and skincare isn’t always the best for our skin. We can have reactions, or we might just not enjoy the product in general, and we can end up wasting a lot of money on things we don’t actually love.
5. Tackle ‘the future-me’ problem
You know when you have in your stash of makeup those products that you aren’t wearing or using at the moment, but you think, ‘Oh, maybe in the future I’ll want to wear this,’ or ‘Maybe one day I’ll really want to wear a red lip’?
I’m not saying you shouldn’t keep some of those items if that’s what you prefer and what makes you happy.
But keeping a large stash of products for ‘future you’ is actually just going to clutter up your space, and it’s not going to do you any service.
For me, I really try to be realistic with the colours and products that I actually wear and enjoy having, and only keep those.
6. Keep an eye on the backstash
I used to have a separate storage area where I kept all the spares. I had these products that I wasn’t using yet, I hadn’t opened yet, but I thought, ‘I’ll keep these because once I run through the usual ones I wear, I’ll go through these as well.’
The problem with that was that I had such a big stash of them, that it would have taken me a long time to go through all of those. And a lot of them were also experimental products—I hadn’t tested them before. So, I decided to simply pass those on.
When you have products that are not opened, you can sometimes sell or donate them, and somebody else can get some use out of them.
One thing I always try to remind myself is, “You are not a warehouse.” I do not have to keep a huge stack of beauty products in my home and bathroom, cluttering up my space. I can always go to the shop and find the product that I need when I run out of the one I’m currently using.
In some cases, maybe having a few spares here and there might make sense—I do have a couple of products like that, just waiting to be used. But I no longer keep a huge backstock of them because there’s no point in that for me.
7. Take it out of the house ASAP
This is a step that made a big difference for me. Whenever I did a declutter of my makeup, I made it a point to get those products out of my home as soon as I could, as soon as I was available. I made that a priority.
When we declutter, if we don’t make this step a priority, things are just going to linger in the wardrobes, in the closets, and under the stairs. And it’s not ideal to have piles and piles of things that we want to get rid of but just don’t get around to. If we do make it a point, if we do make it a priority, it’s actually not that big of an effort to take things out of our home.
And the good thing is, there are loads of places we can take the items we no longer need or use. For makeup specifically, I sold anything unopened and in perfect condition on Vinted or I donated some of them.
As for anything that was already open, used, or expired, I took them to a makeup recycling point. Our local Tesco has such a point, and many other places do too, like Superdrug or Boots. It’s practically a big box, placed around the entry of the shop, where you can put things in.
So just check your local area, because once you keep an eye out for these things, you can actually spot them, and then know, “Oh, there’s that makeup recycling point.’ And next time you know you’re going to come to the area, you can bring all of your unloved makeup to recycle there.
8. Shop more intentionally
To declutter and get rid of stuff feels and is great, but it’s equally important to think about what we bring in. If we declutter but then go out and buy again, it defeats the purpose. This approach isn’t great for the environment, and it’s not great for our budget either.
What I do nowadays is the “one-in, one-out method”, which works so, so well for makeup and beauty products. Whenever I run out of a product, I go and replace it. I simply won’t go out and buy something if I already have a similar product in my collection. There’s no point in doing that as I’m probably not going to use it. So when I run out of mascara, I go out and buy another mascara—it’s as simple as that.
Having this mindset actually made me become a better shopper. I now go into shops and I see all the lovely products displayed there, some of them will even catch my eye. I might even feel like giving in to that impulse buy. But I always remind myself, ‘Well, I already have that product, so no, I’m not going to buy this right now. When I run out of that foundation, yes, I might come back here and maybe buy this foundation instead.’ This approach has been really helpful in controlling impulse buying a bit better.
Decluttering your makeup collection doesn’t have to be overwhelming, and I hope you found this article helpful. Let me know how you’re getting along in the comments below, I love hearing from you!
