Weirdly this behavior didn't strike me as ridiculous until I listened to makeup artist Jasmine Ringo's minimalism episode on her Podcast The Girl With The Makeup Tattoo.
Jasmine talked about how she streamlined her own makeup kit by simply removing anything that wasn't bringing value.
Here, the word 'value' is a loose term, encompassing whatever the owner translates as valuable. So one person might find value in regularly used products, another might find value in luxury purchases, or a more experienced minimalist might find value in multitasking 2-in-1 products.
The first step in translating this theory into my own life was to establish what was valuable to me. Given that I'm brand new to minimalism (read: it's not just makeup I hoard), I went easy on myself. I decided that I found value in products that I use regularly, were a luxury purchase, or had sentimental significance. I went through my entire collection, and if an item didn't fall into one of these three categories, it was out.
This meant that by the end of my purge I had gotten rid of about 30% of my overall collection. Fair enough, 30% sounds a little underwhelming, but I found the whole practice quite liberating. Not only did I find a new appreciation for old favorites, but my purchasing habits have completely changed too. Since the start of the year, I've only spent money on makeup a handful of times. For someone who was bringing home a few new products every week, this feels like a major change.
A couple of weeks after my purge and I can't even remember most of the products I got rid of. While I wouldn't necessarily describe my current makeup collection as minimalist, it's certainly much less cluttered. Now, I have everything organised into four or five drawers and I can find what I'm looking for so much easier. I've also noticed a new wave of inspiration after finding products that had been long forgotten.
Perhaps one day I'll fully commit to the makeup minimalism lifestyle and condense my collection into one small makeup bag. But for now, I'm happy with cutting back on new purchases and playing with what I have.
Let me know in the comments if you'd ever consider a minimalist approach to your makeup collection!
