Streamlining My Beauty Stash

I've been trying to take a more minimalistic and clutter free approach to my belongings this year. Although I still have some way to go before I'll be completely happy with everything, it already feels so nice to be surrounded by just the things that I love and that I will use often.

I recently started the huge task of tackling my make up stash, from my everyday items to my professional make up kit, I have quite a stash to sort through. I've discovered and picked up a few tips along the way and so I thought I would note them down to help if you're planning to organise and streamline your beauty stash too!

Save the products you love

My fail safe method is to pull out the things that you love and can't bear to part with, then sort through the rest. This includes everything from your everyday base to favourite pink lipstick (mine's the dreamy Nars Yu) this way, you have the essentials and your most adored products saved - so you can be ruthless with the rest!

Sort through the rest 

Swatch, check sell by dates and sort through everything else. You have to be pretty ruthless - anything that's unworn in the past year or so, I try to let go. Anything you're unsure of, pop it in your everyday make up drawer or make up bag and wear it once more to see whether it's worth holding on to.

I find that at this stage it's worth noting down any favourites that you're running low on, that have expired (or in my case that are totally empty, I'm such a packaging hoarder!) or that you don't need to repurchase quite just yet, like seasonal moisturisers. This way you have a list close to hand for future reference so that you can stock back up on your favourites!

Storage

Once you've streamlined your stash, it's time to tidy everything away. I really recommend the Muji acrylic drawers, they're SO useful, easy to stack up, wipe clean and having everything on show makes it easy to grab, re-shuffle and get the best use from your make up. I also love using cleaned out candle pots and pretty boxes to hold my make up and brushes in. Ikea and H&M home offer some great storage solutions too!

Throw out/Give away asap

Anything that is old or past it's sell by date, throw it out/recycle it straight away. Package up and send off anything else to give away (Give and Makeup is a great place to send your unwanted make up to). This way you won't be tempted to change your mind and pull something back out again that you don't need!