Beauty Resolution #1 - Make Up Clear Out and Spend Less

Happy New Year girlies!!

It's that time of year again where we all make our resolutions for the coming year.  I've made a few beauty/blog related ones which I thought I'd share with you, starting with...

#1 - Make Up Clear Out and Spend Less

I have a lot of make-up.  That isn't a boasting statement, rather an addicts admission!  In the beginning of my obsession, I would splurge on high-end make up however, at some point this turned into buying copious lower end (or drug store) make-up.  We have some cracking cheaper brands of make up in the UK and I just can't help myself when I'm in Boots or Superdrug.  Hence I have reached breaking point (quite literally) in my make-up storage and am forever rooting around in piles of make-up to find what I want.  This also means that some much-loved-yet-forgotten items get hidden and therefore not used.  This makes me sad, and very ashamed that it's come to this.  So today I decided a good old New Year's clear out was in order!

To start, I sorted out my make-up into different categories; Keep, Bin, Back to MAC and Sell.

Keep - Anything I love and will use was kept.  I also kept some limited edition items, even although they don't get regular use.

Bin - Anything that smelled or looked funny, was separated, broken or just unloved (frosty pink lipstick anyone?) got chucked.  This included some random, scratchy brushes! Go me!

Back to MAC - MAC Cosmetics have a scheme where if you return empty packaging, with the exception of some items, you can swap them for a lipstick.  In the UK you need 6 separate items, however I believe this varies in other countries.  I save mine in a drawstring bag so they don't get lost or thrown away by mistake.

Sell - I have some bits and pieces of make-up that are in good condition, but that I just don't love any more   I plan to either do a blog sale, pop them on ebay or maybe take them along to a car boot sale.

I then re-organised everything into the drawer.  I had a damp cleaning cloth to hand to get rid of any dust or dirt.  I have the Malm Dressing Table from Ikea, which I use to store the majority of my make up.  I love the idea of the dividers that you can get for these however can't justify the money right now so instead I've used various different boxes and baskets that I had lying around.  It houses my make-up perfectly and I can pretty much see at a glance what I have.

At the end of it, I had a large plastic bag full of stuff to go in the bin, and a smaller basket of stuff to be sold.  And seeing all my make-up looking tidy and organised, well, that made my heart happy!

Spending Less...

I figure that now that my make-up is all visible  neat and tidy, perhaps I will be less inclined to spend.  Where I do buy make-up, I want to be able to justify the purchase to myself.  I'm going to cut out unnecessary spending in Boots/Superdrug because I'm bored/sad/happy/it's a day ending with a 'Y'.  Buying 345 drugstore foundations to find one as good as a £30 high end foundation is just crazy!  And I do that...a lot!

I'm not imposing a spending ban on myself, because I have zero willpower.  I am banning myself from regular browsing in Boots or Superdrug, unless I know what I am going in there for.

I'm hoping that by the end of the year this resolution will have become a habit.

Have you made any resolutions?