This might be a difficult one. As I’m my own “guinea pig,” I just want you to know that everything I suggest, I have done myself, and so I know how you feel reading this! But it’s critical that you do this. Paris! Paris!
I am assuming that all of your makeup and “potions” are in your bathroom – but if you have “a little bit here and a little bit there” (in your gym bag, in your car, in your purse(s)), it’s time to consolidate. Take a few minutes, and gather up every bit of every thing that you could call makeup, or a “lotion or potion.” This includes the lipstick in the console in your car, on up.
Now that you have everything, I want you to take a deep breath – because we’re going to start throwing things away.
The hardest part about this (wait until we do the clothes!), for me, is that you’re going to wind up throwing away some “perfectly good” things. If you really have an issue with this, make two bags – one that will be chucked right away, the other that you’re going to put a date on, 3 months from now. You will throw into this bag all the lotions and potions that you just can’t bear to part with right this second and you “might have a use for.”
This is going to take a while, but it’s worth it. I want you to totally empty out every single drawer, under the sink, and the rest, so that you have every lotion, potion, and the like all in one big pile. Even the stuff that’s in the shower.
Once you have done this, I want you to “sort through” all these items into “categories.” If you’re like me (ahem), you will discover that you have a “fear factor” when it comes to being “without” some item or another – an example will be you have 5 bottles of hairspray, or shaving cream, or body lotion because you pick up one every time you’re at the drugstore. I want you to take a good long look at this, and realize how much money this actually represents for you.
Let me give you my personal example. When I did this exercise, to my horror, I discovered I had not one, not two, but FIVE cans of shaving cream/gel/etc. of various sorts. How did that happen??? It actually made me laugh. Some of them had never been used – these I put in my third bag, my “give away grab bag” pile. (This will come up later, when we discuss clothes.) You might find that you have a zillion lipsticks or eyeliners or eye shadow that you were given as “promos” when you bought your makeup at a department store – whatever. Now’s the time to be brutal…..
If something hasn’t been used at all, put it in your “grab bag” bag. If it’s been used a few times but you know in your heart of hearts that it really isn’t you, either throw it away, or throw it into your “3 month” bag. If anything like mascara or sun lotion is older than 3 months, you shouldn’t be using it – the chemicals break down, and you have to throw it away. (Gosh was this one hard for me.)
Now that you have everything in “piles,” figure out in your mind whether you’re really going to be able to use all of what is in the pile. I will give you an example – I also wound up with about 4 bottles of body lotion, but I use body lotion or oil every day (and so should you). So I knew that I would go through those lotions – I just had to know exactly where they were and also that I didn’t need to buy more! If you know (like I did with the shave crème) that there is no way you’re going to use that “pile,” put it in your “grab bag” pile. If you have unfortunately wound up with a number of things that are “half used” so you can’t give them away – it’s time to get rid of them once and for all. Yes, really.
As for makeup, you should have your “satchel,” and then another smaller zip-bag for “black tie” events. In my smaller zip bag, for example, I have red lipstick – because I never wear red lipstick. I also have a tiny pack of gel that I can use to get gold “highlight streaks” in my hair. That, believe it or not, is all that is in that bag, because I have winnowed everything else down so that the rest of my makeup is in my satchel bag, as well as my “signature” perfume that my James adores.
This is another hard thing. I want you to look at all your bath gels, lotions, toothpaste and the like, and look for Sodium Laureth Sulfate or Sodium Laurel Sulfate. This ingredient is used as an skin irritant by scientists – and has some links to cancer as well. Why is it in your gels, lotions, etc. then? Because it’s dead cheap. If you are shocked to find out how many of your products have SLS (I was), now’s the time to change. Use up what you have, and don’t buy any more. I personally have completely changed over to soaps and lotions without SLS, and have become a distributor for two lines of products (one organic, one with pheremones, which will be discussed more later). I became a distributor because that gave me a discount on the products! I know it’s fun to walk into a bath and body shop and just pick up something that smells good. But if it’s linked to cancer and is really drying to your skin – it’s not worth it.
Similarly, look to see if water is the first ingredient in your gel/lotion/potion. Water is drying to your skin, because it will suck the water out of your skin by osmosis. You want a lotion that has something like aloe as its first ingredient.
Finally, you might want to look for a lotion that doesn’t have “paraben” or “parabon” in it (this is often at the end of a long word, such as “methylparaben”). This ingredient can cause severe allergies to some people – if you have had dry scratchy skin for “ages” and not known what was the culprit, it might be a paraben-related product. There’s nothing sexy about dry skin – and the idea here is to have a regime and products that make it easy on you every day.
You might find in your “pile” that you have face products (e.g., night creams, makeup removers) from a number of different vendors. I sure did. I admit, I am a sucker for those “perfect skin” ads, and so suddenly there I am, with an array of potions. The problem with doing this is that cleansing “systems” are really meant to work together. You don’t want to be mixing and matching – you really want to pick one system and just stay with it. If in your “pile” you have a bunch of ½-used jars of cleansing creams, day creams, night moisturizers, and the like, it might be time when you do your grrlfriend party to do a “spa day” where people try out all these various potions. This might feel better to you than just chucking them out. But you have to get congruent, and use one system. If right now you have something that’s working well for you – stick with it. You must be cleansing your face every evening and every morning, and using a day cream (hopefully with SPF) and a night cream (hopefully with a lovely smell to it – I use one with sandalwood in it that my James adores).
As for makeup, I used to use a base, powder, etc., but I bit the bullet and moved over to a makeup system that my facialist recommended to me. It’s pricey, but now I only use my day cream (with SPF), the base powder (mineral-based, no chemicals), and then a matching blusher. These are in my satchel, with the brushes. Then I have a long-wear lipstick (I have found that L’Oreal has one that is quite amazing in how long it lasts), and a compact with 3 different eye shadows that work with my green eyes, an eye liner, and a mascara.
My satchel also contains a toothbrush and travel toothpaste, my perfume, deodorant, travel hairspray, day and night crèmes, day cleanser, and the like.
I bring the satchel into my bathroom with me, and hang it on the door – no James wants to come into a bathroom that has all your lotions and potions laid out, and besides, then you’re not prepared to just snatch up your satchel and go to Paris. I go to a gym, and so I bring the satchel with me, keeping it ready at all times.
You might be surprised that my cleanser and day and night creams are in my satchel. The idea here is that you should not be buying the “economy size” of anything any more. OK, sure, you saved a buck by buying the 52 oz instead of the 12 oz. But all of these products are sensitive to air – they can go bad; they are not as fresh as they were when they were packed, especially if you are constantly using them. Moreover, if you decide to move to the “next best thing,” I know that you’re going to “have to be good” and use up whatever it is that you are now using, and then move on to a different system. It’s way easier to do this if you have the smaller (satchel) sized item than if you are going to feel guilty stopping using the big one – which will ultimately wind up gathering dust in the back of your bathroom cabinet, and then be in that big pile on the floor.
Nail polish: We all hold onto this for way too long. Nail polish is really something that doesn’t last long at all. You should stick with just 2, potentially 3, and if you get a professional manicure/pedicure once a quarter or so as a treat to your Bond-grrl self, you want to get ones that actually are used at your manicurist. It’s a little pricier to buy them this way, but this will make it easier to do “touch-ups” when you’re home. I think you need to be ruthless here – I have one pale pink, one red that my James loves, and one “beige” color – that’s it.
Go on grrls – go be ruthless!!!!!
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