Spring Clean Out Your Makeup Bag!!

Hooray for Spring Cleaning! 
This is a small thing you can do to help yourself feel refreshed and organized for the new season: Clean out your makeup bag... It needs to happen.   

Tips:

-Dump everything out so you have a clear view of the contents of your makeup bag in all it's glory.  The good, the bad, and the ugly. 

-Look at expiration dates...If there aren't any, use your judgment.  For example... If you look at your mascara and you remember reapplying a coat after that fun day at the beach 7 or 8 months ago... it's safe to say you can get rid of that one.

Some guidelines:

-Powders over two years old...toss!

-Foundations over a year old...toss!

-Mascara over three months old...toss!

-Finally... if anything feels or smells funny... toss!

Make sure you are cleaning all of your tools and products (this includes containers).  This pulls double duty because not only will it make your tools and products last longer but (think about it... this is all going on your face)  it will prevent breakouts!! 

Musts:

-Sharpen all of your pencils

-Scrape off the top layer of your shadows and blushes (this can be done with a CLEAN mascara brush!)

-Wipe off the top layer of your lipsticks (feel free to use rubbing alcohol)
-Do yourself the favor of wiping off the tops of lip glosses and foundation bottles...if left to collect, it can get kind of disgusting.

-If you are using brushes clean them, at the very least, once a month. 

           How to clean your brushes, you ask?

Use either brush cleaning gel, baby shampoo, or a very gentle foaming face wash.      

Lather up the brushes facing down in the palm of your hand. 

Keep the brush facing down as you rinse your brush clean.  

Lay your brushes on a paper towel to dry. 

Final thought on cleaning brushes...

You needn't bother washing your brushes if you blow on them to get excess product off... 
all you are doing there is spitting on your own face.... so don't waste your time with the 15 minutes of cleaning and day of waiting.  

If there is too much product on your brush...a simple remedy is to just tap the brush on your wrist or finger.

Finally, just to make it all look nice and clean...and to finish the whole process... put a little rubbing alcohol on a paper towel and wipe down pallets, mirrors, and makeup bags to get off all of the old grime.

After these easy tips, you'll feel more inspired to use products that have been hibernating at the bottom of your bag.  Guaranteed!!

Enjoy your new and improved "so fresh and so clean, clean" products, tools, and containers! 



See what popped out of my bag...


It was a bit of a hot mess inside my bag and I'll be honest, there were one or two products that I completely forgot about.  For example, I'm very excited to use the Jouer Luminizing Moisture Tint (with SPF 20 btw) and my Clinique Superbalm Moisturizing Gloss in Black Honey again.  Two excellent, excellent products.

I love, love, love this bag!  It was given this by my in-laws for my birthday a few years ago and cherish it.  If there is one thing to say about me... I love bright colors.