Relatively speaking, I have a smaller wardrobe of makeup products. The amount that I have is relative to each person; some people only have a product or two so mine might be larger, others may have 50 lipsticks alone. The “right number” for each person varies depending on the person. For me, this is my current collection as it stands going into 2018.
In an effort to moderate my collection, I am including if I would or intend to repurchase, how I use the product, and if it’s something that I may destash in the future (and why/why not that would be the case). These things are important because it gives me an idea for what in my collection I would be leaning towards replacing and making impulse purchases and to be prepared for it, so that way, I am not buying things impulsively when I’v already got similar products in my collection.
Taking a look for what I already have can also highlight what it is I may be missing, and again, may be inclined to purchase without foresight, but for now, I am actually content with what I have and don’t see any glaring gaps in things I may be missing. Below the cut is everything I currently have.
Foundations
Make Up For Ever Water Blend Face & Body Foundation (Y215)
- Purpose in Collection: It stands as my every day foundation to even out my skin tone. I consider it “Holy Grail” and it is the one foundation I return to and works best with my skin type.
- How do I use it?: As a foundation, of course. But this also really helps as a “tinted moisturizer” and adds moisture back into my skin. I can definitely notice when I haven’t used it frequently and it makes a difference in my skin.
- Repurchase?: Absolutely! I’ve already purchased it twice before and am currently on my third bottle since it has come out in July 2016.
- Destash?: No. This will have a spot in my collection for as long as it is produced (or until something better comes out.) I sometimes use something with slightly more coverage for photoshoots, but this is what I wear almost daily.
Tarte Cosmetics Rainforest of the Sea SPF 15 Foundation (Porcelain)
- Purpose in Collection: Foundation with more coverage for photoshoots.
- How do I use it?: As a foundation, so something to even out my skintone. It’s better used in the months I have not had a lot of sun exposure, but also used to reduce redness in my face.
- Repurchase?: Have not decided. It definitely has higher coverage than my beloved Water Blend, but I only would be able to use it for a portion of the year. As Water Blend is sheerer, it fits my skin better for more months.
- Destash?: I wouldn’t say I won’t do it, but it depends on how much use I can get out of it. My skin is a hair too dark to make this work right now. If this doesn’t get as much use as I would expect it to, I will likely destash.
Face Products
Make Up For Ever Step 1 Primer (Nourishing)
- Purpose in Collection: Face primer.
- How do I use it?: Enhance length of foundation longevity and increase moisture in my dry ass lizard skin.
- Repurchase?: Yup. I’ve tried other moisturizing primers, but this works the best for me, in my experience.
- Destash?: No. I use mine fairly regularly and I find this works well enough to not be replaced.
Dior Flash Luminizer Radiance Booster Pen (Pink)
- Purpose in Collection: Under-eye concealer.
- How do I use it?: Reducing the appearance of under-eye bags and dullness.
- Repurchase?: No. Per my previous review, I prefer a different product and would rather use that over this. It’s thicker than I prefer and the brush is very prickly on the delicate skin area. (In fairness; I know this isn’t intended to be used as a concealer, but that’s how I use it.)
- Destash?: No. It may not be what I prefer, but it gets the job done and I’m also relatively sure I’m coming to the end of the product sooner rather than later anyways.
MAC Sheertone Blush (Ladyblush)
- Purpose in Collection: Blush.
- How do I use it?: Adding color back into my face to look human.
- Repurchase?: I can’t answer this quite yet; the amount of product on this is huge and while it definitely lasts well and this color goes with everything, I would repurchase this but I don’t know that I actually will when it is used up.
- Destash?: No. I don’t know of another blush I would actually use to replace this. It goes along with everything without clashing too much.
Make Up For Ever Artist Face Color (S112)
- Purpose in Collection: Contour.
- How do I use it?: Adding definition to my face; contouring. “Darkening” my face when using the Tarte Rainforest of the Sea to make the color match better by darkening at the points where it connects with my neck for cohesion.
- Repurchase?: No. It’s not a bad product, but the color is “redder” than I would prefer a contour shade to be. I prefer more gray-based contour powders to emulate a shadow better.
- Destash?: No. I can see myself using this, especially as it’s my only one. It’s not a bad product, it’s just not an ideal shade for my skintone. Until I either get really annoyed or it looks awful in pictures, I’m willing to use this up. As it stands right now, it’s not noticeable and can be tolerated.
Kat Von D Lock-It Loose Setting Powder
- Purpose in Collection: Setting powder.
- How do I use it?: Setting the under-eye area concealer.
- Repurchase?: Yes. It’s not perfect, but it’s much better for dry skin than the Laura Mercier Loose Translucent Setting Powder and emphasizes the drier skin to a lesser degree.
- Destash?: No. I will be using this up for sure, as I don’t have a back-up and there’s no indication of a better setting powder for drier skin on the market.
Brow Products
Benefit 24-Hour Brow Setter Shaping & Setting Gel
- Purpose in Collection: Brow gel.
- How do I use it?: Keep the shape of my eyebrows in place throughout the day and makes it easier to trim them once set.
- Repurchase?: As written previously, no. I much prefer the Anastasia Brow Gel and will be using that once this has been used up.
- Destash?: No. Although I don’t like this as much as the other and have a Brow Gel ready to go, I’d much rather use this up. While I don’t buy into the sunk cost fallacy, it isn’t abhorrently bad enough to just toss or try and sell (especially when I’ve used it enough to not warrant the price for shipping.)
Anastasia Brow Wiz (Taupe)
- Purpose in Collection: Brow product.
- How do I use it?: Reduce sparse appearance in brows, make brows look fuller.
- Repurchase?: Maybe? I prefer other brow products, but I would be willing to repurchase again. Some people state that they’ve gone through this quickly, but I’ve been using it for 3 months and am not close to using it up yet.
- Destash?: No. While it’s not the best brow product I’ve ever used, it’s a nice pairing with a brow gel. I will definitely be using this product until completion.
Eye Products
Urban Decay Eye Primer (Anti-Aging)
- Purpose in Collection: Eyeshadow primer.
- How do I use it?: Enhance longevity and pigmentation of eyeshadow and liner. I find it also helps to reduce the creasing effect due to my eyelid and how it is creased.
- Repurchase?: Yes. I have used a few others and didn’t like them nearly as much as this one.
- Destash?: No. I use this regularly and haven’t found another similar product I like nearly as much as this one.
Benefit Cosmetics Roller Lash (Brown)
- Purpose in Collection: Mascara.
- How do I use it?: Enhance lash length, separation of lashes, and additional volume.
- Repurchase?: Yes. This is my fourth repurchase of this item and is my favorite mascara. It comes in both brown and black, but I typically wear the brown daily.
- Destash?: No. After playing with other mascaras, this is the one I prefer the most.
Kat Von D Shade and Light Eye Contour Palette (Lazarus, Samael, Solas, Saleos, Sytry, and Shax)
- Purpose in Collection: Neutral eyeshadows.
- How do I use it?: Eyeshadows used for neutral, office-conservative/friendly, or general looks. I don’t use a lot of color, so these are the standard eyeshadows I use.
- Repurchase?: Although I like the shades themselves, there were enough shades in the palette itself that I didn’t like or would not use that would cause me not to repurchase these. Instead, I would replace with similar singles. These come with fallout and there are other formulas I prefer without it.
- Destash?: I think there is a reasonable likelihood after reviewing these colors that during my next destash, I will probably wind-up throwing out one or two of these colors given that I don’t use them all regularly.
MAC Eyeshadows (Omega, Vex and Nylon)
- Purpose in Collection: Eyeshadows.
- How do I use it?: Eyeshadows used for neutral or general looks. Omega also triple threats as a brow powder and a contour powder. Bar none, Omega is the one eyeshadow I would consider closest to “holy grail” in my collection based on this. I use Nylon as an inner eye highlight to make my eyes look bigger. Vex is used for more vintage looks.
- Repurchase?: Both Nylon and Omega have a role in my collection that no other product fills. Vex, I am on the fence about.
- Destash?: I would not destash any at this point. I use all of them fairly regularly and I quite like the MAC shadow formulation.
Make Up For Ever Artist Shadows (M500 and S114)
- Purpose in Collection: Eyeshadows.
- How do I use it?: A eyeshadow base that is close to my skintone; a gray used for vintage looks.
- Repurchase?: The Artist Shadow formula has been discontinued (and will be reformulated), so not an option.
- Destash?: Not M500; it’s easily my most used eyeshadow, but S114 could be on the pile if I don’t feel like I can use it as much as I should. I’ll be honest: I was disappointed by these eyeshadows. I don’t mind a sheerer formula, but these require a lot of building up and even then, it doesn’t build as nicely as I’d hoped.
Marc Jacobs Highliner Gel Eye Crayon Eyeliner ((Earth)quake and Blacquer)
- Purpose in Collection: Eyeliner.
- How do I use it?: Tightlining. Adding dimension to eyes and drawing out the blue in my eyes.
- Repurchase?: I would not repurchase Blacquer (I rarely use it), but definitely would for (Earth)quake which I use almost daily.
- Destash?: I can foresee Blacquer being destashed if I continue to not have a reason to use it. I rarely use black for every day purposes because it is so stark against my coloring. I use it really only for special occasions or photography. (Earth)quake is used almost daily, so it would not be destashed.
Physician’s Formula Eye Booster 2-in-1 Lash Boosting Eyeliner + Serum (Dark Brown, Ultra Black)
- Purpose in Collection: Liquid eyeliner.
- How do I use it?: Vintage looks; particularly cat eyeliner.
- Repurchase?: Yes. The price is right, it stays on even in humid temperatures without smudging, and comes in a dark brown.
- Destash?: Possibly the black, but the dark brown is definitely a keeper. I just don’t use black liner enough.
Lip Products
MAC Cosmetics Lipsticks (Kinda Sexy, Chili, and Brave)
- Purpose in Collection: Lipsticks.
- How do I use it?: Kinda Sexy is the resident nude lipstick, Brave is MLBB (My Lips But Better), and Chili is the brick red of my childhood dreams.
- Repurchase?: I would repurchase all three happily. The formulas are great, colors are excellent, and I find I really like wearing all three colors.
- Destash?: No. All of them fulfill a unique position in my lipstick library and so they shall stay.
Kat Von D Everlasting Liquid Lipstick (Project Chimps and Double Dare)
- Purpose in Collection: Liquid lipsticks.
- How do I use it?: When I need something that won’t smudge easily or wear off easily, these are the ones I turn to. Project Chimps, much like MAC Chili, is a fabulous red brick color. Double Dare is a great pink that I can wear both pinup and “unpinned.”
- Repurchase?: Yes, but Project Chimps was limited edition and there is no indication Kat will be bringing it back permanently. Double Dare is a newer addition to my collection and hasn’t been worn enough to establish this yet.
- Destash?: No to either.
Charlotte Tilbury Matte Revolution (Love Liberty)
- Purpose in Collection: Lipstick.
- How do I use it?: Darker “vamp/berry” lipstick for fall/autumn.
- Repurchase?: Yes! I love the formula, I love the color, all of it is great. No complaints on this.
- Destash?: No. I haven’t found a darker shade in a formula I like and a color that works for me as well as this. Plus, this fills a specific role for me. Even if it doesn’t work as an “authentic vintage” kind of shade, it’s pretty enough and works for me that I won’t be destashing it.
Besame Cosmetics Classic Color Lipstick (Red Velvet)
- Purpose in Collection: Lipstick.
- How do I use it?: I used it for my Peggy Carter cosplay, but also for office-friendly red and presentations when I need to be pumped up.
- Repurchase?: I actually have a back-up of this waiting, but I would definitely repurchase this. The formula, as a bullet lipstick, is top notch especially for a red. I don’t necessarily believe in a “universal” color, but this is the closest I’ve seen to it yet.
- Destash?: No. I still intend to do some Peggy Carter cosplays and I love wearing this color. It’s kind of like the instant kick you get from hearing something like Bohemian Rhapsody or We Will Rock You.
Givenchy Le Rouge (Mandarine Bolero)
- Purpose in Collection: Lipstick.
- How do I use it?: With the combination of the MUFE Aqua Liner in 23C to create a lovely orange-based, retro coral lipstick. Mostly worn during spring/summer months.
- Repurchase?: This is technically a repurchase, but I think after this, I am going to have to do some more experimenting. As much as I know I can get in the ballpark for what I’m going after with this, there has to be something closer than this out there.
- Destash?: I won’t say no, but I think it’ll be much more likely when the MUFE Aqua Liner in 23C gets used up that this will also probably be tossed or sold. It pulls more pink and white-based than orange and slightly muted without the liner, and I’m not really into that.
Make Up For Ever Aqua Liner (23C – Orange)
- Purpose in Collection: Lipliner.
- How do I use it?: Adding more of an orange emphasis to Givenchy Mandarine Bolero and mutedness; without it, it’s more pink and more white-based.
- Repurchase?: Not unless I would also purchase Mandarine Bolero; I really use this as an addition to that product.
- Destash?: Not unless I would also be destashing Mandarine Bolero. These two work together and are used together. If one goes, both go.
BITE Beauty Lip Pencil (076)
- Purpose in Collection: Lipliner.
- How do I use it?: Maintaining precision, adding depth and color, and increasing longevity for red lipsticks.
- Repurchase?: Yes. I quite like the formula of it and it really does help to extend the wear of the lipstick.
- Destash?: No. I like this product enough that I will definitely use it up.
Analysis
This is everything as it stands. Here are some things I have personally noticed in analyzing it:
- I can generally keep track of everything and while I typically don’t replicate in a lot of areas, this is something I would like to continue to work on to keep reducing. While red lipstick is a staple piece of a vintage makeup wardrobe, I don’t really need to have that many.
- I don’t have a highlighter after realizing I generally don’t like it and don’t think it really helps. I prefer a more traditionally “matte” look (even though I have drier skin) and I don’t particularly like how highlighter looks on me.
- Getting a better concept of knowing what colors work best for me (e.g. reds, berries, orange-based corals) helps to reduce impulsive purchases and things that won’t work (i.e. vampy, white-based pinks, greiges, etc.)
- Even though I have all neutrals, I don’t necessarily use them all and I know I can cut down on it. At this point, it is just knowing which ones to cut.
At this point, I have a collection that is a nice size and can be cut down slightly. I don’t have any particular gaps that I can see would need to be filled at this point. I think at this point, it’s being able to use products up that will be the bigger challenge. I intend to do a Project Pan for 2018 (and will document it here). But given my sloth-like pace on using products up, I foresee a lot of these will remain into next year.
How do you feel about your collection going into next year? Are there particular gaps you are looking to fill? Or are you content and working towards using products up?
Yours ’til Niagara Falls,
Jupiter Gimlet