This year I decided to do something a little bit different with my makeup. I realized there are items I like that I never reach for, items that are nearing their expiration date, items from discontinued brands and items I might have tried but never really long enough to decide how i feel about them And so each month I will be picking a few items from my makeup collection and putting them in The Use Up Box.
In this box would be items that were constantly in view so I would see them and hopefully if I wasn’t specifically testing anything in that category I would reach for the item and use it. I think I was partially successful in that I did use up a few items. I think I was also overly ambitious in the products I chose. First let’s tale a look at what was in the January Box.
The January Use Up Box
The items that I fully used up were the Marc Jacobs Primer, The Becca Pink Haze Setting Powder and the Colourpop Ultra matte Lip. The Marc Jacobs primer and Becca Setting Powder were both discontinued so I am happy to have used them up and cleared them out,. They were both good products but they are no longer being produced so it was time to let them go.
The Colourpop is still in production, but this particular lippie is an older one that I have had for quite a while. It was getting to the point where I needed to finish it up and let it go. I really enjoy the formula and color so I will probably repurchase it at some point but for now, I have finished with this lippie and am letting it go.
I was hoping to finish up the Bite Beauty foundation because Bite beauty is no more and even though I love this foundation it is no longer being produced. However i had several new foundations come in that I needed to test so I didn’t reach for it as often as I planned. It will remain in the use up box for February. Hopefully it will be finished out in February. My goal is to use it at least once a week. i think that will finally clear it out.
That is actually the only product that is staying in the use up box.
The Josephine Cosmetics Lip was put in the box because I couldn’t remember trying it before. I knew I swatched it but couldn’t remember how it performed. It performed beautifully and is a lovely red shade that I will be keeping for a while. It will remain in my collection.
the Brow Bar By Reema is one of those products I love the thought of more than I like actually using. It is really a beautifully designed kit. But it is not my shade. i love the under brow highlighter but none of the powders work for me and I really don’t like the cream formula. The pencil and the tools in the kit I love though. And that mirror is fantastic for travel. For those reasons I am transferring it out of my makeup drawer and just putting it in the purse that I use for travel. I think that is when I am going to reach for it and that is where it will be the most useful. I might end up letting it go, but for now I think as a travel item, it is still useful for me to keep. Just not in the drawer with other eyebrow products.
Because the highlighter in the palette was so good, I didn’t reach for the Eyeko under brow highlighter. I did youse it a couple of times and liked it, but i am not going to put it with the use up box. I am going to transfer it to my brow products drawer and try to reach for it when I do my brows. As my bangs are kind of long at the moment I haen’t been reaching for brow products and need to remedy that, but I will try to work on that.
The Pretty Vulgar lid primer i only reached for a couple of times. It is a really good lid primer, my favorite in fact, but it is edging into the expiration date. There are only one or two more uses with of product left in the tube. I am going to put it in the front of my eyeshadow drawer to use when I have shadows that need a lid primer. It will be reordered as soon as it is empty but it won’t last the week so I am not going to add it to the use up box because it is almost done.
The two eyeshadow products I included because i wanted to start rotating through my single shadows. I tend to forget to reach for them. I figured if I had them out I would reach for them more. And I did reach for them a couple of times. I just have several palettes i need to test out so I ended up reaching for them first. I still think it is worth it to have a single shadow in the box so I am adding one for February and rotating these out.
So are you ready for February’s Use up Box?
February’s Use Up Box
The Foundation I love but want to use up because it is discontinued. The Figs and Rouge primer is about half empty and while I did like using it, I am still on the fence about whether or not I would repurchase it and would like to both figure that out and use it up.
I really love the milk Makeup bronzer but it is close to being finished up and I would like to use it up and order a new one to use. It is a sample size and I would definitely like to get a fill size to use.
The KVD Shadow is one of my favorite one and done eyeshadow products so i am rolling it in for the days when i don’t have something specific I want to use since it is very good. The By Terry powder is one of those products that is hard to work with but looks beautiful once it is on. It is a sample size of powder and I would like to use it up. Because it is difficult to work with i probably wouldn’t repurchase it. I adore the pressed powder version of this, just not the loose version.
The final product is the Tarte cream blush. I tried this when it came in a tarte themed Boxycharm. i liked it but I have several cream blushes I love so I tend to reach for them first. I don’t feel that I gave this enough of a chance. So hopefully i will reach for it more if it is out and I can decide how I really feel about it.
I’m sure you have noticed, but the February list is much shorter than January’s list. I’m hoping that will cause me to reach for the items more since there are fewer of them so they will be more displayed than in a clump. Either wya, I still like the idea of the Use up box and I am happy to continue down this path. I also find it useful to assess what I like and what I am wanting to use. It actually inspires me to go through each drawer and look at things that I haven’t reached for a while or forgot about. Hopefully you find it fun as well.
Ms. Mimsy Reviews 