Make-Up and Beauty Inventory Thread (May 2016)

Elizabeth_Braun

Welcome to the Make-Up and Beauty Inventory thread! The purpose of this thread is simply to make those of us who are inclined to hoard beauty products and keep on and on buying more face the sheer numbers of products we already own.

The Make-Up Inventory concept was started by YouTuber, Christine Kobzeff, in 2012. She decided that she needed to stop buying make-up ad infinitum and bravely videoed herself counting all her cosmetic products. She then set a goal to get down to and made a portable version of her numbers list to help restrain herself from unnecessary shopping. Watch her first inventory video, her one year on update and her late 2014 update when she'd met her targets and her most recent, cruelty-free one to see more about the idea.

Don't post a detailed list of items here, just the raw numbers of each type of product. You can manage it in whichever way is most meaningful to you. If you've watched one of the above videos, then you'll see that she counts whole palettes as one item, whereas you may (as I do) like to count individual shades within each palette to give a more complete number. Also, feel free to add in any category beyond make-up that you are inclined to hoard and find it hard to stop yourself buying too many of.

You can also add another number to show how many you'd prefer to own and, in later versions of this thread, we can start including how many we've used up etc since the last count. It would also be helpful if those who join in could let me know how often they would like to do updates. Some do them annually, I do it 6 monthly, or we could have a new thread each quarter. Please say what you think would work best for you.

Remember, just numbers, no full lists.

Elizabeth_Braun

OK, I'll start the ball rolling. Here's my list, which I think is up to date. I count each colour product in individual shades, not palettes.

Eyeshadows: 64 (down from well over 725 when I first started cutting back!!) Goal: 40-ish
Mascaras: 3 Goal: 2 (one brown/black, one clear gel)
Lipsticks: 12 Goal: about 5 would be enough
Non-stick lip colours: 13 Goal: 6-8
Lip Glosses: 19 Goal: maybe 3 or 4
Blushers: 9 Goal: 3 or 4
Foundation: 3 Goal: 1
Face powders: 2 Goal 0 or 1 (not sure I'll need it long term)
Concealers: 1 Goal: 0 (don't really use it)
Primers: 2 Goal: 1
Perfumery items: 16 Goal: 4-6
Body lotions/butters: 6 Goal: 2 or 3
Body scrubs: 4 Goal 2 or 3
Shower gels/washes: 5 Goal 2 or 3

I don't use nail polish, bronzer, highlighter, eye or lip liner, contouring or brow products, or false lashes and I've recently used down a load of body care products and am concerned not to hoard too many new ones. My mum also wants to give me a lot of her products to use up, so it'll go up before down.

ChicaBonita

Oh I loved the video series that Christine did on this!!! Her downsizing her makeup stash was memorising to me, rewatched them several times haha.

Great thread.

I solemnly declare to put my list up this week (you can slap my hand if I don't!) :A

My mum also gives me loads of her products! I hardly have to buy anything anymore because anything new out she'll have bought and I get it from her in 4 months time! (not that that stops me buying you understand :P)

rdone

Here's my list of totals:

Perfume 15
Lip gloss 2
Lip balm 4
Lipstick 2
Lip primer 1
Brow pencil 1
Mascara 1
Eye liner 1
Highlighter 18
False lashes 1
Eyeliner 3
Concealer 3
Eyeshadow 7
Nail Glue 1
Nail Cleanser 1
Nail varnish remover 1
Nail file 10
Face wipes 3
Deodrant 3
Cloths 4
Aftersun 1
Sun cream 1
Wet wipes 1
Moisturiser 8
Self tan 1
Cotton buds 1
Cotton wool 1
Antibac Handgel 2
Eye cream 2
Brush cleaner 2
Toner 1
Cream 1
Hair dye 2
Curlers 1
Straight cream 2
Dry Shampoo 2
Soap bar 2
Curl cream 5
Hair dryer 1
Shampoo 4
Shower Gel 3
Hair spray 1
Shine spray 1
Primer 3
Foundation 2
Powder 2
Blusher 7
Total 143

Problem areas are glaringly obvious and in the case of high lighters because I have no idea how to use them! Moisturiser has gone down a lot in the last year after I started making the effort and am pleased with how it's going. I'd quite like to have one of each item and one spare apart from when it comes to colours obviously.

Elizabeth_Braun

Well done, rdone, that was quite a list! I have no idea about highlighters either and none about contouring. Thankfully, I'm not that interested either!!

Looking forward to your list too, ChicaBonita, you pretty girl, you!!

savingfortomorrow

Blusher 4
Eyebrows products 2
Lip liners 5
Single Eyeshadows 15
Eye Shadow palettes 6
Concealer 6
Bronzer 1
Mascara 9
Setting Powder 1
Lip products 40
Eye Pencils 8
Gel Eye Liners 4
Eye Primer 2
Face Primers 1
Highlighters 2
BB Cream/Foundations 12
Setting Powde 1
Finishing powder 1
handcream 6
body oil 3
eight hour 1

I still have to add the skin care stash

savingfortomorrow

Elizabeth how did you get the eye shadows used up- i only ever finished 2 in my entire life! I have tossed colours out that cracked or were mistakes.
I have such admiration.

lucia22

I'm not counting everything. For this I haven't included make up, hair styling products or my nail stuff. I'm just focusing on my main toiletry stash for now so I don't feel overwhelmed. I have 232 items. Anyway...in order of the highest number:

Shower gels - 38 Goal 10 (still high but more manageable). Initial goal - 30.
Body lotions/butters - 30 Goal 10. Initial goal - 20.
Hand creams - 25 Goal 5. Initial goal - 20.
Face creams - 18 Goal 4. Initial goal - 10.
Face masks (including sachets) - 16 Goal 4. Initial goal - 10.
Shampoos - 11 Goal 3. Initial goal - 7. 4 shampoos are showing a lot less product.
Conditioners - 11 Goal 2. Initial goal - 5.
Body scrubs - 10 Goal 3. Initial goal - 8.
Face wipe packs - 8 Goal 2. These will reduce fairly quickly as I get through about 1 packet per month.
Facial exfoliates - 6 Goal 2. Initial goal - 5. These last ages as I only exfoliate once a week. .
Serums - 6 Goal 3. They don't take up a lot of space and they use up slowly.
Body oils - 6 Goal 2. Initial goal - 3. My current one is almost used up.
Toothpastes - 4 Goal 2. I should reach this goal quickly as there are 2 spitting.
Deodorants - 5 Goal 2.
Facial cleansers - 4 Goal 2. Initial goal - 3.
Eye Make-Up Remover - 4 Goal 2.
Foot creams - 3 Goal 2.
Hair oils - 3 Goal 2.
Make-up removers- 2 Goal 1
Toners - 2 Goal 1
Bath salts - 2 Goal 1.

You'll see I've set initial goals. I prefer to do this in the gym as well as with this. It makes the challenge seem less insurmountable. I'm also not seeing this entirely in terms of number of products. I'm seeing it in terms of how much space they take up individually. I don't mind having tonnes of face mask sachets as they don't take up much room. The shampoos, conditioners, face creams and body lotions take up a lot more space because they are larger and bulkier and obviously I do have a lot. Although I also have a lot of hand creams, they're in smaller packaging so are less cumbersome than the aforementioned products.

Did anyone else get a shock when you actually counted? My stuff is fairly organised so I was surprised when it amounted to so much!

Elizabeth_Braun

savingfortomorrow wrote: »

Elizabeth how did you get the eye shadows used up- i only ever finished 2 in my entire life! I have tossed colours out that cracked or were mistakes.
I have such admiration.

Oh bless! Thank you for your kind words, but I don't deserve them!!:o I don't think I've ever finished an eye shadow in all my 30+ years of wearing make-up! No, I did a lot of sales and giveaways to reduce my collection to a more reasonable amount. I had 6 of those 88 colour palettes for a start (528 shades between them alone!) and sold 4 on eBay and gave the last 2 to a friend. I eBayed most of the high end stuff and had an Instagram giveaway amongst my friends. 2 youngsters asked if they could have whatever was left and I split it between them.

Thanks for posting your great list too. Terrific!

Lucia: That's a brilliant list, well done!:T. I couldn't agree more with you on all counts. Intermediate goals are an excellent idea as breaking a big task down into more manageable steps is a key way to succeed. I have only certain products out to use up at any given time and focus on them as my nearer goal too.

I don't know if you watched any of Christine Kobzeff's vids, but she said the same thing - that it's hard to see the bare numbers when it's all organised nicely. My initial make-up shade numbers shocked me into reducing, esp. when I considered what I actually used and what was just sitting there.

And yes, item size matters to me too. We recently downsized our home (I cut my precious book collection down from about 1050 to 460-odd!) and are facing a probable international move in the next few years, so I really need to streamline everything, not just cosmetics. I have a lot of reading to do and craft stuff to use up, thus the No-Buy of all those things. :cool:

AbbieCadabra

you all have my utmost admiration for doing this, i'd love to join in but i fear if i started counting & listing all my stuff, i could be gone for at least 6 months...:D *shame

i did actually have a small clear out last month, but quickly re-bought stuff to fill the gaps again! best laid plan & all that...

i have one of these (mine has 3 smaller top drawers & 2 large bottom ones) - top 2 drawers crammed full of make up, 3rd drawer is guilt free with a few hair clips, bottom 2 large drawers of full of bigger stuff, body lotions etc.

oh, & also 2 of these, for all my 'daily' (who am i kidding?!) stuff. 1 is eye shadows & the other is foundation/concealer/matte & highlight powders/primers. very handy storage these are, not that i'm trying to encourage anyone though

oops, nearly forgot!, plus 2 desk organiser things with pencils, lipsticks, gloss, eye primers, brushes etc. & 1 slightler bigger one that spins around for daily used pencils, liners, lipsticks etc.

good luck in your quest ladies!

Elizabeth_Braun

Come on, Abbie, you know you want to....

I had a look at your storage thingies. If it helps, I've seen YouTuber collections that are WAY bigger. Actually, I have some similarly storage drawer sets for my fabric and about half of my embroidery threads.....

I've just put 2 lipsticks and 8 eye shadow shades on one side to give away. Also calculated that at current use up rates, I'll need 3-5 years to get my collection down to the level I want it. Hmmmm. We'll see.