Putting Together the Perfect Makeup Kit
If you’re not careful makeup can quickly become disorganized, cluttered up and, quite frankly a real mess. If you spend more time hunting through your makeup for your favorite shade of lipstick than you do applying it then it’s about time you got the job organized and put together a makeup kit – one for everyday use and another which can be put by for special occasions.
The first thing you’ve got to do is to lay out all of your cosmetics and skin care products and see exactly what you’ve got. You’ll probably have;
• Foundations – to even out your skin tone and give a clean, fresh palette to apply the rest of your makeup
• Concealer – to cover up blemishes and marks
• Some sort of blusher
• Eye shadows – neutral colors for everyday use and dramatic or even exotic colors for special occasions
• Eyeliners – many girls I know won’t leave home without at least a dab of eyeliner
• Powders – to help set the foundation so that it doesn’t wear off too fast
• Lipsticks / lip glosses – we all have our favorite shades but remember that the best shades for your skin type and coloring can change during the seasons and as you get older
• Bronzer – for adding a little extra color to the face when necessary
The next thing you do is to put your makeup into separate piles. You want a pile of the things you wear for everyday use and piles of things you only use occasionally. Make piles of;
• Basic colors of cosmetics which you use each day to match your usual outfits
• Skin care products including moisturizers, serums, sunscreens, makeup removers, cotton balls, acne treatment etc.
• Special occasion cosmetics with the dramatic colors you only wear occasionally, false eyelashes, Halloween colors etc.
• Seasonal products like bronzers and foundations. People do tend to suit different colors during the winter and the summer months as their skin tones change.
Be sure to discard any broken or old cosmetics. Old makeup is a bacteria magnet and should not be used – just get rid of it, similarly anything in a broken container which can get dirty should be thrown away. Make up does have a pretty short shelf life for safe use;
• Mascara and liquid eye liners should not be kept longer than 3 months.
• Creamy eye shadows, foundations and bases should not be kept longer than 6 months. Similarly any face powders which have sponges or brushes in contact with them and cream / pancake style foundations.
• Moisturizers, liquid foundations and concealers should be safe for up to one year.
• Powder based eye shadows and blush, bronzers and eye pencils can last much longer. If your eye pencil becomes too hard and dry making application difficult just bin it and replace it.
Take out all nail products – polishes, remover etc and keep that separate unless you use it regularly and are always doing touch ups on the go. . . . in which case you should keep just one shade in your regular make up kit.
You also need to take a long, hard look at your make up brushes and other application tools. If they have been floating around in the bottom of your makeup bag since time immemorial they probably need replacing or, at the very least washing. You can find a great range of makeup brush sets at your local Salon Outlet in handy containers to keep them clean, dry and organized.
Once you’ve got your cosmetics organized you can put together a small every day makeup kit in a bag or purse and put away all of your special occasion cosmetics for that special occasion.
