Are you concerned with the size of your collection?

I try to be honest and recognize that there are things worth keeping (possibly for comparisons – this is less of a priority given quality and consistency of photos over the last few years vs. 10 years ago – I’m not upgrading my camera every other year!). A lot of limited edition products, particularly if they’re liquid/cream, I rarely keep unless I really love them personally. I don’t want to purchase more storage, so I have kept my collection around the same size for over five years now!

— Christine

18 Comments

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BDoll_334 Avatar

I always feel like I need more and then I look at what I have and see so many things that I rarely/ never use, especially eye shadow palettes.

janine Avatar

No not right now but concerned for the future for sure. My collection is large enough. Too many eye shadow palettes! I purged unmercifully a year ago or so. Reading about new releases makes me want to buy them and itโ€™s so fun trying new things. I just need to recreate the palettes with what I own. Lol. Iโ€™d still like to get that Chanel holiday blush and that new spring one. That price for a blush is kinda crazy.

Swoozy Avatar

I bought too many lipsticks a few years ago (didn’t realize Rouge G was reformulating versus being discontinued), so I haven’t bought a lipstick in 2 years and likely won’t for two more. I have too much eye shadow – went a little crazy with Pat McGrath, so I’m not buying more unless it is something very unique that I know I’ll use and will last. I have a tiny house and no more storage, so nothing else can come in if it doesn’t fit. Other products I’m less overstocked in and am fairly consistent about using up in a timely manner.

Veronica Avatar

uhmmm…. Somewhat… Maybe… Yes… But, I love my collection, it is large, but I don’t want to declutter it. I love almost all of it, there are some underperforming products that could be decluttered, but not feeling the urge to do it.

I am not buying more storage though, if it fits, it stays. When it doesn’t, something will go out.

Veronica Avatar

Oh, and I bet I can recreate most looks with dupes! My new challenge/game is that when a new collection comes out, I try to find dupes for those things I want within my collection first. 97% of the time, I have dupes or close look alikes!

Wednesday Avatar

Last year was probably my best year yet for having a more discerning eye when it comes to purchases. That said, I am continually reminding myself why I do not need more product. I have more in my stash than I will ever need or use up despite regular purging. It is still difficult to let go of those B to B+โ€™s.. I have preferred formulas which I generally stick to, but step outside of it and grab some of my lesser loves for variety.

2021 I am aiming to curb my habit even further and to purge my stash of those products I do not routinely use.

Ana Maria Avatar

I am very happy with th size of my collection and the fact that I streamlined everything to the minimum I need to cover all bases and still keep some room for fun stuff (which in my case is quite boring compared to others ๐Ÿ˜…). So no concerns.

Claudia Avatar

I’m trying to make my collection more concise and being a little more ruthless with decluttering. I threw out all but two concealer formulas last week. My Natasha Denona Bronze palette came in the mail yesterday and I immediately went through my single shadow collection and threw out some dupes that were old and of lower quality. I need to remind myself that I don’t need to keep doubles of a color in two different formulas when one is better and I’ll probably take years to pan it anyway (if ever). It’s different if one is in a palette and one is a single, but most of my palettes are Natasha Denona or Colourpop and the pans are magnetic and pop out anyway. I like rearranging and making custom color stories, so that’s a huge bonus for a palette to have.

Nancy T Avatar

Um, yeah, embarrassingly so. It feels like I allowed it to take over my life and a good sized portion of bedroom space. I sometimes stop and find myself asking “what was I thinking?” when I see it looming in front of me. It was never my intention for things to get like this, but let it I did. Now that I’m very strongly considering moving out of state, I have NO sane idea how I’m supposed to get all this shipped or trucked across the country!

Zizzie Avatar

Every time I think I need something new, I take a deep breath, step back, and invariably realize I don’t need another foundation because I already have 4. I don’t need another palette, I haven’t fully used the ones I have. I have enough blushes to turn to sky pink. So I decide that there are plenty of people who need to feed their children right now, and it makes me feel really good to donate the money I would have spent on makeup to a food bank. I still look good, and inside I feel great.

Z Avatar

Only from a perspective of not wanting to create waste. It’s a large collection, for sure, but as long as I rotate around and enjoy what I have (and I do!), then I feel ok about it. Powders don’t expire, glosses and lipsticks can be an issue, but in twenty years the only one I’ve had a mold issue with came from an indie company that didn’t believe in traditional preservatives. (that’s the thing, kids, you can “believe” this or that, but the truth is tried and true preservatives keep your cosmetics from becoming petri dishes and causing harm). So while my lipstick collection is a little too big to feel like it’ll be used to its fullest, I *have* gone through glosses and lipsticks over the years. That they were nudes tells me that if I don’t let the reds, blues, greens, etc get too large, I’ll probably be ok. I just really don’t like creating waste. So far I’m ok…but the tipping point is close.

Valerie Avatar

I am concerned and have started giving things away. I had a lot of backups and backups to backups ๐Ÿ™ˆit still a large collection though and Iโ€™ve run out of storage. Plus I have a massive collection of lipsticks that I now think I should dispose of, given masks are here to stay…. le sigh.

BrandiD Avatar

I declutter quite a lot, and I have friends who are happy to take things off my hands so I’m not concerned in an ongoing way about the size of my collection. What I do struggle with is how much stuff to keep that is minimally flattering, given that I don’t really do “editorial” makeup looks. Should I keep black eyeliner for the few times in my life that black eyeliner makes sense? So far, the answer is yes but only one small one. When things get overwhelming, I start to experience dissatisfaction with the whole makeup experience, and that is my signal to declutter. I did a lot of stress buying at the end of 2020 and I’m trying to chill out and declutter but 2021 is not helping so far. *sigh*

Jen Avatar

Not exactly concerned but something. I have a good sized collection, though not as big as some. Some days it makes me happy and I enjoy playing with all the colors and textures and other days I look at it and think jeez, look at my collection of poor purchasing decisions lol. If I used it as much as the size of my collection would suggest maybe I wouldn’t feel that way but that’s an ongoing project.

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