What categories are most represented in your stash?
There’s not much I don’t have plenty of! I’m sure I have enough lipstick, lipgloss, and eyeshadow palettes to get me through a few apocalypses, though.
— Christine
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Eyeshadow, blush, lipstick, bronzer and highlight. Oh pretty much everything. I don’t need anything!
Eyeshadow palettes, lip products and highlighters. All of my favorite things! Lip products are the most represented though. Sometimes I see a beautiful lip color and I can’t help myself.
Lip products. I have more than 100 (mostly bullet lipsticks).
Looking at this question from a different angle…
I have around 25 eyeshadow palettes and a whole bunch of single shadows, so if you counted each individual pan, I probably own hundreds of eyeshadow shades!
Blush! And I don’t use but 2 or 3 of them anymore. I need blush to look healthy, so I am partial to it. I rarely use my matte powders anymore. Matte creams and satin blushes are my favs now.
I have a ton of lipsticks and lip glosses and I always will. My preferences in colors and textures change frequently for my lips so I like having tons of options. I have been able to par down my eye palettes, but I don’t know how long I’ll be able to hold off until I cave and get more pretty things.
I’m “the one with the lipstick” at work. 🙂
OMG, that is too funny! That’s me, too!
I have made significant changes to my buying habits regarding makeup and have purged a truckload of product and guilt along with it. I became more involved with makeup when my autoimmune was first diagnosed in 2009 and I went into a dangerous flare. I used makeup as a way of coping with the loss of my physical capabilities. I had the mindset that if I looked good, I was good and makeup gave me the impetus to keep myself going, but along with that, I lost perspective and kept buying thinking makeup could somehow cure the grief inside me. It didn’t and I got to the point where I would buy and then not even use product I was purchasing. I hoarded LE purchases like freaking Smeagol. My hoard was hidden from others in my makeup area which is only accessible through my walk-in closet. I didn’t have to confront it because it was tucked away. Over the last number of years I have been coming to terms with my hoarding issue and I now keep the door to my walk-in closet and subsequent makeup area wide open. I cannot lock grief in there that way and must keep it tidy and organized because I have to look at it all the time (I am very neat and organized with the rest of my house). I felt like the area held a lot of bad energy so of my own accord, I ruthlessly and systematically pruned my stash down to what I use and love. I feel so much better and confessing this publically reinforces my positive action.
That said, I love eyeshadow palettes. I have a system where I donate lightly used palettes to my friends’ daughters when I get bored. Eyeshadow palettes are well represented in my stash, but the ones I hold, I love and regularly use.
Publicly.. grrr.. a bad grammar habit ?
Thank you for opening up to us here Wednesday. It takes a lot to be brave enough to admit and deal with what you are facing. (Hugs) I had an issue when I was overweight and then lost 55 lbs, it was a lot to lose on my small frame, and I still didn’t feel good about my self and that was when I started with buying and hoarding makeup. Just like you said, I would just put it away and i wouldn’t even use it. Then I started buying clothes as well and I filled every closet in our house, I wore something new to work every day. People would comment about it too. After I had a little health scare it kind of snapped me out of it. I am in Marie Kondo mode now.
Marie Kondo is awesome! ? to you Brenda.
Wednesday, I believe that it was that same issue that pushed me over the edge with hoarding makeup (and clothing /shoes). Directly after the death of my first grandchild, Skyler, I became increasingly sick as I made his final arrangements. Something I had to do as neither his parents nor his wife’s family had the resources to take care of things. And so I did. One night, the pain in my abdomen had me convinced that I had severe appendicitis. Went to ER, where, after their running tests including a CT of my abdomen, they informed me that I had acute, severe inflammatory bowel disease. Crohn’s Disease. Like yourself, I believe that my subsequent, though gradual, hoarding was my way of stuffing down my grief. It was too much, and I couldn’t tell anyone and expect them to understand what I was feeling inside. Or at least I didn’t feel safe expressing it. So makeup became my “fix”, my mask to hide myself behind, my shield to hide my vulnerability. Thank you so much, more than I can ever truly express to you, for opening up like this about your own battle with life-threatening autoimmune disease, Wednesday. Your doing so was not only brave, but also shone a brilliant light on what has been “eating” me alive for 11 very long years. You have inspired me to take a closer, more incisive look at what I may need to do next in addressing the white elephant in my own room. Perhaps there are others like us who will likewise be lifted up and have a similar moment of stark personal revelation from what you wrote. I hope!
Brought me to tears, Nancy. We all have white elephants and not always the right tools to cope. I believe the world is changing along with attitudes. Sending warm hugs and the power of sisterhood.
Wednesday and Nancy , your both so brave thank you so much for sharing.
Wednesday and Nancy T – so moving to hear your stories, thank you so much for sharing.
I echo Kira’s sentiment – I was also touched by what Wednesday and Nancy shared. I am glad to be part of this community – so much heart & thoughtfulness…It’s the only blog related group I participate in, and have been surprised (hey, what do I know?) by what gets touched off in conversations about makeup. Thank you all.
I admire you and Nancy so much for sharing your stories. Much love to both of you strong, amazing women.
Wednesday,
I second your courage to share your story. I too have a lot of makeup. A chest-high storage system full. I’m definitely guilty in using the excitement of researching new makeup, buying, waiting on the package and testing them out to bury my stress and bouts of depression. Then I’d forget what I bought. That happened today. I had the new Coloured Raine palette in my cart along with a second. Nevermind that I probably own three versions of each shade. I had my wallet out and a voice said, “what are you doing?” Thankfully, I put my wallet up and left the site.
I say all of that just to ask how did you purge your makeup? Did you give it away to friends or charity or toss it? I would like to purge things, but I hate the thought of throwing barely used products in the trash. If it was a charity, do you mind sharing the name? If I dwell on it, the amount of makeup I have can be overwhelming.
I have two friends with University/College aged girls. I gathered all my barely used and boxed it up and let them share with their friends. The rest, I put in landfill. The guilt of hoarding was then the guilt of dumping into landfill and the guilt of entirely wasted money. As a warning: from what I understand beating yourself up usually triggers more of the same unwanted behaviours so practice instead mindfulness and pay attention to what you are feeling when you feel the need to buy. There is usually an unresolved emotional issue or avoidance of same (boredom) which turns that lightbulb in your head on. Kudos to you for being self aware today.
Little things that may help:
-Delete all marketing emails before you read or unsubscribe.
-Ignore the ‘I will get free shipping if I buy more products’. You will end up spending more than you are saving.
-Use Temptalia Vanity and check for dupes
-Faithfully stick to a buying budget. Figure in times of year which are difficult such as Holidays and VIB sales, etc..
-Avoid youtubers monthly favourites videos. I’m recently noting these are a problem area for me. And certain people may even act as unconsciously for you as an instigator.
-Avoid LE products and snap decision purchases.
-Make lists of wanted products with the price for each. Slow everything down. Connect with yourself. Check-in. Make sure you are wholly aware and not reacting impulsively.
-Never buy backups
?
I am the same way, it pains me to admit. After I was diagnosed with a connective tissue disease (genetic), I had to let go of my job, social life, activities, etc. Slowly I am also losing my mobility due to excruciating chronic pain, and I am only 45. Started to buy tons of things I don’t need, and I think it’s because psychology it empowers me to look good, even if I don’t feel good. ?
Chronic pain is an incredible challenge. I believe we need greater education and support around coping strategies. Lots of days we cope. Some days we don’t do a very good job of it and it’s hard to reach outward when we need it most. Pain turns us inwards. ?
Wednesday and Nancy T – this was so me a couple of years ago. Thank you so much for sharing! In an unconscious way I was thinking that the new beautiful things will compensate somehow for the unhappiness and frustration I was feeling inside. That they will empower me and make me forget about the personal situation and suffering. It did not. Like you, I ended up with makeup that I opened once and never used and with clothing with the label still on. I stopped last summer when I reached the bottom of the barrel on a personal level. I took a long look at my life, started to ask myself questions, forced myself to come with answers that I tried to avoid, and started to make some meaningful changes. There is still work to be done but at least I know I’m on the right path. We must take care of our happiness and well-being ourselves, because we have our best interest at heart. If we rely on those around us, even friends and dear ones, we risk to be disappointed one day.
I’m on the other side of that statement. Granted, people will invariably disappoint us, but we also raise ourselves by uplifting others. Peace.
True 🙂
I love that this community is so supporting.
Thank you to all who shared their stories, it made me feel a lot less alone in a similar situation. I have used shopping, mostly makeup but also clothes, pursed and shoes as a way to cope with depression but mostly with anxiety. It helps for a short time, opening that shiny whatever it might be, then it just gets stored away and the anxiety is back with full force. I haven’t managed to get rid of anything, nor do I think I want to, but I have done quite well with the low buy this year.
I think I may have managed to get less expensive ways of coping after I moved from the fairly big city I used to live in to the countryside. I will never not have mental illness, but looking at the nature and hugging my dogs helps when the darkness comes,
Again, thank you for sharing and to all who expressed supporting thoughts.
This community is awesome!
Helene, you are definitely not alone. I love Temptalia’s community because it is so much more than just a beauty community. I am sure that we all have our stories to share, and when someone has the courage to come forward with hers/his, others follow. I love a quote by Glenn Close: “It always amazes me to think that every house on every street is full of so many stories; so many triumphs and tragedies, and all we see are yards and driveways”. It is important to share our life experiences and to uplift each other, even if it is done on this platform.
I have more mascaras, eye liner pencils, pots & pens & eyelash curlers than anything else! I just noticed Tweezerman has a 38 degree curve eyelash curler for people that have deep set eyes like mine (explaining why I own SO MANY brands of eyelash curlers, but so far none of the Asian brand curlers were just righ!) & a lash curler that just does sections so I guess I’ll be adding to this category very soon! My eyes are too deep set to worry about more than a couple eyeshadow pallets. Why waste money on something that’s hardly noticeable? A bright or sparkling lid & matte “crease”(I’ve got to create a faux crease on & a bit above my orbital bone) & I often use a highlighter on browbone but lately I’ve been considering indulging in expanding my Cosmetic Collection since I’m 57 still look youthful but believe it’s about time to highlight my best features & have more fun with color while I still won’t look like I’m painting a prune!
Eyeshadow and lipsticks for sure. I am counting all my singles, palettes, and cream shadows, as well as bullet lipsticks, liquid lipsticks, and lip stains. It takes up about 1/3 of my collection just in these two categories. And I continue to be tempted by these two categories still, and thus the low buy of 50 dollars per month. So far I’m doing really well!
No question – it’s eyeshadow! Eyeshadow, eyeshadow and more EYESHADOW, accompanied by eyeliner! Lipsticks, highlighter (which I generally don’t wear but I sure love owning) and foundation primers, which I usually wear without any foundation – I like the way many of them make my bare skin look (luminous, poreless, glowing and more).
Lipstick! Old-fashioned, bullet-tubed lipstick.
Eyeshadow palettes, lipsticks, and eyeliner pencils.
I counted recently and had 109 lipsticks!!! Had to cull and now in the 80+, I did joke I had enough lipstick to keep a small South American country stocked up.
Eyeshadow (singles) and lipsticks.
I’m more of a minimalist when it comes to make-up, I mostly own just one of each (primer, foundation, concealer, powder, mascara, brow products, etc.). But I need blush, eyeshadow and lipstick options! I currently have 16 eyeshadow shades (carefully curated with the help of this website) and 5 lipsticks. They won’t take me through Apocalypse, but even with wearing make-up each day I most time replace eyeshadows and lipsticks because they hit the 3 years mark from manufacturing, not because I finish them. 😆
Eye palettes, far and away. I also hoarde lip sticks, both liquid and bullets. I have a huge stash of those flavored lip glosses from Victoria’s Secret and sometimes Bath & Body Works. I cleaned out a lot of lip glosses when I moved back to Texas. Some of my stuff didn’t make it. ? I’m missing my Z-palette, Too Faced and a few others.
Once a lipstick fiend, always a lipstick fiend! I’d say they comprise at least half of my entire makeup stash.
LIPSTICK in reds and statement colors. I’m still trying to use what I have and am on a year long lipstick no-buy.
My glitter collection is absurd–it’s all LIT and they actually tease me about all the orders I’ve placed with them over the years in their little thank you notes. But I love them, they’ll never expire, and every time I go to LIT’s website it looks like they’re seriously downsizing, which I find ominous, so I don’t regret any of it. In conclusion, YOLO.
I think my eyeshadows and blushes could be pared down just a little bit but overall the assortment I have is really good and serves any function I need. For a makeup hobbyist they are not shockingly large. My base products are very minimalist with three concealers for different purposes, one contour powder, one translucent powder, and one foundation for special occasions.
Eyeshadow singles and palettes, lip products galore, especially lipstick! Highlighters, eye liner pencils, lip pencils, too. In other words, I tend to go way overboard when it comes to buying color cosmetics vs. brow/lash/foundation and other face basics.
I’m the same way, Nancy. Addicted to color. Most of my life I only owned one foundation at a time. The only reason I have a few now is perimenopause messing with my skin. lol
Eyeshadow for sure. I have five premade palettes and about 50 singles, for a total of about 100 eyeshadows. I’m officially overwhelmed with my collection and have decided that I can’t buy any more until I fully pan three eyeshadows. I only have partial pan in two shades right now so I figure this will take quite a long time.
In regard to what I actually wear/use on a daily basis, I’d have to go with eyeshadow palettes & contour/highlighter products (although I have entirely way too much of everything else…). While I do have a few foundations I want to try, and I know there will be the occasional eyeshadow palette released, I really don’t plan to buy anything else this year…
Lipsticks, eyeshadow palettes and highlighters. It’ll be the most glamorous apocalypse anyone has ever seen! 😉 😀
Several years ago, I did a short stint in high end fashion retail and worked in a lovely shop with a bright pink velvet chaise lounge and a chandelier, etc and there was a niche makeup & beauty salon on the other half – they did eyebrow shaping and lash extensions and sold one particular label of (fairly mediocre) product. They were lovely people and invited me to use whatever I liked to make up my face when I came in early in the morning because everything was sanitised and they washed the brushes at the end of each day, etc and I smiled and said “Thanks, but I have much more makeup than this at home,” and they didn’t believe me. Ha ha, you fools! 🙂
If I were going to count individual pan e/s from my palettes and single pots then e/s would definitely win but for shear volume it is lipsticks. I did a de-clutter a little over a year ago and while I haven’t purchased as many as I de-cluttered I still have well over 200 with most being traditional bullets. I rarely go anywhere that I don’t pick up a lipstick, at least until my no-buy. I have been planning on doing a complete makeup de-clutter and after reading so many comments and also Tammy’s IG post about her de-clutter, I think I am about ready to do it again.
I would have to say, hand on heart, eyeshadows followed by lipsticks! I only use one blush, one setting powder at a time, a couple of foundations, a few coloured mascaras – but lots and lots of eyeshadows and lipsticks.
Wednesday and Nancy T, very well and honestly said! Thank you!
I agree. Wednesday and Nancy T, you were both so honest and open about the repercussions of your health issues. Please remember though that the makeup helped you through incredible difficult time.
I’m obsessed with eye shadows. Whether it’s singles, palettes, cream shadows, shadow sticks, glitter, or pigments. I have them all. And I still look for more. I’m still looking for the perfect cool toned shimmery bronzey color. I found it in Peripera Wholly Deep Jewel Pot in Sweet and Edgy Girl. But I think it’s been discontinued because I can’t find it anywhere. I don’t want to use it up 🙂
I also have a lot of makeup brushes. The upside is that I can use a different one everyday for a month and still have more leftover. The downside is that I’d have a lot of brushes to wash, lol.
I have enough in mostly all makeup categories to last for many generations. I am in need of nothing except for help using it all up.
I love lipstick so I have a mountain of them. Eye shadow palettes are at the maxium I CAN NOT buy any more. The same goes with highlighters. I just donated about 12 blushes that I never used. I could go without buying makeup for years.
I’m getting paletted out. I must have more than 75 palettes. It’s addicting! I have 30 year old lipsticks that keep in the fridge . I must own 300 or more bullet lipsticks and 4 dozen liquid lipsticks I like to carry at least 6 different shades of lipsticks in my purse at a time
Black eyeliner- liquid, kohl, pencil, gel, – you name it, I have it in spades!
I have a ton of eyeshadow palettes and singles but I’m obsessed with lipstick,lip gloss, highlighters and blushes. I have 177 lip products and two drawers filled with blush and highlighters. I love them all ?
For me, it’s a toss up between eyeshadows, esp palettes, and lip products. I have the Fresh sugar dream balm in 3 places
Bedroom, makeup room and handbag. I order the pink color.
Lip products all the way! From Lipsticks to glosses to pencils to treatments. They are a weakness of mine for sure! I’m afraid to count them but I’d say it makes up about 50% of my total makeup stash if not more. And lets just say that I’m not hurting for products. Trying to stick to a “no buy” for now but the lip products just pull me in!
Definitely most represented are highlighters. Especially that most of them have 10g or more, so even using them as a blush, bronzer, highlighter AND eye shadow would not finish them. I just love everything that sparkles… What’s more, most of them are limited editions, so I’m not using them almost at all _-_’ I have almost every Bobbi Brown highlighter – single or in palette. It’s too much, but I’m not able to stop myself
Let’s start by saying I have more than enough of EVERYTHING except maybe concealers to last me through this lifetime and the next.
Notable huge surpluses are lipstick, nail polish, and especially palettes!
Lippies: about 50% of them are the same shade.
Highlighters: stop me now.
Eyeshadow palettes: I try to spread the love and rarely use the same one two days in a row, at least.
That would be lip products, mostly lipsticks (close to 300, I think) but I do have quite a lot of glosses as well. I also have a lot of eye shadows, both singles and palettes. Oh, and nail polishes. I guess I love colourful products, mostly reds and purples.
Eyeshadow palettes, without a doubt. They’re my favorite.
Eyeshadow palettes and eyeshadows, for sure! Then lipstick and foundation. Don’t even know how I fell into foundation collecting. Colors in palettes make sense to me, but foundation textures, i can’t explain.
Lip products! I own about a hundred lipsticks, more than twenty lip glosses and a few lip pencils. Do I have enough lip for all that? Absolutely not. Can I stop buying them? Absolutely not.
Does my mother know those numbers? I’d rather die than reveal this secret.