Spring is here and while we may be turning to declutter our wardrobe and generally tidying, our makeup collection can be totally overlooked and actually in dire need of a clean out. So I'm here with an easy 6-step guide on how to spring clean your makeup collection effectively without the stress.
Below, find an easy makeup expiration chart to check if all your makeup is fresh, along with some simple tips and clever hacks on how to clean dreaded makeup sponges and more! I really hope this easy guide helps you get into the spirit of cleaning out your makeup collection and shedding a few unwanted or old products.
STEP 1: CHECK EXPIRATION DATES
When tidying out anything that brings you joy or caters to hoarding ways it's hard to emotionally detach! So to ease into your spring clean makeup clear out you first want to focus on the facts - Is your makeup out of date? Simply go through your makeup checking the small jar symbol on each product and also opening each one to decide if it needs the bin or not. Below I've created a simple makeup expiration chart to guide you through how long you should be keeping products for. But as a rule, if a formula has changed in appearance and feels or smells different the best place for it is in the bin.
STEP 2: GROUP SIMILAR PRODUCTS TOGETHER
Laying out all the makeup products you own on the floor go through and sort them into different piles. Separating and grouping concealer, lip products, blusher and so on will allow you to see exactly what you have and will most likely make you want to pare back on your largest piles. For me, this is always lipsticks and concealers so I would decide which ones I want to give away from these piles - easy. Side note - While it may seem wise to start swatching everything it's easy for this process to slip into makeup 'playtime' finding you have made more mess than before and wasted hours. So unless you really want to swatch everything, keep going and remember, you know what each product looks like because you bought!
STEP 3: WIPE EVERYTHING DOWN USING MAKEUP WIPES
Next, you want to grab either some natural surface wipes (I'm a fan of the Ecover Antibacterial wipes), makeup or baby wipes or a soft damp cloth and swiftly clean every product. Bacteria can quickly build up even on the outside of packaging so giving everything a quick clean is vital for a good spring clean of your makeup collection. Pay extra attention to products that come into direct contact with the skin as these should be kept clean to avoid possible infections and skin breakouts (see my how-to clean eyelash curlers) and set makeup brushes to one side to clean later.
STEP 4: CLEAN OUT YOUR MAKEUP BAG & BATHROOM CABINET
Any material, container or shelf your makeup products come into contact with you want to clean out with an anti-bacterial spray or wipe and leave to dry. For this, I recommend a spray bottle mixed with water and Zoflora as not only will it clean but it will leave a fresh scent behind. Makeup bags with waterproof lining can be wiped out with a cloth or wipe but for material cosmetic bags you will want to place these in the washing machine to remove any stains and general makeup mess.
STEP 5: PLACE EVERYTHING BACK BY CATEGORY & SIZE
Placing everything back where it was is the fun part! By now you should have a clean, pared-down makeup collection thanks to your mini spring clean. So all that is left to do is place it back neatly. For bathroom cabinets place taller items to the back and smaller travel sizes to the front, you may also want to group by category so everything is in easy reach. For items that roll around such as lip products and pencils grab a stationery pot to hold them all. As for your makeup bag, everything will get mixed about anyway so quickly place everything back in it, making sure you aren't overfilling it.
STEP 6: CLEAN YOUR MAKEUP BRUSHES
Lastly, you will most likely need to clean your makeup brushes. I'm not going to lie, this is a bit of a laborious task but you can check out my own easy way to clean makeup brushes that will get the job done faster. As for makeup sponges, you will want to give them a thorough clean as they do harbour bacteria easily, using this easy makeup sponge microwave cleaning hack that really does work a treat!
Let me know if you have any other makeup spring clean tips to add to this list - especially for hard to clean items such as pencil sharpeners and makeup brushes. I'd love to hear them as I'm very much in full spring clean mode right now!
Fee xo.