I finally got around to doing something I've been dreading for awhile: counting all the lipsticks, lipglosses, liquid lipsticks and lipstains in my possession. Even after several rounds of decluttering sessions where I've given away or thrown out dozens of lip products, I still have way too many for someone who doesn't wear anything more than a lipbalm on most days.
The grand total is a whopping 89 shades. I know, I know. It's insane and I'm not proud of it. Granted, this is including PR-gifted products as well as dozens of mini sizes from sets, gift with purchases and that sort of thing. Right off the bat, I picked out 4 shades that I wouldn't miss so I'm down to 85 shades at the moment. I'm planning to downsize further in the coming months so I've devised a little challenge to help me decide what I should part with.
To help me use things that I typically might not reach for, I'm currently sorting my lip products by color family rather than by brand, which is how I used to store them. I've split them into five groups: nudes, reds, brights and vampy shades, mauves and medium pink and corals. It can be a little tricky categorizing the sheer bright pinks but it doesn't have to be overly complicated. Each week, I'm going to pick one shade from each group and aim to use each shade throughout the week.
I plucked a few products that I'll be keeping in my everyday makeup bag as well. I chose my well-loved Fresh Sugar Berry Lipbalm and Clarins Instant Light Lip Perfector Balm in Rose since they're almost used up. The Clarins Instant Light Lip Perfector in Rosewood is a nice glossy balm that goes with everything so I'm including that as well.
I started this little challenge last week and chose my five shades at random. I was able to use every shade at least once which I'm pretty happy about. It was my first time trying the Bite Beauty Amuse Bouche lipstick in Gazpacho which I recently got for 100 Sephora points and I love the formula and color - I'll likely do a full post on it soon. I've set aside these five products in a separate box so that I won't repeat shades in the coming weeks.
This week I chose my five shades instead of blindly picking. I can already tell you I'm going to have trouble wearing some of the bolder shades this week so will likely have to carry over some of these shades into forthcoming weeks. I'll also be out of town next week and likely won't be wearing much lipstick at all. My thinking is that I'll carry forward the shades that don't get used so that eventually I use it or it ultimately has to go. I won't be updating the blog weekly with this challenge but in a few months I'll try to report back on my experience.
How many lip products do you have? Would you be interested in doing this weekly challenge with me? How many lip products do you think is too much? Very interested to hear your guys' take on this!