How Much is Too Much?
Happy Holidays 🙂 I hope everyone had a great Christmas day yesterday!
There’s a snow storm in New York today, so I am staying snug at home.
I was trying to put a book and my computer on my desk today and realized that my desk, well.. not only my desk but my entire room, was overtaken by makeup and beauty products. I’m not the most organized person to start with, so I do realized that there’s other stuff going on on my desk, but everything is somehow related to beauty or youtubing.
Being a beauty guru (whatever that means :/) on youtube for a year and a half has surely made my makeup inventory explode to a point where it feels a bit overwhelming. I asked myself out loud “Geez, what the hell.. How much is TOO MUCH?! I have too much of everything!!”
I do have to admit that I love collecting makeup since it’s pretty to look at and it gives me a weird satisfying feeling of possessing pretty things I like and others envy. I remember before I started youtubing, I had a modest amount of makeup. I had a bit of everything and never really felt the need to collect every slightly different shade of baby pink possible in the world (not to offend those that are really into it, since I too am still really into it, but back in the day pink was pink and one or two lippies were enough for me).
But I guess it is the weird psychological trap I fell into and felt like I HAD to have so many things to complete me. I never realized how much stuff I had until today while I was trying to make some wiggle room on my desk. Everything, everywhere is jam packed with makeup – and the pictures are only the tip of the iceberg.
((warning it’s messy because I can’t even attempt to clean things out – I am saving the cleaning part for the end of the year or first thing next year :))
Nail polishes.. My biggest failure.
Most of them are only swatched once or never used. I was ambitious about becoming a “nail-girl” and never followed through. They’ve been sitting patiently waiting to be used.. :/
Mascaras, BB creams, brushes, a hidden box of not-my-favorite-lipsticks, liners, creams, hand lotion, lipglosses and random stuff I throw in to clear my desk off. 🙁
Ekk!! Messy :/
Even in my drawer.. random things thrown in when I’m busy and not really thinking of where to put things. I guess these are my elite products. They are the most frequently used products.
Another drawer filled with things thrown in and not really utilized properly.
anther drawer being abused :/
skin stuff
another randomly-throwing-things-in-drawer. (I even have halloween makeup! what?! LOL)
Palettes and stuff not touched for months and new backups and unopeneds waiting to be used :/
another freakin drawer filling up with randoms.
I took the pictures to figure things out and how I am going to try to reduce the volume of my products. I guess I wanted to share some thoughts of how I’m starting to open my eyes to reality and realizing that I don’t really need a sephora store in my room to get me made up. Even with making videos – I don’t use my entire inventory to make videos. It’s rather the opposite. I use a very limited amount of products (and I tend to use my favorites over and over again) and most of the products I have stored have never even been used in my videos.
It’s useless to scorn and say “Oh Catalina, you’re so wasteful. Why buy all the stuff if you’re not going to use it blah blah?!”, I know. I already addressed it so I’m going to start to try to reduce things. I’m not going to give away stuff because the majority of the stuff I have are things I bought with my own money (if I want to get rid of things I got for free, I will gladly give those away for free). Once I am done sorting things out I am going to do a blog sale and try to price things in an affordable manner, but that will be about it. A lot of things are going to be tossed and sold, but I am really looking forward to a more minimized, less cluttered life where makeup doesn’t dominate a lot of my living space.
I guess I’m starting to realize that more isn’t always better. I feel like I am becoming my mother (who is an extreme minimalist :p), and having too many things is actually starting to work against me. We will see how things turn out, but today I just wanted to share my enlightenment with you all :p
Have a great weekend and if you’re in a snowy area – please take care if you have to go out!
Catalina
Kusanagi
I feel exactly the same way! I was so disappointed with myself when I found myself with 4 different palettes of purple eyeshadows because I "forgot" I had one, or I felt that I needed a slightly different variation of purple. Half the battle is realizing that something needs to be done, so good luck on your year-end or new year project! Happy Holidays!
blogger
Happy holidays Cat~ wow..i do feel overwhelmed too about having stuff that is more than enough of what i use/need.so,i've planned to use every single one of them and banned myself from buying new ones.but lately i was drawn to get new shadow palettes..heck what am i doing?! i need to control myself and save the money for my wish list 😀 thanks for the post! 🙂
KAREEN
Thank you so much, i was just going to go out and "add" *ahem to my disgusting amount of makeup, but with your inspiring post, i might start reducing also! Thanks Catalina!
Lene
Luckily I 'only' have 2 boxes 🙂 I think a blogsale will be great idea.
Happy holidays 😀
Jennet
I feel the same way! And I often find myself going back to my favorite products, too. But I do hand down my new/ gently used products to my mom, lol.
Happy holidays Catalina! Hope you have a good one. 🙂
Anonymous
Ahh, the nail polish has to be stored upright! 😀
NatsuMi
Lol girls will always be girls. I think its quite harmless given that you're not totally obsessed with makeup. =) Good luck in de-cluttering your stuff… i do envy those who get their hands on your awesome stuff. haha. I've been following your blog for a few months and love your videos. happy new year!^^ *warm wishes from malaysia*
memi3259
You could always have a blog sale to get rid of at least half of those nail polishes. And some of the makeup that you don't use.
Links
I've only started getting into makeup this year, so most of my stuff is still confined to one small Sterilite bin lol. I try to stick to "key colors" and avoid duplicates. A blog sale is definitely the way to go. Maybe it's time for a New Years resolution? 😉
Oreleona
awwn u could do a blogsale to get rid of the stuff omg i have a lot of nail polishes that i did a swatch of and never ever used again! so i just gave them away to my sister 9she is veryy happy with them) haha and i also noticed that i have about 20 gold-dark copper eyeshadows and the same number of french nailcolors!!
Anonymous
whoaaa. and i only have a hello kitty lunch box full of make up 😮
why do i get the feeling there will be giveaways? *nudge nudge* hehe, kidding! ^^ but i do that thats a great way to get rid of some stuff if some people don't mind it already used!
speaking of cleaning up for 2011, i need to clean up my closet! i have a wardrobe of a high school student and i'm already in my 2nd year of college 🙁 sigh-
hope you had a merry christmas and will have an AWESOME new year!
i wish i was back home in NY right now, i'm soooo missing out on that snow storm! :'(
Tiramisu520
I feel the same!! My bathroom and room is filled with make up/beauty stuff….I was thinking the other day and thought "wowha…i' spend so much money on this stuff."I'm going to use it all up and try not to buy anything more..
goodluck!!!
Jen
I've been feeling much the same way lately too! My stash has become out of control and it's become difficult to manage which drives me crazy. >_<
I've stopped buying makeup as well. Actually, a blogsale might be really good therapy for you! Good luck on your new makeup purge. 🙂
BW
There is this popular project 10 pan in which you use a product to the end before you buy a new one, but I don't think you would be able to do it. If you were about to use what you have you wouldn't need to buy anything new for many years.
So far I've been using one mascara and one foundation and only bought new one when it's almost empty (on the other hand I have more than 40 bath foams, 30 bath oils and 50nails polishes). I thought about buying a different foundation from different company but then again I thought I don't need two and if I just buy the other (new) one to try and if it's not good I'll have the feeling of wasting money (samples are not popular where I live).
I've been subscribed to your youtube channel for a year and I was stunned how many pink lipsticks a person can have. Now seeing those photos really made me think about it. So many expensive stuff that may go to waste, maybe you really should make a blog sale and sell the sealed ones you don't plan to use. And since I love clean and reorganize things I fell like bumping into your place and do something about it o(≧▽≦)o.
Good luck with cleaning and sorting ( ´ ▽ ` )
Airisia
this was one of the most refreshing guru blog posts I have seen in a long time. I often feel that gurus get overwhelmed with getting more and more and the entire point of beauty routines becomes confused and diluted! looking forward to seeing what you really love and want to keep in your collection!! you could also have a contest for your subscribers to pare down. 🙂
The Daily Reflect
OMG! Catalina you have soo much stuff! It all looks so fun! So I was wondering if and when you do go through your stuff, I know you bough most of your products yourself, but I would love to buy them from you! I am trying to get started with my make up experiments and am dying to try some products from Korea. So please feel free to e-mail me mkarger6@aol.com, I'd love to hear from you!
Fashion to Go
wow that is quite a bit of make up you have there! I can see why collecting make up would become such an obsession, but I totally agree on your mission to become more reserved in your purchases. Looking forward to your blog sale 🙂
looneyluna
You know, it's strange too because it's not only the youtube guru's who feel pressure to get a lot of makeup, it's the viewers/readers of blogs too, in a strange way. I mean I never used to have any makeup and (not blaming any gurus or anything) then i was all interested and bought a ton of things I don't use, to achieve a certain look, or for whatever reason I (yes, for i'm the one doing the purchasing 🙁 came up with…I also know about the feeling of having too much, and to tell you the truth, it feels good to get rid of some, as I did. I wish good luck for you, Happy New Years!!
Lena
I am not much of makeup girl…even though I love to watch your videos!! lol
But if you decide to donate nail polishes to someone "wink wink" in desperate need of nail polishes…the more the better…send it my way!
*totally kidding
Sara
Kind of heading in that direction…lol. Sometimes I find myself buying things just to test them out. If I like it..yay! If I don't…it's set aside. Sad but true. I would say I only have enough makeup to fill one drawer…hoping to keep it that way though! Circle and cosmetic lenses on the other hand…I can't get enough. :S. Thanks for sharing!
somethingforsam
I too look at my "collection" and think it's way too much. I'm attempting to do the project 10 pan (started by lollipop26), maybe it would help you clear your stuff out by having that kind of mindset. Anyways, happy new year.
Ana
You raise a topic I have been pondering for quite some time now.
I'll get back with some musings inspired by your post when the exams pass.
Until then, you might try the solution proposed : at the end of this post
.
If you don't like the idea of giving away stuff you paid for to people who are able to afford it but you don't find buyers for it, you could give that stuff to a women's shelter – I do believe it would be greatly appreciated – it would help someone's confidence, warm their heart a bit, make them feel good about themselves 🙂 .
Happy New Year! I wish you the best of health and luck in it and success in you endeavours 🙂 !
Anonymous
Yeah u r right, i think i started to figure out things at the same moment like you. but if you are going to do a blogsale, this time do a international sale 🙂
Unknown
Hi Catalina I love your blog. I have started one of my own mypinktasticlife.com. Check it out let me know what you think . i also have noticed my Makeup takeover my room and I came up with a few Ideas to organize it. Hope it helps!
Anonymous
ooh cant wait for your blog sale. i just got into makeup and live in nyc too so i wouldnt mind buying some new things to play around with!
Anonymous
ooh cant wait for your blog sale. im drooling over your nail polish collection. hehe. i live in nyc too btw!