Like cleaning out your wardrobe to make room for the new, organizing your makeup products can have the same Marie Kondo detoxing effect. After all, tidy haul, tidy mind, right? But we’re not telling you to go through your entire collection to see which products spark joy, because we know they all do.

‘Organising my makeup is one of my favorite things to do to either pass time or to get myself feeling a bit more amped up to paint some faces.’ @mmmmitchell told us.

‘If my makeup kit is a mess, my mind is a mess and my creative juices can’t flow. There’s nothing more satisfying about seeing my makeup cases in order or either brand, use, or color. I just wish I was this organized with every other aspect of my life!’

So, grab the antibacterial wipes and get your clean-influencer head-on, your haul is about to get some serious beauty admin.

Take tips from Mrs Hinch and organize your makeup into sections. @leeshthatgirl organizes her products into face, eyes, and lips and does the same with her brushes. ‘Investing in clear acrylic organizers are a must for beauty products,’ she explained, ‘they look cute and you can always find what you’re looking for.’ If you want to take it one Hinch further, organize everything into color and shade order, it’s wildly satisfying. 

Cleaning up your old candle jars to store lipstick and brushes is a sustainable and super chic way of getting innovative with your storage. Makeup storage is a great time to get creative; anything from around the house can be reinvented to help you keep on top of your haul. Our BEAUTY BAY Group Chat members even use letter holders and spice racks to stack their palettes. (see images below)

We all have our ride or die favorites, then a few seasonal favorites which only make an appearance during the summer or at Christmas. Make sure your favorites and everyday products are the most accessible, so you don’t need to tip everything out when you’re rush. Create a section that features your tinted serums and summer shades for the warmer months and move your Christmas palettes and glitters into a different section. This way, you’re always going to find what you’re looking for. 

Rather than standing all your makeup upright and hiding the shade sticker, turn everything upside down. Your lipsticks, foundations, and colored liners will be easier to pinpoint making your morning routine faster while keeping your collection organized.

It might seem like an epic chore storing through your hard-earned collection of makeup, but you should really be tidying and cleaning your haul every month. And you know, makeup brushes should be cleaned every week, no matter what! Take a couple of hours and lie all your products across your floor so you can properly see everything. Wipe everything down with an antibacterial wipe, including the storage, before placing everything back. 

Read how to give your makeup brushes a proper clean here. 

If you find you haven’t used a product, well ever, and you doubt you ever will, be brutal (and kind) and donate it to @thebeautybanks. Not only will you have more room for products you love, you’ll also be giving other people the joy of using makeup they wouldn’t normally have access to.

As much as we love to hold on to our old favorites forever, the reality is that all makeup has a use-by date and might not perform as its best or be suitable for use on your face once it’s passed on this date. Make sure you know where to find the PAO (period after opening) number on your products. Usually symbolized as a number followed by M. This number indicates how many months you can use your product until it’s past its best days. 

Lipsticks last six months to one year. 

Cream and liquid foundations last one year.

Mascara and liquid eyeliner last four to six months.

Powder products last two to three years.