A couple weekends ago, I reorganized the drawer where I keep all of my neutral eyeshadow palettes. (Honestly, would ya expect anything else from me? A neutral eyeshadow closet perhaps?)
In the process, I discovered something surprisingly simple but deliciously helpful. With a Sharpie, on the back of each palette, I wrote the year the palette entered my collection.
Doesn’t sound revolutionary, right? Well, what a difference five seconds and a Sharpie can make!
SHARPIE DATE: WHY I STARTED DOING THIS
Short of carbon dating, I have no idea how old a lot of the makeup in my collection is… Some things could be in the decades (I know!), because I’m usually not a stickler for adhering to suggested expiration dates and guidelines.
And since I like to hoard makeup collect makeup and keep it for posterity, I don’t always know what’s fairly new or ridiculously old.
While reorganizing my neutral palettes, I was having a darned-near impossible time discerning between what could realistically stay and what absolutely needed to go, but seeing the dates on the palettes — and realizing just how long I’ve been holding on to some of them — made it crystal clear.
BORROWED FROM THE BAKERY
This idea to write dates directly on my makeup with a Sharpie came from my part-time gig at the bakery.
When we store food, everything and anything that enters any of the storage areas — dry storage, the fridge, the freezer — always, always has an expiration date written on it with a Sharpie, if it doesn’t have an expiration date on it already.
Also, whenever food gets stored, the newest items go in the back, and the oldest ones go up front, which ensures that the older items get used first.
I borrowed these ideas and implemented them for makeup.
“EXPIRES ON THIS DATE”
Now, if you’re super strict with the expiration dates for beauty products, you could do a version of this where you write “Expires on this date” on back of your compacts, on the bottom of your lipstick tubes or foundation etc., and if you want to “next level” it, you could even use the dates to sort your makeup by putting the oldest items in front to make sure you use them up first.
It boils down to what makes sense for you, but I highly recommend Sharpies and dates.
ONE MORE ITEM OF NOTE
Use a metallic Sharpie. Seriously, I use a silver one… I started off with a black one but quickly found it doesn’t show up on black MAC or Chanel compacts!
Go forth and declutter and organize with joy, my makeup-lovin’ friend! ?
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Sounds like a great idea but I don’t think I remember when I got all of my makeup. How do you tell? Or maybe that means it’s already too old. ?
A metallic sharpie! Genius idea! I just realized how old some of my palettes are while reading my own blog! ?
I’ve always written the dates on food products but I never thought of doing that with makeup other than my mascara which I toss every 3 months. Because I purge my makeup on a regular basis I know what’s good and what has seen better days, but for you ladies who have huge makeup collections, I can see where dating it would be an invaluable tool. Makeup gets old; formulations, textures, and finishes erode; microbes flourish; and makeup trends come and go. Dating is a great way of knowing when it’s time to let go of old products.
It’s funny you say this because I was having a conversation recently where people asked me why someone would use an antibacterial spray on their makeup. I think lots of folks have their makeup for a long time. I can’t imagine how much folks would spend if they followed all the expiration dates (or how much waste there would be). I haven’t used the spray yet myself but understand the appeal. 🙂 I’ve looked things up before by the name of the palette to try to figure out when I got it. Same result as you being shocked by some of the dates; time flies!
I use a Brother label maker and put the month and year that open it on it. Also for mascara because I seem to collect a ton of it, I’ve started writing the date I bought it, even if it’s unopened, so I know what to use first.
Also buy a roll of scotch tape and tape it over the date you wrote with your sharpie. Otherwise over time if your hands are oily or makeup-y or makeup remover-y (are those real words even? Lol) it can break down the sharpie ink and the date will fade. Probably not so bad with palettes since you can just avoid touching that area but for other things like mascara or eyeliner pens the sharpie ink fades fast!
I’ve been doing this for as long as I could remember. Except I used normal ballpens instead of Sharpies, then I wrote month/year on a tiny, colourful label sticker-paper.
e.g: The Inkey List Vit C serum I bought last month is labelled as 01/20, then paste it at the back of the tube.
I thought everyone else is doing this?
This is scary to think about— I literally just threw out my Lorac Pro palette (the original, a total favorite) a few days ago— Not because it was old, but because it had been dropped enough that all the pans were crumbling. And… I remember using it when my seven year old was a baby. ? I purge the other stuff pretty well, but I tend to hoard the eyeshadow palettes… I bet half my palettes are over five years old! And I’m not sure I could figure out dates if I tried… now I’m grossing myself out.
Because I’ve been a terrible hoarder and waster, I’ve been doing this with food forever, been doing it with skincare for a couple years, and about 6 months with makeup. As part of efforts to simplify and minimize my life and leave a smaller footprint, I’ve been getting rid of old makeup, but it’s mostly really old eyeshadow palettes. It’s been hard since I find them all so pretty, but they are really old and used very little they are almost like new. I’m learning with meditation that things aren’t meant to last and to enjoy them while you have them, so I’m sad that I am now removing them and didn’t get to enjoy them as I should. The bright side is I now purchase very thoughtfully and really enjoy what I have.