My Blog Sale recently went live and I've finally opted to do it since the idea behind the blog sale has been cooking up slowly in my head even though actually people who I know have finally pushed me over the edge. I really felt intimidated to go down the blog sale route since one can actually do wrong, sell the wrong thing to the wrong person and get herself (or himself) into trouble. Last thing you want it to see something seemingly fun and useful turn into a headache. If you'd be interested in a post on how to successfuly organize a blog sale, do let me know.
Even though I am a beauty blogger and part of the ‘duty’ is to test various products and makeup (which I will forever enjoy), the worst part is seeing all of them laying somewhere in my drawers, closets, boxes almost untouched and gathering dust. I feel that is wasteful and after I've made this massive clearout, I actually felt better. So here are a few guidelines that have helped me a lot in the process.
My main and primary thought was self-assesment – what type of person I am, what is my style, what is important to me, what are my preferences, what I aim for. Some people are makeup artists and they need an entire palette of colors and textures. Others are perhaps into eyebrows or contouring, they do them every single day so investing in those products is natural. In certain cases people can afford bigger amouts of things, maybe they actually use them, borrow them, share them or just keep them to themselves as collectibles – who knows?
What is important is to know who you are, what your needs, desires and objectives are. Knowing what you go for is also important. For example, I don't contour much but I use highlighters on the regular. Cool pink blushes do nothing for my complexion. Pink and orange lipsticks are rarely something I go for but I do like nude, red lippies or vampy shades on my lips and tips. Warm-toned blushes I love and almost always prefer with some sheen so I rarely fall for matte bluhes but bronzers I do like to have a matte finish. See where I'm going with this?
As for the process itself, I think that taking everything out on a bigger surface is great. You want to see it all in the same place (soak it all up) and that really is an effective eye-opener. Then I like to divide my makeup into piles; foundation pile, blush pile, lipstick pile, mascara pile etc. Then you can count how many have you got of each. Do I lack something? Do I need to downsize? Maybe I have overdone it with lip gloss which I do not use anymore? These are the questions you want to answer to yourself.
Then I like to see if any makeup is out of date. You can check out my Spring Clean Guide (can be used year-round) for some guidelines in that area. Next step would be prioritizing. Personally, I aim to create a streamlined makeup collection consisiting out of products I use on rotation weekly (eventually monthly). I am not a brand snob so I am not looking for high-end pieces strictly but more for pieces I actually cherish and which work for me, regardless of their price point. I also want products within a color palette that sits naturally with my skin tone and features – mismatched items were removed.
Downsizing isn't the only option. Sometimes we always wanted to work on something – e.g. I was planning to up my eyeliner game for ages but never got round to. Now I know what I have in my stash, what to buy and can finally play more with cat-eye flicks. Another thing would be not to get rid of too much stuff. Sometimes people get carried away and bin something in the flow of their passionate purge. Think long and hard. Give yourself a reasonable time frame for certain products you're not too sure about.
At the end of this makeup clearout, I am left with more than ten five blushes, four bronzers, six eyeshadow palettes, three mascaras etc. left – still more than enough! Basically, I have ended up with makeup I have used every single day for months time anyways. Stuff I liked to see but never actually used were the ones I let go. I think that I have done good with this. I feel happy with what I have. Wasn't that the entire point?
- Nedavno sam organizovala Blog Sale na koji sam se napokon odlucila nakon sto su me osobe koje poznajem ohrabile iako se sama ideja “krckala” u glavi vec duze vrijeme. Dosta me ideja same organizacije plasila posto se u takvim stvarima zaista moze pogrijesiti – a da ne shvatate, mozete prodati pogresnu stvar pogresnoj osobi te se naci u nezgodnoj situaciji. Posljednja stvar koju sam zeljela je bilo vidjeti kako se nesto veselo i korisno pretvara u nocnu moru. Ukoliko bi vas zanimao post o organizovanju blog sale-a, javite mi u komentarima.
- Samim time sto se identifikujem sa pojmom beauty blogerice, testiranje mnostva razlicitih proizvoda je na neki nacin dio “duznosti”(u cemu cu uvijek uzivati). Ipak, najgori dio svega toga je primjetiti da velikim dijelom te divne i gotovo nekoristene stvari stoje u ladicama, ormarima, kutijama i skupljaju prasinu. Nisam se osjecala dobro povodom toga i masivna cistka je uslijedila. Pri tome sam se pridrzavala par smjernica koje su mi bile korisne a ovdje ce biti rijeci o njima.
- Primarna stvar na kojoj sam poradila jeste bilo samoprocjenjivanje – kakav sam tip osobe, kakav je moj stil, do cega mi je stalo, cemu tezim i koji su mi ciljevi. Neki ljudi su umjetnici na polju kozmetike i u tu svrhu im je potrebna citava paleta nijansi i razlicitih tekstura. Drugima je pak ulaganje u proizvode za npr. obrve i konturisanje prirodna stvar posto rade na njima svakodnevno. Pojam dnevne rutine je razlicit za svakoga. U nekim slucajevima ljudi mogu priustiti velike kolicine kozmetike. Mozda ih zaista sve koriste, mozda ih dijele, posudjuju ili ih naprosto cuvaju poput kolekcionara – ko zna?
- Za cijelu pricu je najbitnije da se fokusirate na sebe, svoje zelje i potrebe. Bitno je i da znate sto vama stoji i sta vam prolazi kroz ruke najcesce. Na primjer, znam da ne konturisem lice cesto ali hajlajter koristim svakodnevno. Ruzicasta rumenila hladnog podtona mi ne pristaju tenu a niti ruzicasti te narandzasti ruzevi za usne. Sklonija sam nude, crvenim i vamp nijansama kada su usne i nokti u pitanju. Rumenila toplog podtona najvise volim a preferiram ih sa shimmerom (rijetko kada se zaljubim u mat rumenilo) a opet, bronzere najvise volim sa mat finisem. Vidite na sta ciljam sa ovim? Odmah mi je bilo lakse shvatiti sta zelim zadrzati.
- Za cjelokupni proces mislim da je korisno svu sminku izvaditi na vidjelo i na isto mjesto. Mnogo je lakse shvatiti sa cim imamo posla kada nam je sve pred ocima. Potom dijelim svoju kolekciju na grupe: grupa rumenila, grupa maskara, grupa ruzeva za usne itd. Onda imam bolji uvid cega imam u kojim kolicinama. Da li mi necega nedostaje? Da li sam sa necim pretjerala? Mozda ne zelim da prosirujem kolekciju sjajila za usne koja svakako ne koristim? Na takva pitanja zelite sebi dati odgovore.
- Volim provjeriti i da li je nekim komadima istekao rok. Za detaljniji pregled takvih informacija mozete pogledati moj Vodic za proljetno ciscenje – primjenljiv je tokom cijele godine. Naredni korak je pravljenje prioriteta. Licno tezim ka stvaranju lijepo osmisljene kozmeticke kolekcije. U njoj zelim proizvode koje koristim sedmicno (eventualno mjesecno). Nisam snobovski nastrojena tako da mi ultimativni cilj nije okupljanje iskljucivo high-end kozmetike vec komada koje jako volim i koristim, bez obzira na cjenovni rang. Takodjer imam na umu odredjenu paletu nijansi koje cu prilagoditi svom tenu i facijalnim karakteristikama – sve sto izlazi iz tog okvira je bilo eliminisano.
- Kolicinsko smanjenje nije uvijek jedini cilj. Na primjer, vec jako dugo vremena sam zeljela poraditi na vjestinama nanosenja tusa za oci i nakon cistke znam sta imam u kolekciji, sta bih trebala kupiti te se napokon mogu posvetiti ostvarenju te zelje. Rijesiti se necega sto je trebalo ostaviti i sto ustvari cesto koristimo, definitivno nam nije cilj. Nekada se ljudi zanesu u katarzicnom zaru ciscenja, sto nerijetko rezultira kajanjem. Dajte sebi dovoljno vremena da razmislite ukoliko se oko nekog komada mnogo premisljate. Nema potrebe za ishitrenim odlukama.
- Na kraju ovog kozmetickog egzorcizma, opet mi je ostalo vise od pet rumenila, cetiri bronzera, sest paleta sjena za oci, tri maskare itd. sto je i dalje vise nego mi zaista treba ali i dalje imam dovoljno izbora pri sminkanju. U sustini, ostalo mi je sve ono sto sam ionako svakodnevno koristila. Rijesila sam se stvari koje mi je bilo lijepo gledati ali su mi rijetko bile u rukama (a jos rijedje na licu). Jako sam zadovoljna rezultatima i sretna sam sa onim sto imam. Zar to nije uostalom bila bit svega?
