Resolution #2: Get Organized

I am an organized person in my professional life. At home, I tend to go for a more relaxed system of making piles and dealing with things later. And because of my makeup blog, I have tons of beauty products stuffed in what seems like a mountain of cosmetic cases.

The start of the new year is a great time to do things we overlook, like throwing out old makeup, cleaning brushes, and reorganizing our cases. Here are some pointers that will help.

1. Store your goods correctly. While it may be convenient, the worst place to store makeup is on your bathroom counter. Bathrooms have warm, humid air that can destroy all those minerals, oils, powders, and other crucial ingredients in your favorite products. Instead, keep your cosmetics in a makeup case or some place cool and dark and keep it out of extreme environments.
   
2. Keep it clean. To extend the life of your tools, you should clean them regularly. Experts recommend cleaning synthetic bristle brushes every couple of days and natural bristle brushes once a month. (Yikes! I am so guilty of having dirty brushes--I only do mine every few months. Oops!) To clean your brushes, apply a makeup remover, brush cleaner, or baby shampoo to the bristles, wipe the brush on a paper towel, run the brush under water to clean it out, reshape the bristles, and let it air dry. Viola! All clean and ready to go.
3. Keep it sharp. If you really love your current eyeliner or lipliner, invest in a good quality sharpener to keep your pencils from getting gnawed. If the tip of your product is really soft, try chilling it in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes before you sharpen it.
4. When in doubt, throw it out. Makeup is perishable, and if you think your stuff is past its prime (i.e., if your nail color is milky, if your foundation smells off), the best bet is to throw it out and buy new stuff. See below for more tips on this...
   

How old is too old?
Ok, here's a confession: I keep beauty products forever. I don't know why, but I always feel guilty throwing out unused make-up. Consequently, my makeup kit is always littered with old products I'll never (or should never) use again. I think I still have a few tubes of discontinued lipstick lying around--eek!

If you're like me, you need to read this handy-dandy reference to help figure out when you should toss out your old cosmetics. Here are the shelf life guidelines for your favorite products:

• Mascara: 3 to 6 months. Mascara can easily get contaminated with bacteria, so it's best to buy this staple several times a year.
• Moisturizer: 3 months to a year. Manufacturers often include an expiration date on moisturizer, so it's best to heed their recommendations.
• Foundation: one year. If liquid foundation starts to change color or if it takes on an "off" smell (yuck!), throw it!
• Powder: two years. It can last longer, but it tends to dry out.
• Eyeshadow: powered shadow can last up to three years; cream shadows only last about a year.
• Eyeliner and lipliner: up to two years. Sharpening these products helps to discourage bacterial growth.
• Lipstick: two years. If it dries out, it's time for a new shade!
• Lipgloss: 18 months to 2 years.
• Perfume: up to 2 years. To keep them lasting longer, store them in the fridge or away from direct sunlight.

For all products, be sure you don't share with your friends, use on broken or infected skin (ick!), and make sure you take good care of your brushes.

I don't know about you, but I think I have a lot of purging to do. Oh well!

Tomorrow: Take your vitamins (and minerals!).

Work, Life, Stress, and Excuses

I'm sorry I'm not doing a proper makeup post today--I am going through a very shitty, very stressful period at work. I'm exhausted, feeling beat down, and am fantasizing about winning the lottery. Oh god, if only!

So here's my question for you today: how do you deal with stress? When things are happening that you can't control...but that have an absolute impact on every aspect of your life...how do you take care of yourself? Are you self-destructive and turn to alcohol and other vices? Are you self-loving? Or do you just try to go with the flow.

Me? I go straight for the self-loathing. As much as I hate it, when things get really stressful, I become negative. Sure, I work my way through the situation, but my thoughts usually get dark and I expect for the worst. I'm trying to be a little better in my current dilemma. Tonight, I took some time out for myself to shower (I firmly believe in the healing powers of water), shave, exfoliate, and moisturize my skin. I'm going to take a few Tylenol PMs and will hopefully fall sleep smelling like "calming" lavender.

I wish I could be more cool and detached. I find that I admire people who are able to stay perfectly cool under pressure--you know the kind: they never have a hair out of place, they always look perfect, they never seem to sweat, and they have a quiet aura of being in control even when they may not be.

I should be hoping for the best, but really, I'm mentally preparing for the worst. I think I'll update my resume just in case. Anyone needing a totally awesome, smart, hard-working, makeup loving writer or admin? Email me!

I'll be back as soon as I can...though I'm not entirely sure when that will be. In the meantime, if you miss me, check out some of my old posts for all the beauty news you can handle.

Beauty Confessions: Dirty Girl!

Last week, I confessed to you that I commit a beauty sin: I wash my hair each and every day.

Well, now I need to make another confession: Even though I know better, I don't always wash my face before going to bed at night. Yes, I admit it. Sometimes I fall asleep with my makeup on. I hang my head in shame.

According to professionals, not washing your face leaves makeup and other environmental gunk that you pick up during the day clinging to your skin. All this yucky stuff can lead to clogged pores which means that zits and blackheads could erupt all over your face just because you're too tired to wash your face.

Even though I sometimes skip the all important step of washing my face with warm water and a gentle cleanser, I almost always try to use a facial wipe, like Boot's No. 7 Quick Thinking 4-in-1 Wipes to get my makeup off.

How about you? Do you wash your face every night, or do you fall asleep with the morning's mascara caked in your lashes? Let me know....leave a comment!

Beauty Confessions: Lather Junkie

Let's be honest...we all have bad beauty habits that are almost impossible to break. Since we're not perfect people, and because I think it's interesting to discuss flaws rather than perfection, I'm going to discuss some of the more common beauty bad habits over the next few weeks.

This week, it's all about the hair.

I've fessed up to it before, and I'm not afraid to say it again: I wash my hair every single day. I know I'm not supposed to...I hear that it's supposedly washes away all the good oils, fades out my dye job, blah, blah, blah. But you know what? I could care less! When I don't wash my hair, it seems oily and gross on day two.

I tend to wince when a hairdresser asks me how often I shampoo. I know the right answer is "oh, just every other day," but I cannot lie. "I wash every day," I say with a slight nervous inflection in my voice. I don't know what I'm fearing. It's not like my stylist is going to beat me with a flat iron because I'm a lather-junkie. Thankfully, the past two stylists I've seen understand my addiction, because they both told me that they shampoo daily as well. Ah, sweet vindication!

In my humble opinion, if your hair needs to be washed daily, then go ahead and wash it. Why should you feel and look like a complete grease-ball just because "they" say you should only shampoo a few times a week? Daily shampoo rebels unite!

It seems to me that people with fine hair need to shampoo more regularly. Otherwise it just looks stringy and heavy...not good. But those with thicker, curlier hair may benefit from less frequent washing.

Now, if you're trying to reform your bad girl ways, here's my advice: try not washing your hair on a day when you don't have anyone to impress. But I do have a question to all you good girls out there: on days when you don't wash your hair, do you get it wet? Or do you use a shower cap? I never know what the right answer is and would love to hear from the rest of you on this.

Also, if you have any bad beauty habits, tell me about them! It's nice to know that there are other people breaking the rules out there!