Decluttering My Makeup Collection: Choosing Less, Choosing Calm

I believe makeup is a form of self-expression. Different people have different relationships with it. In the modern world, it provides a source of income for many, and for some others, it is a way to survive. Everyone’s journeys are unique. As for me, I was the minimalist, embracing my flaws from a young age with pride. Still, as a young woman, I looked in the mirror every now and then and saw little things about my features that I could enhance to look more presentable. Things like a little powder to control the oil on my face, and a “my lips but better” kind of lipstick to cover my two-toned lips. Even then, I did not see the need to cover my uneven skin tone with foundation or my acne scars and dark circles with concealer.

When COVID hit, however, my simple and innocent journey with makeup went wild. While wearing masks helped me be less self-conscious, as the world returned to normal life and masks were taken off, the stubborn mask acne scars were exposed and people began to notice and comment on them. I had to find a way to tackle them. That was when I began to seriously invest in skincare products. As I researched skincare ingredients and formulations, I learned that my SPF moisturizer left a horrible white cast on my medium-deep olive brown skin. I also became dissatisfied with the powder and lipstick that wouldn’t withstand a single hour at work, and I needed better options. The more I researched, the more I discovered products that promised better results and new ways to enhance my features. What began as problem‑solving slowly turned into endless shade hunts and a chase for the “perfect” product.

My makeup drawer has truly been through so many phases. For someone who had only two makeup products, before I realised it, things piled up. Every new purchase felt like a solution, but when they gathered in my drawers, they became overwhelming. Instead of clarity, I had drawers full of decisions waiting to be made every morning. Overconsumption crept in quietly, not because I wanted excess, but because I kept chasing better answers.

When Enough was Never Quite Enough

I began to notice a pattern: I bought products I genuinely liked and would be happy using after hours and hours of research, but I held them back until I finished older ones. With a nursing background, I was implementing a “first opened, first use up” basis, being mindful of expiry dates. But I dreaded using those older ones because they were not the right shade, or the right formula. In the meantime, I watched makeup YouTubers show products that had a little pan peeking through or a lovely dip, and I compared my untouched products to theirs. Then, I began to depot, mix, and experiment to quickly use up the older products, but then the formulas changed, the smells shifted, and I ended up more overwhelmed and unhappy. Then I splurged again, chasing more “right shades” and “right formulas” advocated by influencers on my phone screen. When I finally found the “holy grails”, I had gone through a cycle that left me polished on the outside but frustrated inside.

The Weight of Holding On

Decluttering became my way of breaking that cycle. It was hard, because behind each of those products were my hard-earned money. All the plastic and chemicals also were a threat to the environment. I had these products for years, collected long before I realized how overwhelming overconsumption can be. While at first, it felt exciting to have options, eventually, the drawer became a source of stress. Too many decisions, and too much guilt over what I was not using. I mulled on it over a long time, until I saw a video on YouTube that changed my mind. It was a wakeup call for me.

So, I sat down and sorted through my inventory. Every product in my drawer had a story. Some were truly holy grails, some were experiments to find the right shade, some were truly bad purchases that did not suit my face and some were creative mixes that taught me lessons. There were wrong shades of skin tints, BB/CC creams, and concealers, and there were right shades that felt too heavy on my face. There were blushes, bronzers, contours, and eyeshadows that were too bold for me. There were mascaras I never wore because I hated how it felt, and there were eyeliners and eyebrow products that made me look like a clown. Still, I held onto them saying that an occasion might arrive when I would wear them. Meanwhile, I got ready for several events with only 10 minutes to spare, having touched none of these products.

The act of deciding felt heavy at first, but I felt freer with each product I let go. As the video said, “every time you look at it and feel that disappointment, you’re still paying for it mentally”. I realized that I was holding onto clutter, and was trying to avoid acknowledging my mistakes. I wrote down all the products I had purchased, and saw just how much money had been wasted and how much clutter I had accumulated. I saw the difference between what truly serves me and what only feeds the guilt and self-aggression.

Letting Go, One Product at a Time

I decluttered slowly. In retrospect, buying those things was a form of coping with stress. I would think about something I believed I needed, and I would browse and research if it would be a good product for me. Online shopping definitely was a factor, and not having a physical store to curb my impulses definitely contributed. While I never bought on impulse, I always had something I was eyeing. So, when I encountered something stressful or difficult in life and overcame it, finally buying it often became a reward for myself. However, this left me in a web of overconsumption, giving me more stress. Having products that didn't even match me properly, it was exhausting to Frankenstein my way through it and see the experiment fail anyway. It was too much work and too much money and too much time spent trying to make a product work.

Hence, gradually as I began to declutter,  I found contentment in letting go, and that need for peace finally made me declutter more aggressively.  When repurposing a product or mixing a product with another one failed, I decluttered it. If a product would be loved by someone else, I gave it to them. I allocated some products a period of time for use to see how much I would use it. Sometimes I kept it within reach and sometimes I kept it hidden away to see how much I would miss it or would reach for it. If I didn’t use it in the given time then I threw it away.

I didn’t sit down and go by categories. There was no order. It depended on the product and how I felt on a given day. However, I focused more on testing the shades of my concealers, blushes, and lip products, and picking out the worst of them to throw out. This is because these products were in my daily use and aligned with my ideal minimal makeup kit, which somehow helped make it less stressful.

I decluttered a lot of eye products, brow products, and complexion products that didn't match me or felt too heavy. I decluttered highlighters that were chunky. I decluttered expired lip products. I felt guilty about wasting for some products, while I also felt relief to throw out others. I gave some items to my best friend and at first I wondered if she would even use it. But after seeing her store it in her makeup collection and use it every now and then, I felt happy that it went to a place where it would be loved properly.

I repurposed a lot. I mixed bronzers, contours, blushes, highlighters, and skin tints in different combinations. I mixed colour correctors to adjust the skin tints to my shade. I definitely learned more about the colour theory and colour wheel during this process than I ever did in art class. While most of the experiments failed and left me hopeless, a couple were usable until the texture went bad, and I discarded it then.

Once decluttered and left with my chosen items, I was relieved. My mind was clear for the first time in a long time and I felt more aligned with my ideal life and my ideal self. I realized the trap of the beauty community in urging people to buy the next best product or trending item when really everything has the same purpose. Seeing the brand labels stripped off from the products or depotting a high-end product into a normal container bought from Temu helped me understand that a lot of my decisions were purely influenced by branding and hype.

Making Peace with Less

Decluttering cleared space, but the products I eventually finished told a different story. They reminded me that I did use and enjoy what I had, even if it was not a perfect process or a perfect “pan”. Each empty product carried a memory. Some were holy grails, some were experiments, and some were lessons in undertones and textures. Using something up until the very last swipe felt different from decluttering. It was closure without guilt, and a form of healing.

Looking at my entire list of products, I saw both the excess and the lessons. I did not need more than a handful of products to feel radiant. A concealer, a blush, a lip, and a powder to control my oil. That was enough to look polished for work, enough to feel confident in myself, and enough to remind me that makeup is not about perfection. It was about presence. These days, I go to work with just sunscreen and either a lip balm or a lip tint and I feel more than comfortable with myself.

Decluttering was not just about skincare or makeup. It was about reclaiming space and easing decision fatigue. Overconsumption had left me drained, but choosing less reminded me that clarity is a form of self-care. It paved my way of returning to calm, of reminding myself that less can be more, and that my vanity does not define me. My relationship with makeup has changed over time, and that is okay. Now, I choose less, and in choosing less, I choose peace.