4 Steps to a Cleaner Makeup Bag

It's good to clean out your makeup for the same reason it's good to clean out anything: it makes you feel so good afterwards!

When you go to apply things to your face, you want those things to look fresh and clean and neat, not dirty and gross. Take a few minutes to follow these steps and I promise it'll make you feel so good!

1. Take all your makeup and organize it by: eyes, lips, cheeks, skin.

Right off the bat this will allow you to see what you have multiples of. Sometimes you can buy the same shade of something and not even realize it.

Find any multiples? Toss the oldest one or if nothing is really old, start a smaller bag that you can take on the go.

2. Eliminate by date.

Believe it or not, makeup can expire. And even though you paid $60 for a product that's not finished, if you bought it 3 years ago it's probably not doing you any good.

At this part in the process, toss anything that doesn't smell or look right.

Powders like eye shadows, blushes and bronzers have the longest shelf life. If you still want to test one, first smell it and make sure it doesn't smell like chemicals, rub your finger over it make sure it's got a silky texture, then check the color and make sure it looks opaque on your finger. Finally, rub it on the back of your hand to ensure it can still blend.

Here's a quick break down of the lifespan of each category:

Toss any brushes if they're shedding hairs. You don't want those all over your face!

Also get rid of anything you haven't used in 6 months. Products that you dip your fingers into, or ones that goes around/in your eyes can build up bacteria if you're not careful.

3. Pull out the essentials.

For brushes you'll need 2 medium-large brushes for bronzer and blush. You'll need a narrow angled brush (it's my go-to cat eye tool), a smudge brush, a wider shadow brush for all over color, and a medium tapered brush for contouring. 

For lips you'll need a sheer shimmer, lipstick (without shimmer), clear gloss and lip liner. These will help you to mix and match for a range of looks from simple to dramatic.

If you'll first pull out the essential items, you'll easily see what's expendable. Go through this pile and see if there's anything you haven't used in a while that you can get rid of/move to a smaller bag.

4. Clean off everything.

I don't care if you paid $1 or $100 for your makeup, clean off their packages so they look better. It doesn't feel good to apply something that's coming out of a container that's all smudged and gross. 

Wipe everything down, clean off your brushes (use this) then turn your makeup bag inside out and run it through the dishwasher. This will give you that extra sense of fresh when you back only the items that you know are safe and good to use.

Start 2014 off right with a makeup bag that's fresh and clean! (Today was supposed to be about cleaning out your jewelry box, but there was so much information about this from the show that I wanted to pass on more details...stay tuned for the jewelry box edition!)