Beauty Hoarder Problems – Part 4: Countless Back-Ups

Hi there! If you read my blog, you know I’m a beauty and toiletries hoarder. I have too much of everything. I have boxes under the bed, boxes next to bed, the bathroom cabinets are full (and I doubt the stuff in there accounts for even 0.5% of what I have), two of the kitchen cupboards are filled with beauty products and toiletries, and I have more stuff in bags in my closet. If you think I have a few hundred products, think again. I have about 1,400 nail polishes alone! But the craziness doesn’t end here…

Like every other beauty hoarder who’s serious about beauty hoarding, I’ve accumulated an impressive stash of back-ups. I know, lots of people buy back-ups of products they like. But only true beauty hoarders buy back-ups of untested products that they might like. And only true beauty boarders buy their cosmetics in bulk!

The pic above shows 6 Sally Hansen flakie toppers. I found these at one of the Poundstores (probably Poundworld), and I liked them so much that I bought all the bottles I could find that day. I think I may have more of these flakie toppers – but I couldn’t be bothered to go through my entire stash…

The 6 lipliners in the pic above are Rimmel lipliners – and they’re all the same colour – ‘Allure’ (I’ll review this one tomorrow). I like brownish lip colours (not too dark, though) so I bought these lipliners from a trustworthy end-of-line retailer who offered 10 lipliners for £5.99. Where are the other 4 lipliners? I’ve got one in my handbag, and the remaining three are most likely in one of the bags in the closet…

But I don’t just have lots of small make-up items. No! I also hoard big and bulky toiletries. The body butters in the pic above are full-size products. The Boots Extracts Rosehip butters are 200ml each, the Mela body butters are 300ml each. I have many more body butters and many more back-ups. And don’t get me started on shower gels or on my insane stash of Herbal Essences Classics hair products…

So yeah, having multiple back-ups of multiple products can be a problem. We moved house once because it felt like our place was shrinking – when in fact the back-up products took over… It was that bad that, at times, I was wondering whether the products were breeding! 😀

The big question is… how can I get on top of the back-ups? Well, I have to stop buying back-ups! I haven’t bought much over the past few weeks – and I don’t intend to let things spiral out of control again. At the moment I’m enjoying the products I have – and I hope it’ll stay this way. Wish me luck!

Are you a beauty and / or toiletries hoarder too? Kathy, Stashy and Chris, I know you’re with me. But is there anyone else who’d like to confess? Feel free to comment if you want to. And thanks for stopping by!

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Beauty Hoarder Problems – Part 3: Nothing Gets Used Up… EVER

Hi there! If you read my blog regularly, you know I’m a beauty hoarder. I’m talking about drawers filled with nail polish, eye palettes, face creams and lipsticks, and boxes full of toiletries under the bed. Yes, I have amassed quite an impressive stash of beauty products and toiletries. It’s that much that I’d be embarrassed if any of the people in my life found out about it.

However, a few months ago I was confronted with the true extent of my hoarding. And since then I’ve been trying my best to make use of what I already have. And I’ve been trying not to buy too much stuff I don’t need – which is a daily struggle, especially when I spot half price or buy one get one free offers. So let me show you what I call progress. 🙂

Sleek i-Divine Au Naturel Eyeshadow Palette

This is what Sleek’s Au Naturel palette looked like when I first unpacked it in spring 2015. It’s a beauty, isn’t it? These are the shades:
Nougat, Nubuck, Cappuccino, Honeycomb, Toast, Taupe (top row) and
Conker, Moss, Bark, Mineral Earth, Regal, Noir (bottom row).

Some time this spring I hit pan on one of the eyeshadows (Nougat), and I thought it would be awesome if I actually managed to use up all the eyeshadows in this palette. So I made it a priority to use this palette at least 3 times a week. And now, in December 2016, the palette looks like this:

I’ve finished Nougat (top left) and Noir (bottom right). I’ll get 1 more application out of Honeycomb (shade 4, top row) – I’ll even ‘mop up’ the loose bits with a fluffy eyeshadow brush. And I think I’ll get 3 or 4 more applications out of Toast (shade 5, top row). As soon as Honeycomb and Toast are history, Nubuck and Capuccino (shades 2 and 3 top row) are my next victims. 😉

Taupe (shade 6, top row) is my go-to inner corner highlight shade. It’s perfect. And I love Conker and Mineral Earth (shades 1 and 4, bottom row). These two shades burst with pigment, they’re easy to blend, and they go well with all of the lighter shades. Even though I use Conker and Mineral Earth almost all the time, I think these two eyeshadows will be last ones that get used up.

Bark and Regal (shades 3 and 5, bottom row) are the matte versions of Conker and Mineral Earth. I use these two fairly often.  I love them! The only eyeshadow I haven’t mentioned yet is Moss (shade 2, bottom row). In the beginning I didn’t like Moss at all, and and I’ve only started to use this shade recently. But I love it now!

I’d really love to know how long it’ll take to finish all these eyeshadows. I’m sure it won’t take another six months. Well, I hope it won’t take this long. But no matter what, I WILL finish this eye palette!

Feel free to get in touch via the comments. And thanks for stopping by!

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Beauty Hoarder Problems – Part 2: Incredibly Old Stuff

Hi there! It’s been a few weeks since I confessed to having too many beauty items and toiletries in general. One problem that comes with stockpiling (well, hoarding) such items is that you end up with lots of older products. Sure, storage is another issue, but I won’t go further into this bit. So let’s have a look at some of the oldies I’ve got in my stash.

1  I’m not sure when I bought The Body Shop’s White Musk Breeze collection – but I reckon it must have been in 2011. I’m generally not a fan of TBS’ White Musk collection, but I know why I bought these limited edition products – because they were dirt cheap. One of the body lotions (I even bought two bottles…) still had its price sticker on – £1.90. Seriously, that’s dirt cheap for a full-size TBS product. However, five years later I haven’t even touched the products. 😦

So what do I need to do? Try the products, and if they’re still good, I need to use them. And I need to finish them. No excuses! Using these White Musk Breeze products is going to be a priority next month.

2 Boots’ Body Butters – I think it would be next to impossible to find any of these body butters anywhere – because they have been discontinued some time ago. The Mango & Babassu butter has been repackaged twice now, the Olive body butter has been discontinued (which is very sad) and Boots’ Mediterranean range is… history.

But what do I need to do? I need to check if these products are still OK to use. If they are, I’ll use them!

3 Now here’s a fragrance that would sell for a lot of money on ebay – Laura Biagiotti Venezia.

I bought this fragrance many years ago but I haven’t worn it much. I used it recently, and it still smells amazing.

It’s a shame that this fragrance has been sitting in my stash all these years – especially because it’s so lovely.

What do I need to do with this fragrance? Use it. Before it turns. I think I’m lucky that this fragrance hasn’t turned, so I’ll make it a priority to wear and enjoy it this autumn and winter.

I’ve got many more items lurking in drawers and boxes (you probably knew that already), and there’s only so much I can use at a time. But I’m making progress on using what I have. 🙂

How about you? Do you have any old beauty items that you’ve forgotten about or that you never got around to use? Feel free to let me know in the comments. And thanks for reading!

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Beauty Hoarder Problems – Part 1: Too Much Of Everything

Hi there! Today’s post is different from my usual posts. Since I’m a self-confessed bargain hunter and beauty (and toiletries) hoarder, I have a lot of everything. Nail polish, skin care, face washes… you name it! I’m not deluding myself. I know I have more beauty stuff than anyone could reasonably need at any given time. But thanks to the blogosphere I know I’m not the only one (Hi Stashy!) whose beauty drawers and boxes are filled to the brim. But now, let’s look at three things I consider problematic…

1 I have more face masks than my local drugstore. Yes, I’m sure. I’ve got more than 80 face masks in sachets, mainly from Superdrug and Montagne Jeunesse. I know that even if I were to do two face masks every week, my stash would last me for more than nine months. Oh, and I’ve also got a few face masks in tubes…
Shocking, I know!

2 If you think this is my eyeliner stash, guess again. These eyeliners are only the ones I’m using at the moment. Yes, I’ve got several eyeliners in a rota! And I’ve got a few more in my handbag… I admit, this just came about because I was fed up of sharpening the pencils all the time, and I thought it would be better to use several eyeliners and to sharpen all of them in one go every other week. I think my entire eyeliner and lipliner stash would fill a small shoe box.
Yes, I know, this is shocking!

3 I think it’s a problem when you have back-up bottles of perfumes but you don’t remember buying them. And when you use these back-up bottles without realising you’re using the back-up bottles. And when you really have no idea that you’re using two bottles of the same fragrance at the same time. All you know is that the fragrance is always handy (Spooky – right?). You think “oh great, I did remember to take it out of my handbag and to put it on the dresser” (or the other way around). And then, at some point, you consciously take the fragrance out of your handbag to put it back on the dresser – only to realise the fragrance is already there.
Now that’s another shocker, isn’t it?

How do I intend to tackle these problems? First of all, I won’t be buying any more face masks. I’d like to say I won’t be buying any more until the end of the year, but I’m not sure I’ll stick to it. I think I can definitely commit to two months – and then I’ll see how it goes and I’ll take it from there. In regards to using the face masks – my husband (who loves a hot bath and a mud mask) will be happy to help me out!

Step two is that I won’t be buying any more Essence eyeliners just because they’re so cheap. I think I can definitely commit to not buying any eyeliners – no matter what brand – until the end of the year.

The fragrance thing is a bit more difficult. I have quite a few fragrances and I’ve identified several bottles which are near empty = down to their last 10ml or less. The Victoria Beckham Signature fragrance bottles are both down to about 15ml, and I’ll make it a priority to finish one of them this autumn. So keep an eye on my empties for the next few months as I’m expecting to finish several fragrances and body mists. Wish me luck!

Are there any other beauty hoarders out there who wish to confess? If so, feel free to let me know in the comments. And thanks for reading!

Mrs Strawberry Blonde