Ashamed of my beauty product hoard!

[IPokeBadgers]

I have spent some time this morning trying to sort and tidy my beauty and toiletries cupboard and I am actually feeling very and at the sheer volume of stuff that I have, much of it lovely and expensive and unopened!

I reckon it could take me a couple of years to get through it all!

Buying make up as well as lovely bath and shower stuff seems to have become my go to/default pick me up when I want to impulse buy...... but seeing the hoard has brought me down.

anyone else like this and are there any threads that would encourage me to stop buying stuff and use all the lovely products that I have?

please tell me I am not the only person like this?

The 40% off code expired this morning. Back to full price now so no excuse for buying. I have a self imposed ban on body butters, shower gels, moisturiser and eye cream.

Today I finished a tub of sanctuary body butter and a container of salt scrub (so old that the Kilner jar type fastenings we're going rusty...).

I've replaced them with more if the same from my stash, but at least the stash is going down.

Another empty: No7 protect and perfect intense day cream. Acquired as part of the big box of No7 products Xmas gift set in 2013. Enjoyed picking a new day moisturiser from the stash....so have now tried a Liz Earle moisturiser (from a qvc TSVset) that has been in the wardrobe for about a year. Noticing that value for money has been a big thing for me: I tend to buy collections in order to bring cost per item down....but that risks being faulty thinking if I keep buying and never get around to using stuff!!

Quite excited as I have several products that are very nearly finished so feel very virtuous. Somebody upthread - can't remember who, sorry! - said it feels like she buys in case products are rationed inthefuture. I sort of feel like that for some bizarre reason......which is ridiculous cos I have never wanted for any thing materially.

It was Hoñeypot who shares my fear of future rationing!

I've got another empty today too, boots protect and perfect serum - no repurchase required as I have two more (must have been a 3for2!)

I think there are several reasons for my stockpiling - I'm not in the UK, and more or less housebound, so cant just pop out for something, and maybe something I really like will be discontinued at some point. I also like to get sets (qvc tsv's particularly) when the unit cost is low, or I can get 5 or 6 products for the cost of 2 or 3 elsewhere

Three more empties here, two are mascaras.

Clinique Lash Power Feathering Mascara - love so much and will repurchase but I have a few different unopened mascaras I will try first.

Maybelline Great Lash Mascara - have spares of this always repurchase for my kit as its great inexpensive mascara for using with lashes.

Laura Mercier Mineral Powder - would possibly repurchase (again I have a stockpile!) as good coverage for a mineral powder.

Frugal mine is a mixture of being a complete product junkie, my job, and it's definitely partly an emotional thing!

This week I did make a few purchases but on balance I've used up more than I've bought so don't feel so bad!!

Bought some new brushes (that's a whole other issue - I have many many brushes!), a Charlotte Tilbury brow pencil and a new foundation.

I definitely stockpile because of money - I like to get a good deal and stock up on 3 for 2 offers or free gifts etc and am terrified of something going wrong financially and not being able to afford nice stuff (although I'm sure this would be the least of our worries!)

Serious question

How do you know a mascara is done?

Very impressed with the empties! Well done ladies

Nothing new to report today, steadily working through my stash. Quite like the feel of face cream used on my body and in love with a slightly metallic green eyeshadow used wet as a liner - I have a really good extra slim MUFE brush that is fantastic for this, I can draw a really fine line with it but it is very firm and easy to handle.

Rummaged through a box of hidden stuff ( ) and found a couple of samples that I want to use up, lined them up. My goal is to get rid of all extras. It will take a while...

By the way, does anyone have an eye cream that actually makes a difference?

Interesting you should bring up eye cream - I have loads, and they all seem to make my eyes puffy or irritate my eyes and make them water, so I've been re-purposing them in the hopes that what makes my eyes puffy will fill in the wrinkles on the backs of my hands - seems to be working so far!

Costa I'm finishing my third eye cream now. All of them can make my eyes tingle and a few of them have caused milia; with all of them I wake up with a salty residue in the corners of my eyes. As for the benefits - would be interested to know if anyone has ever experienced any

RJ, if you're of the same ilk as me, assuming capitalism has factored a bit of wiggle room in terms of best before dates on products (as a complete aside my husband used to work for a well known brand eating questionable meat so we have a bit of inside info! I'm vegetarian but allegedly if meat looks petrolly with weird colours on it, if you wash it off, it will be fine!)

But I apply the same logic to mascara. Basically if it looks a different texture to normal or smells questionable, don't use it!

I actually threw a test sized origins out yesterday. Think I'd opened it once, saved it "for best" and in my sorting out this weekend, was disappointed to know I missed my chance. Will go on my "when hell freezes over and I need a new mascara, this will be good" list.

I have got a fab pile for Give & Make Up though. Also sorted out stuff into a nearly finished pile and reckon I'll finish a cleanser and a body lotion this week!

Eye cream that makes eyes watery or puffy sounds bad! I know my mum once spent a fortune on top end products that made her react badly & they gave her a full refund, after about 10 days use. Might be worth considering in future?

I use quite a lot of eye cream. I get excema on my eyelids and I don't like to use hydrocortisone cream too often so I use eyecreams to try and keep the area moisturised. The Eucerin one is pretty good. The Clinique one is pretty good too. The Body Shop vitamin e one that I'm using at the moment doesn't seem so good and the skin round my eyes is getting itchy again. The protect and perfect one that I was using before Christmas was OK as far as I can remember.

Lego I am using Eucerin now and it's the best of the bunch (the worst I've tried was Dior, felt like PVA glue and made my undereye makeup pill). It feels moisturing and does not tingle unless I get too close to my eyes. It keeps my skin hydrated but I don't think it is doing much else... My brother had a job packaging cosmetics during his student days and he always said that eye creams were a bit of a scam - highly profitable for the industry because of their high unit price and lucrative for him as well as handling those tiny tubes required special expertise and commanded higher hourly wages than say, vats of body cream. But would imagine it could help with eczema because I'm always sort out dry, flaky, tight feeling skin with Eucerin products.

Tantalizingly close (a couple of uses) away from finishing so many products. Will enjoy the clutter-free empty space!!!

I've had itchy eyes and wonder if my new clinique eye cream may be to blame? the laser one. I am usually ok with eye creams

Eliza22 I have that Bobbi Brown balm in my stash
I must use it.

Yesterday I received a gift set - Crabtree & Evelyn Rosewater.

Not to be ungrateful for a lovely present, but I really really dislike the scent of rose. How do you ladies use up a lotion you dislike the fragrance of?

Annarose, on my feet. Hollyisalovelyname ....

Eliza it's not even in the drawer of 'stuff to be used up next' but is in the drawer of 'stuff to be used up after the stuff in the 'stuff to be used up next' drawer has been used up.

Eliza it's not even in the drawer of 'stuff to be used up next' but is in the drawer of 'stuff to be used up after the stuff in the 'stuff to be used up next' drawer has been used up.

!!

So, in the spirit of use up and enjoy this morning I slathered not-so-dear face cream all over. Nice.

Don't think I would if it had been dear. Meaning it would take me FOREVER to use. So ironically for me I'm finding the cheaper the product, the more I'm enjoying using it. You know, really piling it on.

Am I on my own? When you've worked through your stash, will your spending habits change?

And also, when you've worked your stash, what will you do with your new found space?!

I will hopefully fill the space with products I love, HG products etc.. I need to make a list of keepers and see where I need to experiment to find my holy grail products eg foundation
Thanks for the tip (can't remember who posted it sorry) about using up small samples, bottles first - I've already finished up quite a few samples that were languishing in my bathroom for months

Wow, this thread has taken off! I have not one, but two, empties to report and I am thrilled! Finished off my soap and glory body scrub (the scrub of your life) today and the kerastase hair treatment that I've had for ages. Hair feels soft, and that body scrub is the business. I don't have a replacement body scrub though, so I will have to buy a new one.

I was watching a programme last week about how fish were eating plastics that we have been using for bathing and that it was then contaminating the food chain. I think my body scrubs contain these silica (sp?) so I am going to buy a very natural body scrub now. Maybe the rice bran one from body shop, unless anyone has a recommendation please? Don't want to spend more than a tenner or so though.