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?

I've succeeded in using up all my foot creams (with only a tube of Flexitol now), mostly by slathering it on at night and putting socks on top. Not terribly sexy and I do think my feet are now over moisturised - judging by the amount of blisters I have suddenly developed

Finishing off a freebie Elemis Pro Collagen Marine Balm thingy - utter rubbish. Once that's gone it'll be my penultimate pot of moisturiser - a Liz Earle one I got in a special offer.

Still working my way through a Crabtree & Evelyn Citron and Coriander hand cream - I cannot wait to get back to Aveeno.

I am so so pleased to report that I have finished a very "meh" shampoo and conditioner. I have a couple of friends who both rave about it - Schwarzcopff Gliss so I bought industrial size bottles and they have finally hit the recycling bin.

Normally if I get a good review off one of them it will pique my interest but since they both rave about it I thought I'd have found a holy grail product.

Tomorrows problem will be to decide which of seven shampoo and conditioners to use next.

We are moving and I am retrieving storaged stuff. Of course I found some hoarded cosmetics that I had totally forgotten - I have duplicates of pretty much everything . Once everything is in one place, I will sort everything by category. I don't think I'll need to buy anything new for the rest of the year.

oooh Frugal can I come and help you organise your stash?

I have a different, but related, dilemma: my mother died this spring and she had a massive hoard of unused beauty products! Some of them are absolutely lovely (a huge bag of Annick Goutal perfumes and related products, untouched?!) but others are less exciting. Should I use them or can I give them away (eg to my parents' housekeeper, who is doing a great job taking care of my father)?

Ive been lurking on this thread but have made an appearance to say that I'm about to have a bath and use the last of my TIGI rockaholic conditioner. Thank god. The bottle was enormous and it was the worst conditioner I have ever used. I stopped using it on my hair after the first application and have been using it to shave my legs ever since.

Would definitely never repurchase

Bonsoir, hope you are doing well, sorry about your loss, sorting through everything is such a difficult task. I'd probably let close relatives, housekeepers etc take any mementos they'd like - and perhaps you'd like to have some too. I'm sure she has thought of you in some way. Lots of perfumistas buy vintage formulations from eBay, so if there is simply too much of it, you can also list some of them. The Goutal bag sounds absolutely delicious.

Paperblank help and company would be a lot of fun Have you already decided which shampoo will come next?

I'll probably start with my mini toiletries (found major This Works and Aveda hoards ) and use up some samples. Then organize multiples starting from the emptiest. I have over fifty perfume bottles and probably close to thousand samples. These are something that I just enjoy having around - a bit like a library or an art collection. But when they are neatly organized by perfume house in acrylic Muji lockers, I tend to explore and enjoy them a lot more.

Atticus I know how relieved you must feel, welcome and good luck!

Just say the word frugal and I'm there

I'm using Branch D'Olive shampoo and conditioner. Stealth Boast Alert...They are hotel freebies. They are full size 250ml bottles. From Le Manoir aux Q'uat Saison. I cannot afford to fall in love with these products lol!

I post on a Christmas thread and the lovely OP tells us how many days there are left till Christmas....160 just in case you're wondering...

I am trying to think of a tactful way of saying "I do not need beauty products. Or olive oil soap. Or hand cream"

All my hard work is about to be undone! waaaaah!

Finished a bottle of frizz ease this morning. Eek. Just casually used up and thrown in the bin. I have soared. This is a staple for me. Otherwise my hair takes on a frizzy life of its own.

Re Christmas - I know! I always say I prefer consumables, which I do. At the very least if you throw/give them away no-one would wonder where they were, they would just assume you used them.

Dp gave me a bloody Dove gift set last year, his parents gave me on the year before. I mean, I am not short of £3.99 if I want to buy Dove shit.

If people want to give me toiletries I want Jo Malone, not Dove.

So, the box for Women's Aid has about three Dove things in. The 'regifting cupboard' has a Cath Kidston hand cream set.

Another empty for me - Body Shop vitamin e eye cream. It was OK, quite nice for the price, but I don't think it would be moisturising enough for winter. I've replaced it with a Clinique one which feels much richer. There is also a Boots P&P one in the cupboard waiting to be opened. I am trying to resist a Body Shop 40% off discount code.

In the new apartment, I have a capsule collection of everything - two pairs of jeans, a few tops, a couple of pairs of shoes, a small selection of my makeup (basically just one or two of everything). Choosing is much faster and I feel less overwhelmed and much happier with my choices. I guess this is the way forward - a tightly edited bunch of alternatives at hand and the rest stored away somewhere where I can easily see how much I have.

Working on a couple of travel minis atm.

SJP NYC bottle finished.
Acquired 2 testers for EL Double wear & purchased the one I liked yesterday. Still have about 8 foundations to use up but I really liked the coverage.

a few empties for me, did acquire a loccitaine goody bag but great for holidays.

I used up a lip liner which was too small to sharpen. I am however going to have to buy mascara. I have about ten, most of which were free gifts etc but they just don't do the job properly.

Hi, may I join?

I have loads of ridiculous impulse buys that either I've never tried or have only tried once or twice and didn't work for me so got chucked in drawers/bags/boxes to languish forever more. I have;

a 3 drawer acrylic unit (big one, not a little skinny or desktop one) of tried once/not at all/didn't agree with me/freebies,
3 big wicker baskets of stuff, a drawer of hair tools and styling stuff (I don't really style my hair ),
a cupboard of hair, body stuff and cleansers that are in regular rotation
2 large wash bag type things full of face/neck/chest stuff that is in regular rotation.

Ludicrous really.

My biggest shame is the huge pair of Aveda repair 1L s&c that I just can't use. It's a protein based shampoo and I have a really sensitive scalp which goes lumpy at the first hint of protein (or SLS, or silicone ). It also makes the ends of my hair brittle. Even if I use it once a fortnight. They were about £150 for the pair . What the fuck was I thinking? I'm going to get some small bottles and decant for the guest bathrooms and DH to use, as the big bottles are unwieldy bastards to squeeze in the shower and there's no way I'm forking out more for the Aveda pump tops.

I have recently finished a brilliant serum, Sarah Chapman Age something which is retinols, hyaluronic and a load of peptides and works wonders on my skin but I've got an almost full Vichy Aqualia and Vichy retinol serum (in the thin blue tube) which I really like, so I need to use those up before I repurchase the SC.

So project empties, here I come !

squeezy could you ebay your shampoo? I'm not sure what the rules are on opened products but I know Ive seen people on here saying they've sold used perfume etc.

This week I aim to finish;

A small tub of Lush Ultrabland (probably has 2 or 3 cleanses left). I'm not hugely keen on this as I find it leaves a film on my skin. My HG cleansing balm is TTDO by Clinique, I always have one of those on the go.

The dregs of an Origins Drink Up Intensive mask (I have another ready to go, love this as a night cream a couple of times a week).

The dregs of a can of LRP serozinc. Distinctly meh.

Possibly. It's heavy though, so postage would be ££££

Sorry, atticus, I should've put your name in there

I'm impressed at you using up a pencil, atticus. It takes me forever to get through eyeliners/lip liners. In fact, I'm not sure I ever have. Liquid yes. Pencil, never. Kudos to you

squeezy if you use a parcel carrier it will be a lot cheaper than Royal Mail e.g £3-5 for under 2kg. Well worth it to be rid of the effort of decanting etc

I have a couple of empties : Emma hardie body oil - it was the wrong season really to be using this, think I would have enjoyed it more in autumn/summer. Very moisturising and the scent is ok. I won't replace it for now but will be in the market for a similar body oil come autumn

Balance me radiance face oil - had a small tube of this in a gift set, nice and light to use and would probably repurchase if I didn't have a tiny tube of caudalie divine oil to try, have high hopes for this one

Miss flower and Mr honey hydrogel sheet mask - love this, face looked brighter and softer after use, have another 4 of these so will see if I can get the same effect again

I have a ton of samples to get through, am itching to finish them so I can move onto using my proper products consistently. I am also using a muji storage box to organise my samples - all hail muji

I don't wear lipstick often squeezy , I just cover the whole of my lips in lipliner pencil. As a result I get through them fairly frequently.