I have been reading a book by Japanese author Marie Kondo titled The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing (or just KonMari for short). Yes, its a long book title but the book has been translated in various languages and have sold millions of copies across the world.

Spring Clean Your Makeup; Spring Clean Your Life

Marie Kondo has a cleaning method, based off her name, which she calls the KonMari Method. While the KonMari method asks you to first start with clothes, our makeup might be a little bit easier to get started since its the first thing we see in the morning and the last thing we might potentioally see when we reach for our makeup wipes right before we go to bed.

so are you ready for that question?

Here it is:

Pick up that old lipstick, that blush that has been sitting on the vanity counter for months, that foundation a tad shade too light or dark and ask yourself:

does it spark joy?

Makeup can be a very personalized ficke thing. For example, I coveted and really wanted Lime Crime Cashmere. The color is beautiful and I wanted to look as gorgeous as the girls on instagram, especially like that one Kardashian sister that constantly wears a very similar shade. Well, one day I decided to buy it, and guess what? I LOOK HORRIBLE IN IT. My skin tone is very similar to the color Cashmere (I’m tan) and my lips’ undertones brought on this washed up sickly look to my face. It looked horrible on me. So much that I didnt review it (haven’t you notice most bloggers look GORGEOUS in all their reviewed beauty product looks, you can bet a lot of them are self-conscious and wont show you the ones they look stinky in-which I bow to you to one day show to you-my sticky washed up sickly face :P) okay, here it is…

so it was time for the question: does Lime Crime Cashmere sparked joy to me? Holding it, I realize the answer is no.

Now what?

Now you don’t you have to throw it in the trash if you feel bad about spending money on something that you end up disliking. BUT you can sanitize, and maybe give it away to your sister or a close friend who doesn’t mind sharing used cosmetics (NEVER resell used cosmetics as new on eBay or Amazon-not only is it potentially icky, its not legal too). You can also swap it online (example: Reddit’s makeupexchange, Nail Polish? try RedditLaqueristaSwap) I was still whithin my 30 days of returns period so I decided to return to Lime Crime (which was a minor headache but that’s a story for another day).