Just as we overhaul our wardrobes every season and swap our oversized woolly jumpers for culottes in the spring, our beauty bags need just the same attention for the purposes of hygiene and making the most of our overflowing makeup collections!
Lighten up
The formulations that we lean towards in winter tend to be fairly rich and heavy, but as the weather warms up and our skin becomes less prone to severe dryness, we can lighten up on the formulation front.
Try swapping your heavier coverage foundations for a complexion enhancer, BB cream or tinted moisturiser, and switch from thick moisturising creams to serums and gel moisturiser formulas.
When in doubt, throw it out
Unfortunately, most skincare and makeup products are a breeding ground for bacteria, and so it’s important to keep a check on expiry dates. Cosmetic expiration dates can be a mind-field, so we’ve taken it upon ourselves to do a mini beauty break-down of how long products should sit in your stash before you throw them in the trash (because no-one wants eye infections and skin reactions, do they?):
Foundation: six months-1 year (if it smells…funky or starts to separate after the six-month mark, then it’s time to throw it away).
Concealer: six months
Mascara: three-six months
SPF: eighteen months
Lipstick: one year
Liquid/gel eye liner: six months
Introduce brighter tones
The warmer months are a good time to inject a bit of colour into your makeup look and to experiment with texture and colour. Corals, peaches and fuchsias are perfect for spring, and for a lighter, more natural look, cream blush, bronzer and highlighter formulations can help the skin to look bright and fresh.
Replace your beauty sponges
Sponges are a little more high maintenance than your average stippling or buffing brush, so no matter how often we clean them, they need replacing a lot more frequently. As a rough guide, replacing your beauty sponges every three months is a good idea to prevent bacteria build-up.
Don’t neglect your makeup bag and containers
We’ll bet that if you were to empty the contents of your makeup bag and take a peek inside, the staining and makeup debris would…well, horrified. If your bag is made of PVC, wiping it down with a makeup wipe works well, and if it’s a cloth bag, try mixing it with your regular washing.
Have you spring-cleaned your makeup bag yet?
Jess Hall