How to Organize Your Beauty Products During Quarantine
Posted on May 27 2020
Bored in the house? Time to organize your favorites!
Stuck at home? Bored in the house? Everything is remote and now you have plenty of time to do absolutely nothing? Certainly, you are not alone. Me too. It is good that now you have more time than ever before, but at the same time, it is very hard to stay motivated and keep productive at something. Probably you are reading this blog because you want some new ideas on how to use your spare time. That is why I’m introducing organizing your beauty products during the quarantine.
Why organize beauty products?
Normally, when you wear makeup in the morning or do a skincare routine in the morning or at night before you go to bed, do you sort/ clean everything you have every single time? For me, it is very hard because in the morning I am usually very rushed, or at night I am so tired that I want to go to bed ASAP. And we also tend to buy new products although we already have similar products because why not? We love exploring new things especially skincare and cosmetics. But, that leads to a problem of a messy drawer and boxes of beauty products. Here are three questions I want to ask:
- Aren’t there any products that you don’t use anymore? (maybe expired already?)
- Are your brushes/products clean?
- Are you struggling with storing all your makeup/beauty products?
If you answer all these questions with no, congratulations! You are very good at organizing/taking care of your beauty products, but if there are some yes, that is also fine. Let’s explore some tips to make your beauty products organized and clean to be ready to keep motivated on your beauty routine!
Aren’t there any products that you don’t use anymore? (maybe expired already?)
Toss Expired Makeup
This might be surprising to some of you, but makeup can be expired. If you use expired cosmetics repeatedly, it can cause additional irritation or bad skin condition and in some cases, it might cause you more serious trouble such as infections. Usually, liquid foundation lasts for 12 months in general, and for mascara and eyeliner, it is said to last for three months. Lip products will go around two years but can be deteriorating earlier if you use it frequently. In addition, as the older the makeup products get, the chemical ingredients in the products start to break down, and it will affect the less performance of the products.
How to identify if it is expired?
Look for the PAO (Period After Opening) symbol on your makeup containers to see if the product is still safe to use. They should be a combination of number and letter “m” (months). For example, 5m means five months until it spoils. However, it is very important to always pay close attention to the color, smell, texture, and appearance of makeups because it is also possible that the products expire before the PAO due to the frequency or the condition the product is stored.
Are your brushes/products clean/sanitized?
Keeping your brushes clean is very IMPORTANT because dirty makeup brushes can cause bad skin conditions/irritations. That means the consistent irritations of your skin might have been because of your dirty makeup brushes that you use every time when you wear makeup.
How often should you clean brushes?
It is said that foundation and concealer brushes should be cleaned once a week to prevent building up products and bacterias. The cleaner the better for the skin and it also enhances the product application. For eye brushes, they should be cleaned at least twice a month. Overall, brushes should be cleaned regularly to maintain not only cleaner skin but also the better application of makeup products.
How to clean brushes?
- Wet the brushes with warm water (but don’t soak too much at the base part because water and soap can disintegrate the bristles.)
- Take a drop of brush cleanser/soap (dishwasher soap works just fine!) on your palm
- Gently rub the tip of your brushes on palm
- Rinse the brushes thoroughly
- Squeeze water from brushes and dry the excessive moisture with a clean towel or paper towel
- Re-form the brushes into correct shapes and let them dry naturally by hanging off the brush part at the edge of the desk or counter.
How to sanitize the actual makeup?
Powders and palettes
Pour the rubbing alcohol into a spray bottle and spray the alcohol directly to the powder and wait until it is dried! It is a little nerve-lacking but the alcohol only kills germs and bacteria, not makeup.
Mascaras/eyelash curler
Swap the appliers once a month or more. Mascaras are used directly onto your eyelashes and it is more likely to cause infection through eyes.
Eyelash curlers often get dirty from mascaras and eyeshadows, especially the pad part where the eyelashes sanded. It is important to wipe the pad with alcohol soaked cotton and wait until the alcohol fully dries out to prevent from the alcohol entering your eyes.
Lipsticks
Pour some rubbing alcohol into a small cup-like a shot glass and put the tip of lipstick into the alcohol for a few seconds. Gently dub the alcohol off from lipstick and let it dry.
Liquid foundation, BB creams, sunscreen, etc.
These products often get so dirty with the excess liquid around the caps or nozzles and germs or bacterias can contaminate the products from there. To prevent this, wipe off the residue from the caps and nozzles with cottons soaked with rubbing alcohol and let it air dry.
Are you struggling with storing all your makeup/beauty products?
It is very hard to organize and store all the beauty products because they are all unique shapes and do not fit all of them at the same place at once. And packages are usually very cute so you don’t just want to put them into a bag or boxes and can’t see them, right? In Japan, MUJI’s acrylic cases are very common for organizing and storing beauty products/makeup because, with those, you can still see what is inside and with the various different sizes and shapes of the storage, it allows you to perfectly organize your favorites compactly as if you are showing them off on your desk!
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dn-nrKRYuDY
Example usage of the storage:
Source: https://youtu.be/EFut8H1Qh_w
Look Ahead
Being at home all the time is not really fun and a lot of people might be getting less opportunities to wear makeup on a daily basis, but this time can also be perceived as a fun organizing time to reset/refresh your favorite collections! Even if you don’t really like organizing, why don’t you try it this time? Maybe you will find yourself having fun thinking how to showcase your beauty collections. Stay safe, stay entertained with life!
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Etsuka Tomonaga
Was born and grew up in Japan and currently studying global business in college in South California. Loves beauty products and makeups in general, and passionate about living a healthy lifestyle.
