Now I've gotten rid of those loves...

I decided that I would spend my evening cleaning out my makeup containers, tossing expired products, and purging the things that just weren't getting enough love. I'm down to products I really love, plus a number of items that were gifted to me, so it was indescribably hard to remove some of this stuff from my collection. I never want anyone to think that I don't appreciate their thoughtfulness and generosity. But the results do speak for themselves: I went from using the top of my dresser, the side of my desk, two big Sterilite storage drawers, and 1 small Sterilite storage drawer to using 2 big Sterilite drawers and the side of my desk. Much improved!

A slew of purged items! I finally went through my samples and removed a bunch of those, too; I need to start using what I've kept and tossing the rest in to packages as extras.

Stuff that got tossed. Some of these products are empty, some have dried up and might be repurchased (I already repurchased my Skindinavia spray), and a few are just plain crap I wouldn't impose on anybody else.

This drawer is still the skincare-and-nails drawer, but it's not longer an over-crowded, chaotic mess. I also keep my perfumes and my MAC F&B bottles in here, plus a pack of q-tips.

Most of my color cosmetics, excluding eyeshadows and eyeliners, reside here! The empty cup in the back normally holds my brushes, but I removed them for cleaning. I also have a few of my mom's Prescriptives items in the bottom left corner.

What I see when I sit at my desk and look over at my vanity organizer. :) This contains all of my eyeshadows, eyeliners, base products, and pencils, plus some every-day necessities and skincare. The moon-shaped bottle is my favorite perfume, Ghost Deep Night, which is unfortunately discontinued. There are baby wipes, hair ties, and nail polish remover in the back.

I also keep a travel makeup bag with about a dozen different items in it; this goes in my purse or bookbag in case I don't have time to do my makeup before leaving for work.

My goal, for now, is to keep my stash at about this size. I think it's very manageable and relatively elite. Yes, I still have a ton of lip products...those are my vice. :P I'll try to do what some other bloggers do and remove something from my stash for every new item I get, unless that new item is completely unique and beyond compare (which happens quite rarely).