CONFESSIONS OF A MAKEUP BAG

Lyric was originated to focus on wardrobes & styling, but I’ve noticed an incredibly important & under-appreciated part of a woman’s wardrobe; her makeup.  While I won’t sit here & proclaim to know all-things-makeup, I do in fact know the importance of cleanliness & maintenance of your beauty products. As displayed above, today was cleaning day & I’ve decided to share the knowledge I have, my tips & tricks to keeping clean brushes & makeup bags, & some shocking statistics that may have you buying double the soap in your household. Here goes [squeamish ones beware]…

The Chicago Examiner conducted a survey & found the following results:

• 56% of women go months without replacing their mascara [hello styes, nice to meet you]
• 55% of women admit to sleeping with their makeup on daily [poor pillowcases]
• 53% of women simply “forget” to wash their makeup brushes [bacteria heaven]

I noticed long ago that my skin would break out along by cheek bones, nose & forehead when I didn’t wash my bronzer brush & even my eyebrows would get a blemish or two when I didn’t clean my brow brush. Then, during my [broke] college years, I would randomly wake up with a stye on my eyelid, never noticing the relationship between sharing makeup, old makeup & my new red, eye bump. I decided it was time to change these frustrating circumstances & become aware of my makeup cleanliness & have since never looked back. To this day I clean my brushes, bags, scissors, applicators & tweezers weekly. Here’s my never-fail process:

BRUSHES:

1. Hand wash every item in your bag with warm water & soap
2. Grab your daily face-wash & saturate every bristled item in your bag with a drop of this product
3. Wash thoroughly until bristles are back to their original color
4. Repeat this process with your liquid &/or powder applicators

MAKEUP BAG:

1. Flip bag(s) inside out
2. Wash & scrub heavily with hot water & soap
3. Repeat this process, but with your daily face-wash [be sure not to miss the corners]
4. Let air-dry inside out

MAKEUP SHELF LIFE:

While there are no legal requirements for makeup expiration, there are certainly suggested dates that have been compiled over the years. I recommend keeping a log of dates for each new piece of makeup as it’s purchased. Regardless, here are some tried & true timelines for your makeup:

• Mascara: throw out your mascara [regardless of how expensive it was] after 3 months
• Eye-Pencils: let these babies go after 2 years [keeping a clean sharpen each use]
• Eye-shadow: dry shadows can last up to 2 years, while liquid shadows should be tossed after 12 months
• Lipsticks: these stainers should be ditched after 2 years of use [or non-use]
• Powders/Blushes: cream blushes & foundations can be held onto for up to a year, while powders can last up to 2 years
• Foundation & Concealer: liquid concealer should be let go of at 12 months, while stick & moisturizing foundations can last up to 18 months

If you commit to this process weekly, you will find that your skin & pores will love you more than ever. “EVERY WEEK!?” you ask…as this experiment shows, bacteria can start growing on your brushes as quickly as 24 hours after use. Um, gross!

Your wardrobe & overall appearance is not isolated to just clothing, but rather the entire end result. These steps will elevate your look & maintain your overall well-being. Who doesn’t want that?

Happy cleaning, beauties. Xx.