Tuesday Slice: The old me still sparks joy, makeup edition

 

I know I need to get rid of a lot of stuff...a LOT.  

My Virgo daughter, with an older-than-dirt soul, wisely advises me to start with what she calls "low-hanging fruit"--stuff that's easy to get rid of because it's old, not useful anymore, doesn't fit.  So this week I decided to organize my vanity, which has been overflowing with a hodgepodge of makeup, jewelry, hair accessories, perfumes and lotions.  Tired of digging through it all to find what I want each day, I purchased clear plastic stacking drawers to separate everything into easy-to-reach categories.

Old, gunky lotions and creams were easy to toss, as was skincare beyond its prime.  But then I got to the makeup...

All it took was a relative's Christmas gift of two fancy makeup palettes, and I was hooked.  Coordinating eyeshadows, blushes, and lip colors for day wear and evening wear.  What more could an 80s girl, who had a Bic lighter for the sole purpose of melting the Maybelline eyeliner before application, ask for?

Those palettes, along with the standard issue Cover Girl eyeshadow quads, went to college with me.  An aunt who kept her Avon lady busy supplied me with even more, including a folding take-along set that included mascara and a mirror.  Bonne Bell Lipsmackers made way for lipsticks in every shade and formulation, from matte to glossy.

And I threw very little of it away, through the years.  So there they were, those day and night palettes and eyeshadow quads, hiding behind the door to a cabinet I couldn't even reach because of the stuff that had piled up in front of it.  Looking once more at the glittery colors and half-used blushes took me back to when putting on makeup really was just for fun.  I was less worried then about dark circles under my eyes, melasma and enlarged pores.  It was more about the color than the concealment.  

I really like that part of the old me; those memories spark joy, to quote Marie Kondo.  But the older, wiser me isn't ready to risk eye infections from decades-old shadows, or worse from the lip colors.  It was sad to see them all piled up in the trash, but I knew they had to go.  I'll give a wink to that teenager still somewhere inside of me as I apply my makeup today, spending more time on those undereye circles...

(Oh, and I kept that Avon folding palette, not to use, but just for funsies.  Do they even make anything like that anymore?)

Folding Avon palette!

So compact!  

Night look

Day look

This was so much fun to play with!

Love the shimmers

Ah, the good old CG quads

Estee Lauder!

I loved these shades!