“Crying is for plain women. Pretty women go shopping.” 
― Oscar Wilde

Back in July I subscribed to the 13 By Halloween Challenge, to try and use up 13 beauty products before the end of October and I have to say I’m delighted with my success. Against my original list here’s what I’ve been able to either use to the last drop, or hit my usage goal on:

No 7 Cleanser
The Ordinary Caffeine Solution
The Ordinary Rosehip Oil
Etude House Suncreen
Sleepy Lotion, by Lush
Kiehl’s Facial Cream
Glossier Stretch Concealer (make significant progress)
Verbenna lipstick, by Bite Beauty
Rosehip lipstick, by Bite Beauty
Red Square lip pencil, by Nars
Honey Bronzer, by The Body Shop (hit pan)
Rose Silence perfume sample, by Millier Harris
Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation

Skincare I run through in pretty decent time so I’m not surprised to have got through the items that I did, but it bears repeating how long it can take to use up makeup products! A self-confessed junkie, I definitely let my shopping outrun my need a few years ago and I’ve been working on correcting that imbalance for a long time. Challenges where I use up what I already own instead of shopping for more stuff have been a big part of this.

I’m going to say that I made good progress on my concealer but it’s nowhere near done. And as for bronzer, my god, this stuff is never ending.

So far this year I have managed to use up several lipsticks, which is no mean feat for a girl with my size of arsenal. I absolutely love Bite lipsticks but as Sephora is no longer shipping to the UK, I’m not sure how I’ll be able to purchase them in the future. Not that I can, of course! Luckily I have a fistful of Bite bullets left and good friends in the States who will be able to supply me when I’m at liberty to shop for them again. I also managed to use up my Giorgio Armani foundation which is an absolute star of a product. I also intend to repurchase it in the future, but first I have to use up any other similar products and then, under the rules of my Faustian Furniture Pact, I have to make do with a drugstore alternative until June of next year. As I said, I didn’t use up my concealer, but I didn’t really expect to and I will be happy to see this product last as long as I can make it into 2019. I still don’t like rose scented perfumes that much more than I did before, but I was very happy to use and use up my Millier Harris sample, as well as a few other scent samples I had lying around. And I can’t show you the bottle because I left it in a hotel bathroom on a work trip like a numpty.

I will be doing another “empties” style post before the end of the year, because who doesn’t enjoy the experience of nosing through someone else’s bathroom cabinet, but I’m downright giddy with what I’ve been able to use up in the past few months. Slowly but surely I am culling my beauty collection down to what I know works and what I enjoy using. I have a few more confessional style posts coming on the topic in November so watch this space.