In late 2020 I decided to severely declutter my makeup collection and only maintain a minimal makeup collection going forward. This was mostly motivated by the fact that I didn’t wear a lot of makeup in 2020 and I was wondering why my makeup collection was so big in the first place.

This process of creating a minimal makeup collection has been a long time coming. At the beginning of 2019 when I decided that I wasn’t going to buy any new makeup – this was the next logical step.

The decluttering process was super cut throat, it had to be or I would’ve kept most of the makeup because I’m that person. I created three categories: KEEP, GIVE AWAY and DISPOSE OF, the give away makeup went to my niece who is a up and coming makeup lover so it went to good use.

My minimal makeup collection

I kept enough makeup and tools to fit in my Zujaaj acrylic shelving system and in my brush holder. I’ve also been keeping track and only buying replacement products – I did buy some backup NYX products because the brand is leaving South Africa and I wanted to stock up on some of my faves from them.

These are the main products in my minimal makeup collection currently:

Foundations
1. NYX Born to Glow
2. Fenty Beauty Pro Filt’r Soft Matte
3. Fenty Beauty Pro Filt’r Hydrating Longwear

Concealers
1. NYX Born to Glow
2. NARS Soft Matte
3. Colourpop No Filtr
4. NARS Radiant Creamy

Powders
1. NYX Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop Setting Powder
2. Fenty Beauty Pro Filt’r Instant Retouch Setting Powder
3. Yardley Absolute Translucent Loose Powder

Eyeshadow Palettes
1. Jackie Aina x ABH
2. Shayla x Colourpop
3. Jaclyn Hill x Morphe vol. 1
4. Stila Perfect me, Perfect Hue

I’ve done my best to keep the other projects minimal as well, including brushes.

I feel so much better when looking at my collection currently as it is manageable for me and I’m not stuck having to make tons of choices when I do my face.