My Makeup Minimalism By the Numbers

Over the last few years, I have seen and heard a lot about product minimalism becoming much more of a goal among beauty enthusiasts and casual makeup users alike. As much as fun as it might be to dream of trying every product under the sun or to have more colors than the rainbow, many of us also aspire to further makeup curation and whittling down our collections to the products-- and more specifically the number of products-- we know we will use, use up, and love all the way through. Here is my checklist for ideas for creating the most minimal, functional, yet also fun makeup collection that still offers the ability to paint any look we want upon our faces.

Foundations and Concealers-- 1 of each, max of 2 each: How many products you keep of each of these types will depend on how much your skintone changes from summer to winter. If you need to adjust your shade midway through the year, these numbers will double. But my general advice is to find one foundation with medium coverage that can be layered for fuller coverage but also be sheered out and also find a concealer that works to cancel out larger blemishes or more concentrated areas of pigmentation. Finding a concealer that is also ever-so-slightly lighter than your skintone will also help this product double as an undereye brightner or possibly a highlighter if you want it to.

Eyeshadows: 2 Palettes: One of these palettes will be a workhorse, more neutral-toned palette for everyday and the other any array of colors that strike your fancy for more adventurous occasions or just playing around with your makeup. That said, if you only like to wear neutrals, you can certainly just have the one palette or maybe have two palettes of neutrals, one of cooler tones and one of warmer. Single eyeshadows are something that I would skip if going in the spirit of makeup minimalism as individual pots take up a lot of space, and palettes offer more variety in a single item.

Blush, Bronzer, Highlighter: 1 of Each: This obviously depends on which of all these products you use if any. I myself never use bronzer and can go for a long time without putting on a highlighter, but if you use all three and are still looking to pare things out, try just getting your collection down to one of each of these things. You might find that you might want to add two blushes, though, if you like to have a lighter one for summer and a deeper one for winter. To save even more space, look for a blush, bronzer, and highlighter trio compact that will have these three things in one container. Different versions of these kits are usually geared to one specific skintone or another , and the colors are meant to work in harmony, which also takes the guesswork of finding three shades that work perfectly together if you are looking to just find your ideal ones.

Lipcolors: 3 at Most: Lipcolors are my area of weakness and most experimentation, but if I really had to make myself scale back, I could get my collection down to three-- a wearable everyday shade, a red or other evening appropriate shade, and one fun bright shade. Of course, as with all these tips, tailor this one to your specific needs and tendencies. For example, you may not need both a bright shade and an evening shade because the one you choose may work as both, or you may not like bright colors at all and just choose to have one color for daytime occasions and another for nighttime. Also, adapt your to your formula preferences too. I personally use bullet lipsticks the most, but you also might want to add a gloss or a liquid lipstick into your mix.

The "Framework" Pieces: 1 of Each: This is a catch-all category for me that includes mascara, eyeliners,lipliners, setting powders, brow products-- virtually any makeup item that would be left. Both for an experiment in makeup minimalism purposes and even in my regular life, most of these things are on a "product in, product out" schedule, meaning that I only ever have one of each of these items with me at any one time.

All of this said, of course, everyone's needs, tastes, and even ideas of what minimalism truly is and means are unique to them. There is no right or wrong in this or about whatever size or kind of makeup collection you have or aspire to have, even if that means foregoing this popular idea of minimalism altogether. What is important is that it will always be something you use, you love, and that makes you happy and make you feel great about yourself.