I consider myself a collector of most things. When it comes to clothes, shoes, bags (especially bags), coats and so on, I am firmly of the more is more and less is a bore school of thinking. When it comes to makeup, however, I tend to like to have only what I use. Yes, I wear makeup most days, but I’m generally not caked in slap and I tend to stick to roughly the same colours.

Despite that, I feel like over the last few years I’ve accumulated more than I need. By most people’s standards it’s probably far from excessive. A couple too many palettes, one or two lipsticks more than I need, but nonetheless it’s enough to ensure that there are items I have that are heading for the two years old mark having never been used. I don’t really buy into the makeup use by dates if I’m honest, I’m pretty sure they are a concoction of the affluent cosmetics industry to keep us buying. Even I draw the line somewhere though, and last week I had to dispose of an eyeshadow I bought 7 years ago and used twice!

That’s the reason why I have decided that this year, the only makeup I will buy will be mascara and concealer, and that will only be to replace those items as I use them up (trust me, I get through a fair bit of under eye concealer). I’ve only just bought my mascara, so I don’t envisage replacing that any time soon.

Come the end of the year, I will take stock of whatever makeup I have left, and I sincerely hope it isn’t much. Then I will choose to replace only the items I am absolutely going to use the following year!