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Costumer's Notes: January 2001
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A Fresh Face for 2001While costumes can last years, even decades, your cosmetics have a limited shelf life. I'm sure like many dancers I have known, including myself, you have an eye shadow here, or a lipstick there that's been hanging around since the dawn of time. The damaging effects of sun exposure, pollution and the stress of our frenetic fast-paced lifestyles constantly traumatize our faces. Why add further potential stress to the skin with old products that could potential be spoiled, or worse yet, contaminated? One way to prevent this from happening is to take the time twice a year to go through your cosmetics bags, boxes and drawers and purge. But where does one begin? Here is a step by step formula, a checklist as it were, for tackling this daunting project. I recommend making an afternoon of it. Invite a friend or two over to keep you company, share dance stories of the past year or just plain old giggle at the mistakes, fossils and other interesting finds deep in your makeup collection. Light a candle, make some tea, put on some mood music and tackle your hoard. Step One: Gather it all up and spread it out. Dump every bag, box and drawer out onto a large surface. You may want to lay down a drop cloth to catch any potential spills. A large dining room table, the kitchen counter or even on your bed (in which case, a drop cloth is a necessity.) Make sure you can see everything in your collection, and don't forget to dig out the lost items from your purse, medicine chest and dance bags. Step Two: Sort the products by type. Make a couple of piles sorting by product type. Put lipsticks in one pile, eyeshadows in another and so on until all of your cosmetics are grouped by type. Just getting the items grouped is a big step towards the final goal organization! Step Three: Toss out the obvious stuff. Old soiled makeup sponges, any cosmetic products over four years old and anything that has too much damage to the packaging to be functional should all be tossed immediately. Check your tools as well. Brushes with split, torn or frayed bristles will not provide good application results. Step Four: Toss out products past their shelf life. This is a little more difficult. Some of these products will still look 'good' to you. They may not show any obvious signs of decay, but the ravages of time will affect even a sealed package. Look at the "Product Toss List" for some rough guidelines for determining shelf and product life span. Step Five: Survey, resort and create a shopping list. Now that you have purged your collection, you may find that you have some holes. Make a list of products you need to keep your cosmetic kit complete. Now is the time to evaluate your storage needs. If you do not have a designated makeup box or bag, now is the time to get one. Since you know the size of your collection, you can now go shopping with confidence and buy the best storage system for you. Remember too, to include on your list durable tools and disposable items as well. Step Six: Go shopping! Take your list and check it twice and then head off to the store. Go out and purchase the items you need to replenish, restock or update your cosmetic 'wardrobe.' To make future purges less painful, you may want to mark the bottom of each new product with the month and year of purchase. Use an indelible marker to make the label permanent. Step Seven: Clean and repack. Once you have pared down the contents of your cosmetic collection, clean all of your tools such as tweezers, eyelash curler, brushes, pencil sharpeners and what ever you happen to have and use in your cosmetic applications. Before putting anything away, make sure everything is completely dry. If you keep two sets of cosmetics, for instance, some dancers keep a 'home' set and a 'gig bag,' this is the time to divide your collection. Remember to keep duplicates of your tools in your travel bag. Now you are set for this year's worth of performances and other cosmetic adventures. Remember that while cosmetics are one of the tools of our trade, they are also a creative and fun artistic expression. Practice and play with your cosmetics to discover different looks and styles, to master the tools and products you use not only to increase your technique in application, but also to help you find and develop a signature style. |
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