If you are like me, you probably aren’t putting on as much makeup as you ordinarily would if our lives were more routine and typical. But in this era of closed restaurants and canceled shows, dancers have been hastily moving their classes and performances onto the digital world. I simply spend most days without makeup.
Makeup Is A Lot Like Food
My calendar recently reminded me it’s time to switch mascara tubes. Conventional wisdom suggests that to keep your eyes healthy, you should swap out your mascara every 3-6 months. I’ve set up a reminder in Google Calendar to “Ping” me quarterly. This 4-month reminder lets me know that the end of the line is approaching for my current open mascara.
Liquid and cream products that come close to the eye’s membranes should be swapped out every few months. These “wet” products can harbor bacteria and mold that can cause problems to the eye. Some of these issues, like styes or conjunctivitis, can be quite painful, so it’s best just to play it safe and swap that beauty product. For me, that product is mascara.
This blog post includes information on makeup product use-by dates.
I Keep Only One Mascara on the Go
To minimize costs, I only keep one mascara open at a time in my performance makeup kit. I am “Team Drugstore” when it comes to mascara, so I tend to pick them up in pairs when I see the style I prefer available with a “Bogo” sale and preferably with a coupon. This way, I always have a backup when that quarterly alarm goes off. It’s sort of like always having a jar of pasta sauce in the cabinet. Having a backup means I’ll never run out in a pinch.
Spring Makeup Challenge
So that pesky “toss your mascara” alarm has gone off and it’s time for it to hit the trash. I opened it in January, and I’ve used it maybe ten times in the ensuing months. It feels wasteful to just toss this in the trash and I certainly don’t want to crack open a new mascara either. So it occurred to me that what I should do is give it one more month, and really get some use out of my makeup collection with another makeup challenge.
Challenge Theme: Peacocks and Mermaids
So starting next week, I’m going to embark on a new challenge, to pull out the purple and aqua colors in my eyeshadow collection and film some looks. Then, over the following weeks, I’ll pull out palettes from my eyeshadow collection and craft some new looks. I’ll talk about the products I own and why I bought them. But more importantly, I’ll demonstrate how I use these palettes, so you can decide if they might work for you.
Because I’m convinced we will dance again!
But before that time comes, let’s use up some of this mascara!
Dawn Devine ~ Davina
April 23, 2020
