A Girl, A Style | organising

In keeping with my annual January quest for organisation, it seems only appropriate to dedicate the first Beauty Wednesday post of the year to sorting out your makeup bag and beauty routine. Whilst I’ll be following my own advice on a few of these points (I’m guilty of not wearing SPF all the time and buying an obscene amount of nailpolish and pink lipstick), all are, I hope, helpful pieces of advice that we can all benefit from being reminded of from time to time.

1. Declutter your beauty supplies. Go through your makeup bag, your vanity cupboard, your handbag and wherever else you stash all your beauty products. Gather everything up in one place and sort through the entire lot (this is quite the task for me!). Automatically bin anything that is expired, looks or smells funny, or is past it’s prime (as a general guideline, this is three months for mascara, 6 months for most other gel/liquid/cream cosmetic, 1 year for most hair/body/skincare products and 1-2 years for any dry/powder products). Also toss anything that is unflattering, that you never wear (and are realistically unlikely to), or that you don’t really like. Your skin is precious, so why bother putting something on it that is unflattering or unhygenic? With whatever is left over, make sure everything is clean (wash your makeup bag and counter surfaces, wipe lipsticks with alcohol wipes, remove buildup from product bottles, etc.) and organised so you know where to find it.

2. Get your tools in order. Once you’ve sorted through everything, what is missing? Everyone should have a great set of makeup brushes & tools (I love MAC for all of these – not cheap, but they will last you years and years if you look after them) and take care of them as the first step to flawless makeup. To ensure they last (and stay hygenic), wash them once a week with warm water and a brush cleanser or baby shampoo and store them upright in a glass where you can see them (rather than shoving them in a makeup bag where they will just breed bacteria).

3. Find what is missing. Do you have 20 lipglosses but still haven’t found a foundation that disappears into your skin and stays put? Then it’s time to fill in the gaps. Hunt down some good-quality basics where you need them (if you need help, go to your favourite makeup counter and have them suggest a few to try) so that you have a complete beauty kit you are happy with. And about those 20 lipglosses? Stop buying that which you have multiples of until you’ve used up what you already have (for me, this is pale pink nail polish and countless lipsticks in almost identical shades which I seem to stockpile irrationally).

4. Master your perfect look. Perfect one makeup look that looks gorgeous on you and which you can fall back on each day (if you’ve been doing the same one for years or still don’t have the hang of one that works, go to a makeup counter to get help finding a look that is perfect for you).

5. Experiment and have fun. Once you’ve mastered your basic look, one day every week shake your routine up by trying something completely fun and unexpected to avoid getting in a rut. Always a cat eye and nude lip girl? Wear a neon pink lipstick on Friday. Always wearing red lipstick? Try a soft pink lip and bright cheeks instead.

6. Overcome your beauty sins. These are the big things we know we shouldn’t do, but do anyway out of habit. Always cleanse and moisturise properly at night (because you should only fall into bed with your makeup on once in a blue moon), stop attacking spots (because squeezing a pimple adds a whole week to the time it takes to heal), ensure you’re wearing enough SPF coverage if you’re spending any time outside (because premature ageing and sun damage is not pretty).

7. Add one thing. Every year, your beauty and skincare routines should evolve with you. If you have the exact same skincare/beauty routine you did 5 years ago, it might be worth considering a tweak here and there. In your 20s? Use a good eye cream and an anti-oxidant serum. In your 30s? Add in a nourishing face oil. In short, let your beauty regime age gracefully with you.

Which beauty resolutions will you be making this year?

Love, Miss B xx

When short on wardrobe space, turn your favourite accessories into art by putting them on display rather than stuffing them into a closet (just be sure to keep them free of dust and out of direct sunlight). Chanel 2.55 bag and Mulberry bow booties.

As I mentioned on the last peek inside my home, my place might be cute, but it’s also tiny (that would be large by London/New York standards…) – and therefore small on storage space. Alas, I’m still yet to master the art of the 10-piece capsule wardrobe and an abandonment of other worldly goods. As such, I’ve had to be very creative with the space to manage to squeeze everything in in a matter that’s still organised and streamlined (read: not having piles of clutter everywhere).

Regardless of the size of my space, I’m a terrible geek when it comes to organising (I could read Martha Stewarts tips for hours, and happily spend rainy weekends knee deep in clothes having a good wardrobe purge) and like everything to have a home, even if that home happens to be in an unexpected place. My golden rules, especially applicable to all small and/or rented spaces are: declutter (own only that which you love – there’s no point trying to find space for something you don’t actually need/want); categorise (store similar items together, making it easier to find everything you do have); think creatively (if you don’t have the space to store something in the normal way, find a new way to house it, or turn it into an aesthetic feature).

Top-bottom: Sort jewellery and small pieces by style and store in teacups, bowls and dishes (you can pick up pretty, mismatched china for a steal at flea markets and on ebay); turn otherwise unused spaces (in this case the top of the toilet cistern!) into a display for a cluster of pretty toiletries; organise your wardrobe by season, and then streamline by colour/style/occasion.

Wardrobe: Begin by having a good wardrobe purge – donating/selling all those pieces you don’t absolutely love, which are unflattering or that are worn out. There’s no point taking up valuable closet space with things that either don’t get worn or that don’t make you feel good. Second, store all your out-of-season clothing, as well as pieces you’re not currently wearing, in storage boxes (I have inexpensive, shallow plastic tubs that slide under my bed for this purpose – you can buy these anywhere and they are perfect for keeping dust out). With what’s left, hang clothes on good quality hangers (silk padded hangers for delicate clothes, wooden hangers for the rest where possible) by colour and style – this will not only look more streamlined, but make it easier to put together an outfit in the morning. If you have shelves/drawers, adopt a similar approach and fold everything neatly then stack by style and colour.

Accessories: Store most of your shoes in their boxes (stuff the toes with tissue to retain their shape), and stack these at the bottom of your wardrobe. Hang scarves on hooks (either inside the wardrobe, or over the door). Store jewellery in pretty dishes and boxes (I sort mine by style/colour, and store the pieces I’m not currently wearing in golden boxes at the back of my jewellery drawer) - this will not only make it easier to find each piece, but protects them from damage and becoming one tangled mess. For your favourite accessories, why not turn them into art and place them on show? I stack all my Vogue magazines along my wall, and sit favourite pieces atop the piles (that way even when I’m not wearing treasured pieces, I can look at them – some accessories are just too pretty to be hidden in dustbags!). For all other accessories, store them in sturdy boxes in the wardrobe or under the bed (I use my glossy black Net-a-Porter boxes for this purpose).

Toiletries: Given I’m a beauty junkie, I always have far more products than I’ve ever actually been able to fit in my bathroom. As such, I have yet more plastic tubs filled with the excess, and display the rest in the most organised/pretty way I can. In the case of tiny bathrooms, think laterally and use little-used spaces such as windowsills, unused corners, the top of toilet cisterns to cluster similar items together in a nice way (a flower or a candle won’t hurt to make it look nicer). For my benchtops, I’ve got most of my bottles and potions stacked atop a big white porcelain cakestand to keep it from looking cluttered, with lipsticks and eyeshadows in little porcelain dishes, and brushes and lipglosses in vintage Moroccan glasses.

Kitchen: As with your accessories, where you are lacking in cupboard space, then put your favourite items on display and make a feature out of it. I’ve got a little cluster of gorgeous teapots, tea canisters and silly things that don’t fit in my kitchen cupboards, but look beautiful on a bench. Similarly, if you don’t have a bar, then group cocktail ingredients together on a vintage silver dish and turn it into a feature.

Books and other collections: If you’re like the Clever Boyfriend and I, the bookshelves in small/rented places are never adequate enough to house a good collection of books. As with the other rooms, choose a collection of favourites and turn them into a feature by making a big stack of them beside the couch, or to become a mini-table (top with a lamp, and a vase of flowers and it’s practically furniture).

Top-bottom: In the absence of a bar, a vintage print and a silver tray on a corner of the kitchen bench becomes a makeshift cocktail station; over-door-hooks give a home to scarves, ribbons and sashes, as well as a current bag or two (in this case Marc Jacobs).