Spring Clean Your Beauty Stash

So you're still off the fags, you've got your gym membership sorted and have solemnly resolved to snack only on goji berries and chickpeas for the rest of your days. You've great intentions to completely detox your life - why not do the same for your beauty stash?

First things first - there are some things that you should be discarding without a second thought:

• Check for an expiry date on products like acne treatments or sunscreens - anything with active ingredients. It doesn't matter if they've only been open a week: the clock starts ticking on these products as soon as they're made and they lose functional integrity when their time's up. Bin them.
• Hunt for a PAO [period after opening] symbol on other products - you know the one, a little jar with an open lid that has a number and a 'M' on it. This is the number of months you should use a product for after its been opened.
• Ophthalmologists recommend tossing open mascaras after 3 or [max] 4 months. They're the biggest offenders in terms of actually causing infections.
• Look out for products that don't pass a basic sniff 'n' look test: you need to immediately chuck out anything that smells or looks a bit dodge. That's only good for cheeses.

Once you've cleared out anything that was about to get up and walk away of its own accord, you'll probably be left with three distinct product camps. You'll have things that you know look great on you, that you cherish and use frequently. You'll have absolute rubbish, including unwanted gifts, that you wouldn't even consider using. And you'll have the stuff that, in your heart of hearts, you know you'll never use again or does not become you at all.

You know which of those you should be keeping, so be ruthless! But don't just bin the stuff you're getting rid of - reduce, reuse, recycle, people. See if your mam or sister would like some of your excess. Alternatively, you could sign up to a site like Make Up Alley and swap your unwanted bits and bobs for stuff that you actually want: just last Friday I got me a fabilis Chanel eyeshadow quad thanks to an MUA swap with a lovely girl in Norway.

And if you reckon that sounds rather too much like hard work, just think of all the room you'll be creating for lahhhvely new spring purchases!