I went off a low-buy to deal with getting rid of expired and outdated palettes. I didn't want it to turn into a logistical ordeal where I'd spend all my time and energy being overly strict about replacement rules.

When I first started buying eye shadows 7 years ago, I didn't pick the best colors for my complexion or my wardrobe, but I hung onto them for too long because I didn't want them to go to waste. Finally, having them expire or fade took care of the problem for me.

My first urge was to replace full-sized palettes with more full-sized palettes, but then I started to see how many similar colors they would have. I got 6-pan palettes with completely different color stories from one another instead. In total, I reduced my number of pans by one third.

I'm still tempted by other palettes I've seen while researching, so I'm committing to a one-year no-buy on eye shadow and low-buy (replacements) on everything else. I can still enjoy looking and telling myself that that I'll be able to buy one more palette if I still want it in an entire year. I'm next focusing on panning lipsticks. Apparently I get 90% panned, don't want to finish them "in case I need them later", and end up with all these stubs!