Makeup Is Art: Craft Store Closing Sale finds

I live in a small town outside of London right now. Well small in my view since I'm use to living in the city for all my life.  There are lots of "mom & pap" shops and department stores and nothing really in between it seems.  So when I saw this mom & pap craft store that was going out of business in 5 days, I had to swing by.

I was actually looking for a souvenir keychain, stationary, and some crossword puzzle for my father in law lol, but instead I ended up near the brushes lol

Now .. this isn't new, but it's new to me.  I have yet to try  art brushes on my face in fear that they would be too harsh, but after doing some research, a lot of people have used art brushes and they love it and at a severe fraction of the price, why not give it a try.

I got these set of brushes for 99p

12 brushes for 99p!!!!

They look stiff and scary, but the instructions read to soak them in water for 30 minutes and I think I'm going to add some oil on them perhaps after soaking just to soften them up a bit.  

I'm also going to use them not just for eyeliner brushes, but some are going to be used for nail art and also cleaning up the edges of my nails as well.

Next up GLITTER!!!

Our favourite as a child, but as an adult and also a  nail junkie I'm going to use these as well with my nail art.  Look at the glitter in that, if this was mixed with some clear polish, I think it would make some glitter lovers something drool over.

Price: 99p

for a 2 inch vial jar 

Next I got this large screw top jars.

It reminds me of the MAC screw top jars that I purchased from them for $5, but these were much larger and only cost me 60p

Not sure what I'm going to do with this, it's large enough to hold a lot of my foundations, but I really like my foundations in their jars, so I'll have to have a think what I can use this for. Perhaps mixing pigments (I have enough MAC pigments to last me 20 years lol), or mixing foundations...not sure, but I use my MAC screwtop jars for pigments, so for only 60p, I'm sure I will find something beauty related to use these for.

and lastly

My plastic craft holders that I got

3 for 99p

I'm currently using them to hold brushes, mascaras and other tools.

I don't really have a vanity set up yet since I just moved here, so I'm trying to grab as much storage things as possible, and for this price, I just grabbed them without thinking.

So overall, I think that the craft store was a huge win for me today.

 I feel good about the price that I paid and that I ended up getting them for.  I'm really excited to use all my new items.  So next time there is a clearance/store closing event or a craft store, swing by, you never know what you'll find.

So what's your favourite cheap craft store finds that you use for beauty related purposes?

Beauty shelf life

Ladies...
I know some of you probably grew up looking at your mother's beauty vanity and admired and even tried on the makeup. I also know some of you have mother's who still to this day have the same exact makeup that you tried on as a child.

Well we are not our mothers, right? lol

I know we all love to collect makeup and it's hard not too, since there are so many out there and so many different and cool colors :)
but are you still using the same eyeliner that you bought as a teen?
If the answer is yes, then read on please.

So before I tell you what some experts are saying, these are my general rule for when to toss out your makeup. Now it's not easy for me to say that, "just toss it out", because who wants to throw away something that you spent your hard earned money on? But, if it means applying bacteria on yourself, it isn't worth it. Money is money, but you only have 2 eyes LOL

Ok, so my rules;

Throw out your makeup IF:
1) It smells bad, we all know when something smells bad. Take a big whiff and throw it out!
2) If you can't remember when you bought it, because it was soooo long, throw it out!
3) If the color has changed, throw it out!
4) If the texture has changed, throw it out!
5) and please if you live in a tropical/hot temporary area and you leave your product in the car by accident and it melts, throw it away. Heat+humidity+germs is not a good combo for you.

So those are my general rules, now this is what others are saying are the shelf lives:

Lipsticks/lippies: 1-2 years
foundation: 1-2 years
eyeliners: up to 2 years
eyeshadows: up to 2 years (if it's not cream based)
mascaras: 6 months
blushes: up to 2 years (if it's not cream based)
Powders: up to 2 years
Concealers: 6 months

Alot of our makeup can either by mineral/powder based or cream based. It's just logical that anything that is moist/cream based will not last as long as powder, because of it's formula.

I read someone say that nailpolish can go bad after 2 years, but I also know a lot of nail fantatics that will add thinner (acetone) to it to break up the hardened polish to reuse.
I happen to be one of those people that when the formula gets gloopy and hard to thin it out and continue using.

I know not a lot of people want to hear about shelf lives, because they can't fathom throwing away their precious collection, but that just means you have to shop smarter (or less) and be able to use what you actually buy.

What do you guys think? What was your experience with makeup products and when do you toss?