Page 203 - Vogue - India (January 2020)

beauty
For you, waking up to a
plethora of beauty para-
phernalia, like that lat-
est multi-glitter eye pal-
ette and the small-batch
harvested and handcraft-
ed CBD glow oil from the
Himalayas might be a
dream come true. For “Continue
me, it has been a reality a clutter-
for a long time, and it’s free life with
not pretty.
I have heaps of mois- constant edits
turisers in all their gel/ and mindful
creamy/watery formu- consumption.”
las, micellars with mul-
tiple cleansing tools, —ROHINI
masks for every part of RAJAGOPALAN
my body and lip balms
that I will take to my
deathbed stacked on my dresser. My
beauty wardrobe, a life-sized reposito-
ry of over 45 overstuffed pouches split
between a perfume shelf and separate
drawers for the eyes, lips and face, has
been my proudest project since I moved
into this house a year and a half ago. I
thought I was justifying my star sign’s
fundamental traits—being obsessively
organised and smugly living my best,
orderly life—until the stacks kept
stacking up, the shelves kept shrink-
ing and the drawers refused to close.
My beauties were besieging me and I
couldn’t keep up…
Confession: I am a beauty hoarder.
It’s time I own up to it, write about it
and seek help—for the sake of my be-
loved beauty products and every girl
who has been in my shoes (in her per-
fectly manicured toenails, of course).
Contrary to what you may assume, I
was looking forward to my new project,
the beauty cleansing ritual (the Virgo in
me is thriving) with my guide Rohini
Rajagopalan, founder of Organise with
Ease, who organises people’s homes
(and lives) for a living. Together, we set
out to make space for a better future.
SHUTTERSTOCK.COM SILENT WARNINGS
How do you know you’ve crossed over
to the dark side? There are two clear
signs, according to Rajag-
opalan. One, when the
space starts to stress you
out and you begin to feel
overwhelmed, and two,
when you struggle to fi nd
things you need. Accord-
ing to me, it’s when you
are late to work because
you spend 13 minutes
trying to fi nd that par-
ticular nude out of the 57
that you own, but fail to
do so. So you end up swip-
ing on a cherry orange,
which might look great,
but the case of the miss-
ing nude nudges your
mental peace all day long.
MIND OVER MATTER
“Makeup should bring happiness,” she
says, but clutter cuts the joy out of sim-
ple daily experiences by making you
anxious and helpless. Too much of eve-
rything—sights, smells, touch—can
blast your brain, confuse your senses,
distract you and bog you down with
guilt over time. Good feelings are re-
placed with stress and the embarrass-
ment of opening up your space to out-
siders often leads to a restless mind.
Besides, that therapeutic feeling of
warming up a face oil on your fi nger-
tips and gently dabbing it on to your
skin with your eyes shut will be lost
somewhere in this chaos. And the sad-
dest part is, you won’t even realise
when that happens. ■
Addict’s End Note:
Post my painstaking but exhilarating
cleansing ritual, I may still have more
makeup than the average beauty
consumer (because I do still need to
have my cleansing oil to remove my
I will tell you that I fi nally experienced
waterproof gel liner in close sight), but
something I haven’t in a long, long
time: a restful night’s sleep and
morning eyes that seemed pleased
with the beautifully organised chaos
they saw in front of them.
YOU CAN DO IT!
You’re already ba ed by the sheer
volume of the task in front of you.
Step one: accept the challenge,
take a deep breath and begin.
1. Make it fun! Put on your
favourite playlist and fi nd a clean
spot to sit to initiate this exercise.
2. Start with one vertical fi rst,
like makeup. Take it all out—the
ones in your bathroom, dresser,
handbag, even the eye pencil that
has reached the farthest corner of
your cupboard.
3. Next, categorise. Use mini
baskets, label each into categories
and subcategories and start putting
products in them. Besides primary
labels like ‘eye shadows, mascaras,
concealers’ for example, bigger
baskets with labels like ‘donate’ and
‘discard’ (for expired products), are
equally important.
4. Now comes the important
step—further decluttering from
the mini baskets—look at each
product and ask yourself, “When
was the last time I used it? Do I see
myself using it in the foreseeable
future? Does it give me joy?” If the
nos supersede the ayes, you know
which pile it goes into.
5. Once you have your fi nal box
of goodies that you will actually
use, arrange them in a way that
will visually appeal to you. Create
designated spaces for frequently
used items and opt for spaces that
are close in sight, so that they are
easily accessible.
6. Pat yourself on the back
for accomplishing a task you’ve
been procrastinating. But don’t get
sidetracked once it’s over. Continue
the clean streak. When you take
something out from its assigned
spot, put it back immediately once
you’re done. Be conscious of the
increasing stacks and only bring
as Rajagopalan sums up: “Continue
home what is really necessary. And
a clutter-free life with constant
edits and mindful consumption.”
www.vogue.in VOGUE INDIA JANUARY 203