36.2025

Trying a new thing: Mini Mascara Madness.

I have so many (SO MANY!) mini samples of mascara. I threw out the really old ones but I have a bunch that are maybe only a year or two old at most and unopened.

Mascara is something I used to use all the time but I stopped the last few years because I was dealing with some major seasonal allergies and it seemed ridiculous and then fell out of the habit of including it in my everyday 5-minute face.

But I want to at least give these mascaras a shot, so I plan to use one a week, possibly longer if it's something I'm enjoying. I feel like a week is a good enough time to deal with even a difficult mascara – you can't always get a good idea of how it wears with just one day.

If it's truly a terrible mascara and I hate it, then I will immediately toss it. I have too many mascaras to bother keeping something truly terrible. But I want to give them a chance.

I do have a couple full-size mascaras to use for the days when I want something reliable or for travel. I have a very specific water-proof mascara I only really use for traveling or if I'm at an event for a full day – something that works for a casual day in the office won't necessarily work for being on-the-go in different climates, and this mascara has become my ride-or-die for those situations. But waterproof is so annoying to remove that it's not something I want to incorporate in my daily life.

Provided I remember to keep using mascara, I may get through the stash by summer – longer if there's something in there I really like and want to use up fully.

The ultimate goal is to not have a drawer full of mascara minis next year.

I'll track this in the monthly empties section so I can remember how I felt about each mascara and hopefully prevent myself from cluttering up my life with tons of more mascara samples.