I almost titled this post “8 Eye Creams”, but it is not a click bait ranking or other evaluation of eight eye creams. It is an admission that there is at least one part of me that thinks my world will be better if I simply apply the right eye cream twice daily, and that part of me purchases eye creams. I really wish it were not true, but somewhere along my 100 Things journey I got curious about what clutters up my bathroom cabinets – and I found eight eye creams along with many other questionable duplications, triplications, and more.
Not wanting to throw perfectly good stuff away, the adjacent idea was that I was going to reduce what a trendy tv show calls “backstock”. The Home Edit (which I love) focuses on organizing the things we have already bought and brought into our homes. Their first step is to get rid of things you do not need or use. I love that when items can be donated and reused, however that is not the case with cosmetic products. These eye creams were fine, most brand new – not trash. Each one is tiny, so it did not look overwhelming, but eight is ridiculous.
Faced with this surplus of seemingly everything, I elected to stop buying anything in the “beauty” category until I was out and wanted (needed?) to replace something.
Side quest: How long beauty products are good for is a valid question. I am only speaking for myself here, but I let most stick around far longer than the general suggestions. The consensus seems to be (because of bacteria and the risk of infection) 6 months on any product – makeup or skincare – used near the eyes. As someone who rarely wears makeup, I am not going to admit the age of my eyeshadows. Other skincare products generally get a suggested lifespan of one year once opened. For unopened products it gets less clear – they can go funky with age or have vitamins that get less effective over shorter periods of time. 1-3 years since manufacture arrives as a remarkable unhelpful suggestion, especially as consumers often have no idea how old the product was at the time of purchase. Sunscreen is currently regulated as a drug and the FDA requires it to stay at listed strength 3 years from manufacture, which feels important. Some manufacturers mark a manufacture date or expiration date, but not all. Sunscreen is the exception and for the most part when it comes to listing expiration dates, we are on our own once we slip into beauty and skin care.
Not buying anything new still left me with eight eye creams (and five face washes, and six anti-aging serums, etc.) so I decided to use them up one by one. To date, I have only thrown out one lotion that had shifted to a weird smell. The more interesting thing to me is how long each of these tiny containers lasts for me. For all of my apparent fear of running out of these things, it takes me months to go through even the smallest amount of most products. I am not trying to be stingy, but as I am not the size of an actual elephant, I honestly can’t even figure out how to use more.
It has been well over a year since I began this endeavor, and I have finished remarkably few products. It is so infrequent I get quite excited each time. My bathroom cabinets look largely the same as when I started- mostly because each container is tiny – but there is a difference. The more noteworthy difference is in what I call my “beauty products” spending which has amounted to just one mascara and one body wash in the last year. And I still have so much of nearly everything.
The other thing I have noted, in a very nonclinical way, is that my skin feels the same regardless of what I am using. Billions of dollars in beauty and anti-aging marketing suggests otherwise. In transparency, these products have all been what I would classify as higher end products, and still – not one has changed my life. My skin continues to look it’s best when I drink water and get enough rest.
One eye cream will eventually be all I keep on hand, ditto other categories of beauty products. Give me another year and I just might need to decide which one that is.
Journal Prompt: Check your personal inventory and if you have a category of excess products on hand, consider not buying (include any subscriptions and auto ships) until you are running out. Then write for 1 minutes on each of these three prompts: (1) why you buy that type of product (2) how it makes you feel when you use it, and (3) how it makes you feel when you think about running out.
Physical Prompt: Grab a sharpie and add the current month and year to every product in your bathroom (add to new ones as you buy them) to see how long it takes you to finish a product. Also consider getting rid of anything you know is over 3 years old (at a minimum check the scent and consistency), especially sunscreen.
All content I share here, elsewhere on my websites and in social media is created by me, Alison Gurevich – and not AI or other sources unless otherwise specifically attributed. This includes all photographs, writing, and ideas. All rights reserved by Alison Gurevich. “Eight is Enough” was originally published to www.breathtomotion.com on February 28, 2026. When you find typos or grammar errors, celebrate humanity and enjoy a little song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3wKzyIN1yk (Human by Rag N Bone Man).