The Heavy Handbag

i guess the best place for me to start, would be the products that i take with me everywhere, everyday.

the handbag. what a glorious invention it is for women like me, who feel the need to cart a large percentage of their belongings with them wherever they go, neatly held together buy a fashionable composition of materials... for me, it's preferably leather.

fun fact: although the ideal weight for a woman's handbag is no more than 1 kilo gram, the average weight carried by the lovely ladies of the world is 2.5 kilo grams. naughty naughty!

last weekend while i was bored at work (shock horror..what are the odds??!) i was reading articles on (one of my two favourite beauty sites primped.ninemsn.com.au) and stumbled upon a guest blog titled "Makeup Bag Do-Over: Or How to Not Carry 17 Lipsticks on your Back". i felt as though this article was actually written for me - personally. do they know me? have i been followed? should i smile for a candid camera? perhaps. in any case, the advice i was being given was much too helpful (and relevant) for me to inconvenience my voice of reason (guest blogger Emily Taylor) by implying that she may in fact have been following my every move. i thought i might as well take the opportunity to have a look through my bag and perhaps a spring clean if needed. Well that "if" turned out to be extremely naive by me.

before i started, i thought it worth weighing my bag, just to see how much i'm currently carrying around with me when i wander aimlessly for hours through shopping centres and the like.

coming in at 4.1kgs... not ideal, 3.2kgs more than in fact! i often carry a 600ml bottle of water in there too if it will fit...gulp!

On turning my bag upside down, this was what i found:

wow. what a mess. not quiet sure how the few scrunched tissues or the empty packet of "extra" are necessary for survival, so it seems appropriate that these are the first to go.

after this progress, i'm feeling pretty good about myself. perhaps i'm not an extremist hoarder (how very wishful of me). ok focus, back to the task at hand! but now i find myself quite stumped. all these products are in here for a reason, surely. so i figure it helpful to group the similar products together to determine how excessive my handbag collection is.

now i wont bore you with listing each and every product in this picture, but you would most likely agree that there's definitely an excessive amount of products e.g. if i'm carrying my Estée Lauder DayWear Sheer Tint Release Moisturiser, i probably wont require my Garnier BB Cream (in either shade - i have both), whilst i'm out and about on a normal day. i also don't often use all three of my large powder brushes, one is quite suffice!

i'm feeling as though now is as good a time as any, to mention to you that from sunday to friday (as a general rule) i do not wear any makeup. i'm not a natural glamour (please don't mistake the lack of makeup for arrogance or an unrealistic interpretation of my own appearance, i assure you this is not the case), however i have been blest with a fairly clear complexion and try to maintain it by keeping my face well hydrated and free from layers of makeup, whenever possible. a saturday night out or a special occasion is really the only time i make the effort these days to pretty myself up!

with this in mind, i have complied a list of items which would be much more appropriate for a girl like myself to carry with her at all times. this list keeps the basics, and some extras which are worth carrying in case an unexpected event takes place (e.g. a photo shoot takes place at work where one is required to sit for an individual portrait which is to be used for the company website - no i'm not being dramatic, this happened to me last week).

the items which i will keep carrying to make up my handbag beauty survival kit are: Estée Lauder DayWear Sheer Tint Release Moisturiser SPF 15, Chanel Beaute Initiale Energizing Multi-Protection Cream SPF 15, YSL Touche Éclat Radiant Touch, Gorgeous Cosmetics Bronzing Powder, Gorgeous Cosmetics Large Powder Brush, Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick, Estée Lauder Sumptuous Extreme Mascara, Clinique Chubby Stick Woppin' Watermelon, Jo Malone Vintage Gardenia, Jurlique Jasmine hand cream and KORA Organics Vitamin Enhanced Lip Balm.

i'm very happy with this new selection im carrying around, and my right shoulder is definitely agreeing with me also! i'm yet to weight my bag again...but it is obviously much lighter with 75% of it's contents being relocated!

to those of you who find yourself in a similar state of handbag clutter, do yourself a favour and sort it out!! i hope my cull has inspired you.

B xoxo