We all have that layer at the bottom of our makeup bags, that beauty graveyard of makeup that never quite sees the light of day but stays in your bag nonetheless.  We couldn’t possibly throw out that bright blue lip gloss from Halloween 2012, and we all have that ‘it’s finished but it’s not quite finished’ eyeliner in there – JUST in case. 

To find out exactly what’s hiding in the average woman’s beauty graveyard, we conducted research on which products most often find their way to the bottom of the makeup bag: 

In 5th and 4th place is the Eyeliner and Eyeshadow

17% of women said they have eyeliners and eyeshadows in their cosmetic collections that will never grace their lids again. Is this because there are always colours in a palette that just don’t suit us? Or is it that once we get a new palette we tend to forget about the other one (or four)?

In at 3rd place - Makeup Brushes

The next offender on the list is make-up brushes, with 18% of women having old brushes in their makeup kit. You know; that brush with half of its bristles missing, with those that are left are stained a permanent mix of colours for lack of cleaning over the years? And yet, though we may invest a shiny new one, we are kind of used to that unique blend, so it stays firmly put in the bottom of our makeup bags - you never know when the colour ‘sparkly dirt’ could come into fashion.

Coming 2nd – Bronzer

At 19%, bronzer finds itself amongst the makeup products most regularly left unused. Has bronzer past it - upstaged by an influx of ‘contour’ products? Nevertheless, we’ll hold on to our collection of bronzers anyway, just in case they make a comeback.

In 1st Place – Blusher

And finally, the most common resident found in a ‘beauty graveyard’ is the blusher, with a whopping 20% (that’s 1 in 5) of women having this beauty product lying around, unfinished. Blushing because you know this is you? Thought so.

Nearly a third (31%) of women admit to purchasing up to four beauty products every month- that’s one every single week! But should we be shopping smarter to avoid just adding to our already overflowing beauty graveyards?