6.08.2011

the beauty of reuse & recycling

As beauty junkies we are always re-organizing, re-a ranging, depoting and what not. Sometimes the products we buy come with tools that we trow away because they seem useless.  Other times "necessity is the mother of invention" and in times of need something that seemed useless becomes a $$$ and time saver. Not least important: reusing our beauty tools and containers helps reducing waste :)

Some ideas:

- sponge tip applicators: I used to trow them out but when I'm traveling or don't want to mess a brush with a cream product they are great to apply cream eyeshadows, specially those that tend to stain or brushes or to apply product to small areas.  They also work great to apply or smudge eyeliner / eyeshadow on lower lash line. I've even use them to blend lip liners.
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- brushes: I use the brushes that come with some blushes to brush away fall out. Smaller brushes are good to apply wet pigments because they tend to be a little stiff and pack color nicely. I even use the smaller ones to clean my laptop keyboard, small spaces / corners on my makeup table and clean the edges of my nails after doing a mani.

- mascara wands: After your mascara have dried or expired you can wash; disinfect it to use it on your brows, to remove powder from your hair line. I had a mascara that had a terrible brush but a great formula; instead of trowing it out I exchange the brush because it fitted perfectly in the tube. 

- lipgloss wands: after washing; disinfecting I've use them to create my own glosses when mixing pigments with clear gloss or to apply a sheer layer of lipstick

- foundation: A foundation that doesn't match your skin tone? In case you can't return it or give it to someone else, it might work as concealer, eye primer or to swatch other products. It it turns out to be too dark, you could try mixing it with your favorite moisturizer and create a custom tint moisturizer.

- containers with a pump or spray nozzle: After you use all the original product in it, rinse it well and you can reuse it store polish remover, foundation, moisturizer, hair products and more. These are ideal for travel because some products comes in big containers that take too much space or have messy dispenser  methods.

- gift set boxes & baskets : You can use them to store jewelry, makeup or bath products. I use this box from a Juicy Couture gift set to store my fantasy bangles. If you glue some cardboard strips vertically it would be nice to store small / medium eyeshadows / blushes / palettes.
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- rolls and rolls of tape wondering around?: I tried to swatch nail polishes on a piece of tape and it worked really nice; specially on tape that has a matte finish.


- nail polish gone bad? You can empty the bottle, clean it well with acetone and use it to create your own "franken" polishes. If you got a big size cuticle oil or base / topcoat bottle you can use smaller bottles to put some of it there so its easier to use or even gift a little of it to a friend or someone you are doing a swap with.

I would love if you could share some of your tips to reuse beauty tools! :)




2 comments:

C said...

These are such great ideas! I had an acne clearing foundation that was WAY too drying for my skin, so I just started using it as a spot treatment concealer..worked amazing!

I love the mascara wand idea :)

Unknown said...

@I've done that too! that is why I always thin twice before trowing out a product I don't like. I'm glad you found this post useful :D

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