Everyone who wears makeup on a regular basis has experienced that heartbreaking feeling of realizing your favorite beauty product is almost completely gone. Makeup is expensive, especially if you shop at high end retailers. Even if you shop exclusively at drugstores, the money still adds up quickly. This is why knowing how to extend the life of your beauty products is so important. It make your life more convenient, and also saves you lots of money.
Aside from giving you more bang for your buck, being familiar with these hacks will help save your makeup from breaking, crumbling, or drying up — three things that will surely cut your product life in half instantly. Imagine not feeling devastated when your expensive, almost-brand-new lipstick breaks in half or when your prettiest eye shadow crumbles into little pieces. Nice, right?
Many of us are wasting perfectly good beauty products because we assume that when they get dry, they're not good anymore. We're throwing out crumbled powders or broken lipsticks instead of attempting to salvage them. We're cutting down the lifespan of our perfumes and nail polishes just because of where we're storing them. Most of us don't even realize we're doing the wrong thing! Let's pledge to save our makeup and our wallets by remembering these 18 hacks for extending the life of your makeup products. The few minutes of extra effort are worth it in the long run.
1. Clean Your Makeup Brushes
Good quality makeup brushes can last for years — if you take care of them correctly. Allowing them to become caked with makeup, bacteria, and grime means you'll be buying new ones sooner, and brushes can be expensive. You should, ideally, wash your makeup brushes once a week, but we don't all have time for that. At least try to do it two or three times a month.
2. Soak Mascara In Hot Water
If you feel like your mascara is drying up and running out, try this favorite trick of mine instead of running out to buy a new one. Secure the cap tightly, then let your mascara sit in a cup of hot water for two to three minutes. The hot water softens the dried mascara inside the bottle, making it (almost) good as new. This should give you another week or so before you really have to replace it.
3. Mix Foundation With Face Lotion
I don't think I need to tell anyone how expensive great foundation can be. If you splurge on a foundation you love, make it last twice as long by mixing it with a small amount of face lotion. This turns your foundation into more of a tinted moisturizer. While it will go on lighter, it still gives coverage.
4. Keep Makeup Pencils Cool
If you've been storing your makeup in your bathroom, you're doing it wrong. Makeup, especially things like eye pencils, should always be kept in a cool, dry place. When your pencils get warm, they start to melt. A bathroom, where you shower and use hot water, can make them too warm.
5. Cut And Scrape
Do you know how much makeup is often left behind when you get rid of a bottle or tube that you haven't cut open? A few days worth! When you notice your makeup is dwindling down, cut open the tube to scrape out every last bit of it. You can buy inexpensive plastic makeup containers at any beauty store. Fill them with the scraps of foundation, concealer, or whatever it is you just opened up.
6. Use Tape To Fix Powder
Sometimes, after a while, powder makeup develops a weird hard film on top of it. To get rid of this and make your powder good as new, gently press tape against the top.
7. Spray Eye Shadow With Rubbing Alcohol
If you use eye shadow often, especially when brushes that aren't clean, you'll notice they get a little dull. You won't notice that they're becoming full of bacteria, though. To keep your eye shadow clean and to make it more vibrant, spray it with a little bit of rubbing alcohol, then dab with a cotton swab.
8. Use Alcohol To Fix Crushed Powder
Speaking of rubbing alcohol, it's also a great way to fix crushed or crumbled powder, whether it's foundation, blush, or eye shadow. Spray or mix a few drops of rubbing alcohol into the powder, then press down firmly with a spoon. Let sit, come back to perfect powder again. No need to ever throw it out! Well, until it's done, of course.
9. Give New Life To Gel Liner
The worst thing is when your favorite gel liner starts to dry out. It's tempting and easy to just spring for a new one, but instead try adding a drop or two of saline solution to revive it.
10. Fix Broken Lipstick With A Lighter
Few moments are as disheartening as your favorite lipstick breaking. But don't panic and waste your money by getting rid of it or discarding the broken end! Use a lighter to fix it. Burn the end of the broken piece and the top of the tube, then press together until it firms. Lipstick saved.
11. Make Eye Shadow Into Nail Polish
I can't tell you how many times I've purchased an eye shadow palette that has at least one or two colors I know I'm never going to wear. It doesn't seem like a big deal, but you're still wasting perfectly good makeup! Get the most bang for your buck by putting that shadow to good use. Mix with a clear top coat to create nail polish.
12. Store Products In The Fridge
Remember how I said your eye pencil shouldn't be kept in a warm, moist environment? The same goes for nail polish, lipstick, and perfume. Warm air will shorten the lifespan of all three of these items. They're best kept in the fridge where they can stay cool.
13. Remember That Less Is More
Cutting down on much product you use when you're applying it seems obvious, but it's so easy to get into the habit of quickly doing makeup and using too much of it without thinking. There have been so many mornings where I've pumped way too much foundation on my hand, just to have to wipe it off with a towel. Go a little slower, and put less than you think you need on your hand. You can always add more if needed.
14. Tap Your Brushes
It's also easy to put way too much product on your makeup brush. Whenever you use a brush with powder, even if you think you don't need to, tap the brush against the side of the product to release the excess powder.
15. Keep Lids Tight
This is another tip that sounds obvious but is easy to miss. When you're in a rush, you probably leave makeup without the top or you just put it on lightly. Always make sure the lids are on tight. When exposed to air, makeup can dry out, get hard, melt, or just get messed up.
16. Use A Lipstick Brush For Extra Product
When a tube of makeup is almost out, it's easy to cut it. But a lipstick applicator can't really be cut in half. Instead, get a small lipstick brush. Use it to scrape out any extra lipstick so you leave none behind.
17. Mix Foundation With Toner
If you want to lengthen the life of your foundation but you're not into the idea of mixing it with moisturizer, try adding a few drops of alcohol-free toner. It makes your foundation last longer.
18. Stop Throwing Makeup In Your Bag
How many times have you been in a rush to get out the door, so you threw your products into your bag without really thinking about it? Probably a lot. Products break and crack and crumble so easily when they're sitting at the bottom of your bag. Keep them safe by putting them in a smaller makeup bag, then carefully placing that bag in your handbag — in a separate pocket if possible.
Images: Leandro Crespi/Stocksy; Giphy
