Makeup is one of those items we feel SO BAD throwing out, but there’s really no safe way to donate or repurpose used cosmetics, right? Wrong!
Here are six GENIUS things you can do with your old beauty products and unwanted makeup to avoid waste and do a little good.
What to do with old makeup.
So you’ve decluttered your bathroom, and now you’re standing there staring at the heap of products you don’t want. Here’s how you can donate or repurpose products of varying levels of used and grossness.
1. Local women’s shelter.
For unused products–especially unopened beauty products–that you don’t want to keep, please consider donating it to your local shelters. Homeless shelters, houses for women in transition out of a domestic violence situation, family shelters, and other such organizations are more than happy to accept appropriate donations.
When I have unused products to get out of my house, the women’s shelter is my first stop.
But what about those products that are used, past the expiration date, broken, or otherwise unsuitable for regular donation? There’s a place for those, too!
2. Morgues.
Morgues?! Yep, morgues would love to have your old makeup!
There’s a significant health risk involved in sharing products like used eye makeup, but you know who doesn’t care about catching a disease? Dead people.
Donate your products that can’t be safely given to a living person to those who have already passed. They won’t even notice they’re used!
3. Sanitize gently used powders.
Packed powder makeup can be sanitized and then given away or sold. Open them up, spray with a mist of alcohol, then allow it to air dry. You might drop a post about it on Facebook Marketplace, Nextdoor, or whatever platform you use to communicate with your local area.
4. Schools and community theater.
Donating otherwise unsafe makeup to a theater program can be useful for them, as many repurpose used cosmetics as body-only makeup. Give them a call to see if they have a use for it!
5. Make paint.
If you’re the creative type (or have some kiddos who love a project), try out using your old products as paint!
It’s really as simple as hydrating the product to your desired consistency, then painting with it! Here’s a more specific makeup-to-paint tutorial if you’d like extra guidance. Powders make AMAZING water colors.
6. Project Beauty Share
There are actually many nonprofit organizations that accept donations of unused beauty products, as well as gently used cosmetics. One of those is Project Beauty Share.
Project Beauty Share distributes hygiene and beauty products to people all across the United States. You can ship in your new or gently used makeup, nail polish, sanitary products, and others to be shared with those in need. Learn more about what donations Project Beauty Share accepts.
You shouldn’t feel bad throwing it away.
If none of the above options work for you, let’s talk about the ethics of tossing it all right into the trash can.
If you keep a product you will never use, it will be wasted in the drawer.
If you throw that product away, it will be wasted in the dump.
It’s wasted either way. Your house does not have to be the dump.
Not only does holding onto useless items junk up our house, but it junks up our minds, too. To some extent, we have to think about and manage everything in our home. Is keeping garbage around until it decomposes in the drawer worth your peace of mind?
If you feel guilty throwing things away, try to make this a one-time learning experience. Many of us have shopping habits where we’ll pick something up in the store just because it looks interesting, or because the bottle is pretty. To stop waste, we have to stop shopping for the sake of shopping. Buy what you need, when you need it, and stay out of the makeup aisle.
How to stop wasting beauty products.
Here are a few habits you might implement post-decluttering to help you avoid this situation later on.
1. Travel-sized.
If you know you can’t use up a product before it expires, consider a smaller container, like a travel version. This will make it much more likely that you can use it up before you need to throw it away!
2. Choose your favorites and stop buying the rest.
We have to shake off the consumerist mindset of “more, more, more”. Choose the products you love–the ones you use every day–and only keep those in your home. Stop shopping once you know what you like. Buy another when that one runs out.
There’s NO reason to have drawers and drawers full of cosmetic products when we know we only use ten of them.
3. Stop saving it for a “special occasion”.
For items like candles, soaps, nail polishes, bath bombs, expensive eyelash extensions–whatever the item may be–stop saving it for a special day.
Today is your special day. Allow yourself to enjoy it now!
If we accept the mindset that every day is special when we make it special, we can avoid those product pile-ups, things expiring, and bummer days!
4. Learn the lesson.
Throwing things out can hurt, especially if it’s your first time decluttering your beauty products. That doesn’t mean we have to stay in this cycle of over-buying, under-using, and throwing away.
Try to shop more mindfully in the future. Think of this temporary act of “wastefulness” as the price we pay to learn and do better.
The planet–and your wallet–will thank you.
Want to keep the decluttering ball rolling? Here are 25 easy things you can declutter from the bathroom!
