Extending your beauty products life span!

     Pinterest and the web are chock-full of helpful tips and advice on how to make your makeup products last longer both on your face and in the bottle. Many of these tricks I use currently or have used in the past. Here are a few of my favorites and some general make up related tips I think are useful!

    Mascara- Everyone knows using eye drops in your mascara tube will help remove clumps, but have you tried Castor or Lavender Oil? Both are great for your lashes and have been touted to make lashes grow faster and stronger. Plus lavender oil has often been praised for having antibacterial properties as well. This is especially important for the sensitive eye area.

     Broken shadow/powder compacts- Most of you have also seen how easy it is to fix a broken compact using rubbing alcohol.  Have you also considered using alcohol to combine similar shades to create new ones or simply to fill extra space? I used an e.l.f. blush in the brush compartment of a Maybelline  Fit Me Blush compact so I didn't have 2 separate items to look for.

     Eye shadow/powder "stiffness"- You know how sometimes you can get a hard layer on the top of your powder eye shadows, blushes or pressed powders? You can't really use them because brushes don't even make a dent to pick up product anymore. I recently learned here that it can be because you get oil and buildup on the surface, causing it to harden and stick together. If you gently scrape off the top layer, it will give you access to the fresh product below!

     Lip glosses and concealers or anything that uses a wand applicator are notorious for getting a significant amount of product stuck under the lip of the container. If you warm the container in a cup of hot water or a double boiler system, the product will settle back into the bottom of the container where you can get at it. If it's really low, you can simply pop off the rubber stopper meant to limit the amount of product dispensed and scoop out as much as you need. After removing the rubber stopper you can also combine similar products to make new ones!

     Bar soap- Whether you use bar soap for your face or hands or body, There is an easy way to make it last a really long time. All you need to do is shave off a few pieces with a vegetable peeler, put them in a bowl with water and mash them up until they soften and turn into liquid soap! One bar will last far longer this way and save you  money in the process.

     Makeup on your clothes- Okay, this is one area where we do NOT want our make up to stay put. I often find face makeup on the collars of my jackets, where my cheek and jawline often rub. It's the worst to see an orange streak on your white dry-clean only jacket and wonder if you'll ever be able to get it out. I don't like to take clothes to the dry cleaners if I don't have to and I discovered the perfect easy solution, makeup remover wipes!!! I've used this on anything from a tissue tee to a wool coat and it WORKED. It doesn't get every molecule of makeup off, but enough so that I can't even tell. So try it!!  Test your wipes on a inconspicuous area first, to make sure they won't bleach it or anything, (I don't know why it would, but better to be safe.) and then just wipe away!! I try not to scrub so I don't damage the shirt but some good pressing action works to get the remover into the fabric and lift out those marks.



     Hairspray on *literally* everything in the bathroom- Yet another great use for makeup remover wipes is to get any residual makeup or hairspray off things like your curling iron handle, handles on brushes, makeup compacts or the handle on your blow dryer. Since I'm usually doing my hair and makeup at the same time I'm always getting residue on things I leave out on the counter. It's easy to use a spray cleaner to get that gunk off your counter but you can't use that on eye shadow palettes or compacts because you don't want to get chemicals on your fancy makeup. So I use makeup wipes! They are great to remove residue without getting water inside your electronics or make up cases. Case in point, the casing on my curling iron had turned an awful shade of grey instead of black and I thought the plastic had dried out. As it happened, it was only makeup and a good wipe down made it look brand new. Try it!

What are your favorite ways to make beauty products last longer?









***Disclaimer: All items mentioned in this or future posts have been purchased by me, at my own expense unless otherwise noted. I am not affiliated with or sponsored by any company or brand so you can be assured my opinions are mine alone. My opinions are based on my own experience and independent research.