There are so many options to dispose of unwanted clothing, but not unwanted makeup. I had bought a whole lot of cheap war paint from warehouse sales and the like, but compared to the quality and price of Topshop cosmetics, they just aren’t up to scratch. I wanted to get rid of them, but as most of them hadn’t even been used, it felt like a terrible waste. But what to do? I decided to ask the all-knowing Google, and these are the options I was given:
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If you have the receipt, return the items back to the store you bought them from.
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Give to young girls so they can experiment with makeup.
- If it’s still wrapped up in packaging you can try to recoup your costs by selling it on TradeMe/eBay.
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Clean out lipstick tubes and use it as hair pin storage.
- Share with friends/relatives/colleagues who share the same taste in cosmetics.
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Donate anything unused to a local women’s shelter.
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Let children use the lip liner/eye liner pencils to draw pictures.
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Use old nail polish (preferably clear) to paint the inside of rings/bracelets that leave green marks on your skin.
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If you’re a creative artist, use eye makeup/lipsticks/powder as art supplies.
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Cover up scuffed shoes with matching coloured mascara.
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Give old nail polish to the man in the house to mark his tools.
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See if your local pharmacy or makeup store have a recycling program for empty cosmetic cases.
M·A·C Cosmetics recycles used containers for all of its cosmetic products (only in U.S.A/Canada), and if you donate six containers they give you a free lipstick for your troubles. Origins have a similar system but their recycling program doesn’t operate in NZ.
If these options I’ve suggested don’t work for you the only thing left to do is throw your cosmetics in the general rubbish. They are not toxic so will not affect the environment negatively. If you want you can separate the contents from the containers and put the containers in the recycling bin. Hopefully after that you will have a neat and organised cosmetics case like the one below!
