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Do you keep products just for their packaging?


Do you keep products just for their packaging? Even if the product doesn’t work for you or no longer usable?

Definitely! I have some older MAC compacts and limited edition glosses that I won’t use, but I’ve kept more for posterity. I’m sure, eventually, I will part with it, lol!

Thanks to reader Krystel for today’s question idea Do you have a question idea? Submit yours here.

29 Comments

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Mariella Avatar

Nope, I’m not that sentimental about makeup, though I have kept a few perfume bottles (Chanel and Flora Danica – such a pretty bottle and you see the hand painted flowers “through” the fragrance because of the angled bottom). However, when an actual product is really pretty – like Guerlain Cruel Gardenia – it sort of pains me to use it and ruin the pretty design. I’d feel the same way about that new, LE Chanel highlighting powder if I owned it….I almost wish manufacturers would just make the surface of the product “plain” so using it wouldn’t destroy the beauty of it.

Sylirael Avatar

I don’t have anything that has forced me to consider this yet – all the stuff I have with awesome packaging I have bought partly *because* of the awesome packaging. I havne’t reached the stage where I need to consider having a cleanout (my makeup stash still fits in one large shoebox, LOL!), but I’m sure the time will come…

Carla Avatar

I do have some stuff that I know I won’t be able to part to. Specially limited edition stuff with special packaging. It didn’t get to the point where I can’t use them anymore, but at some point it will, haha.

I also have items that I can’t bring myself to use because they have a pretty design and I don’t want to ruin it, or because I don’t want to finish it. Oh, the problems of beauty addicts!

Samantha Avatar

I do if the packaging is beautiful enough! I have held onto the MAC Royal Assets holiday 2007 gold metal compact for the packaging as the eyeshadow was used (or dried up) long ago. I also use the Estee Lauder Zodiac Aries compact for the packaging as the powder is not anything I would usually wear.

Andrea Avatar

I sit at the exact opposite spectrum of a hoarder. I have an extreme compulsion for ‘throwing away’ whatever I dont use, need, or care for. This has cost me to loose many things that I later regret of having gotten rid of. I’m not a collector either. In this regard I keep my stash functional, organized and sensible. Or somewhat sensible. I use everything I have, and if I stop using something
I toss it out or give it away. I have many sisters, so they always welcome this.

Estefania Avatar

I don’t think that’s ever happened to me, but there are things that I will not throw away or Back to MAC because of their packaging! (Archie’s Girls, Alluring Aquatic) Those are collectibles in my opinion 🙂

Dee D Avatar

Hmmm….strangely no! I haven’t actually held onto anything so far just for the packaging. Maybe I just havent bought anything with pretty enough packaging yet lol. Ohhmm actually no I have. Its the tony moly sunscreen that came in an icecream cone shaped container – I did keep it for the packaging:)

Alex Avatar

Let’s start off with the fact that I buy products just because they’re limited edition in the first place, and I have a very soft spot for mac. Actually, during some sad times in my life, the only thing that I was looking towards was mac’s new limited editions, because I just adore the artistry and thought behind every single new collection. I guess that those items hold too much of a sentimental value to be ever thrown away. Even when the products will be way out of date and I’ll be all grown up and adult (well I’m 21 but hey, y’all get the idea 😉 ) I’ll store them in a little box and be like “Look kids, this is when Kelly Osborne collaborated with mac back in 2014, Mommy spent 2 hours walking around Paris trying to hunt down the purple lipstick, in the pouring rain, only to come back home and see that they were restocked online…”

Rachel R. Avatar

Not just for the packaging, no. I’m not a colletor, so don’t buy expensive items to have the packaging. It’s mostly about the makeup for me. Though I will probably keep my Marge Simpson MAC blush compact, some of my cute lip balms like Tony Moly lips ones from Sephora, and some cupcake ones I have, and some Disney makeup. My makeup room is Alice in Wonderland themed, so I do display the Disney/wacky kind of stuff.

AS Avatar

For things like MAC, how do you decide what to keep and what to dispose of in terms of the blog, Christine? I know you keep a lot for reference and comparisons when things get reissued, but storage is not infinite and it must be hard to decide.

fuji Avatar

I have my Guerlain Kiss Kiss Lipstick from almost 5 years ago. That’s my first lipstick from the top-notch brand. It’s a vanilla beige color, but it doesn’t make me look sick. Probably that’s the only nude color I have owned so far, and looks good on me. I love the golden tube packaging. And also for the emotional attachment and as a nude-shade reference, I will keep it until one day I lose it or so.

Akasha Avatar

Until the past 2 years, I never really made the money to afford buying limited edition/nice make-up with amazing packaging. Right now it is mainly just the collector stuff I will have a hard time with. The Sephora Disney and ELF Disney lines I have been loving, especially the ELF as of lately, the packaging is lovely.

At least Urban Decay did the OZ palettes right, because I can just pop the old colors out and replace with fresh ones.

Alecto Avatar

I’ve bought things for their packaging, but I’m an anti-packrat, and would never hold onto something past its useful life. Throwing things away makes me feel calmer.

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