What do you do with your old makeup and empty packaging? Keep? Repurpose? Trash?
Anything that’s expired gets trashed; if I can get the residual product out, then I’ll recycle the packaging when possible. Â Empty packaging gets recycled!
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I don’t have a recycling program in my city so I have to throw away old packaging and such. I’m hoping they start one soon! And I have actually still have a few makeup items from my early teens I hold on to just for nostalgia purposes.
I actually store it in a massive box.. When that box is filled I’ll recycle all my packaging..
As for the containers I either do the give back to MAC with the MAC products or I’ll chuck them.. Unless of course I am able to use the containers for storage/organization with arts and crafts 🙂 or pots I may use for sampling products when I’m on trips 🙂
I keep the empty jars and tubes that are sturdy, closes really well and easy to refill. Especially smaller ones that are great for travelling. The other ones I recycle unless they’re super gunky.
With MAC i do Back to MAC program.
If its a particularly beautiful packaging I will save it and display it or use it for something else. Other wise its recycled.
To me expiration dates on makeup are most of the time false. My mother still has lipsticks from 10+ years ago and they are still good. As for the packaging if it is mac, l take it back for the program of 6 = eyeshadow or lipstick and if it is just a random brand (elf, covergirl, ect) I will throw it away, but if has pretty packaging such as Tokidoki or Kat von D I will keep it and make something out of it.
I agree, anything expired is tossed; I use products up till I can use them anymore; as for the packaging, I either re-purpose it or recycle it.
old or spoiled makeup goes in the trash (unless it’s back2MAC) and packaging goes into recycling (unless it’s exceptional design, like MAC Liberty of London)…
Recycle whatever I can. Everything else is trashed.
That’s a good point, I don’t know of any makeup packaging recycling program around me.. I have always assumed to either they couldn’t be recycled because of the product deposit or that you could return them to the brand/beauty counter you bought them from..guess i’ll have to look that up and get a bit greener!
Christine, I meant to ask you, will you be reviewing Smashbox Softbox eye palette? I’ve seen it at Sephora and it looks quite tempting..
I actually started using packaging for collages. I plan on framing & hanging them in a “getting ready room” (beauty/closet/storage room that I want to look less storagey)
I throw out any old makeup that’s more 2 years old that I know I will never use because I don’t like seeing thins on my vanity collecting dust. As for cure packaging like compacts with mirrors, sometimes I depot whatever is left and keep the compact and try to find a product that would fit inside or I use smaller ones as a pill box or something to hold my hair pins and hair ties.
I keep them in a big plastic bag. When its filled with 10 i photograph it for my blog, say what i thought about the stuff and then i recycle it and start over 🙂
I’ve only completely used up a few powders, eyeliners, and foundations, which I’ve thrown away. I’ve been using makeup for like 5 years, but most of my old stuff has just sort of gotten phased out. I think I have shadow that I’ve probably had for more than “24mo.” or whatever, but it’s shadow so it doesn’t really make a difference.
I will save the empty and expire packaging that I have been using in a year. After New Year, I will count how many product do I use and the brand. I love to write a note of my cosmetics. After, I done my note then all be trashed.
Mostly old packaging I recycle, but as for Mac I return it for a lipstick :). I made a beauty box one time of the cardboard packaging: I ripped it in different ways and glues all the different pieces to poster board, applied plexi glass on all five side (including lid) and I store my bigger palettes in it! It is an awesome piece I have shreds of Benefit, UD, Mac… expecially their L.E. packaging and it looks cool! I recommend going to a Home Depot, Micheal’s or w/e you have, it is a great craft project for kids and beneficial to you 🙂
With the exception of the Back 2 MAC program, I don’t recycle old packaging. How do you do it, Christine? Do you just put plastic packaging in with bottles and such?
After I depot Urban Decay shadows, I sometimes give the empty containers to my boyfriend so he can keep his pills in them. 🙂
I either back2mac, throw it out, or reuse them for another purpose.
Back to Mac! I have to occasionally throw out things but I try and recycle. As for original packaging, if its pretty ill keep it in a box and if its a good prouduct so i can reference for gifts and repurchases and such
Anything that is cleanable and reusable gets cleaned and reused 😀 I make my own beauty products (lippies, e/s, soaps, scrubs, nail polish, etc.) so I like to sanitize things and remove the labeling.
Though, like the answer above, if it has too much sentimental value I will keep it. I have a few things stashed in my memory box, I thought I was the only one who kept stuff like that! lol
I don’t recycle shit! It’s such a hassle. Everything goes straight into the trash here!
Ditto here…do the exact same thing with my product. Am avidly into recycling. However, you would be surprised what plastics are used in a multi mix of pieces/parts that contain non recyclable plastic, such as a lot of plastics used to make lids.
Back to Mac for all Mac products- everything else gets emptied and brought to the Origins counter for their fantastic recycling program. Cosmetics containers are not recycled by the normal city recycling programs- they just get tossed– whereas Origins (owned by Estee Lauder) has the resources to recycle old cosmetic containers. I just save them in a bag and when I have enough I just bring it in– they even thank you and give you a free sample of one of their products!
Can you take any brand product to Origins for recycling or does it have to be an Origins or Estee Lauder brand?
Yes. They will accept any brand.
Back to MAC items go in a ziplock bag and returned for a new lipstick, others can go in recycling for our town, fancy perfume bottles and lipstick containers can be washed out and given to my young nieces for pretend play. 🙂
I throw away anything that it is old and/or that I find I’m not using anymore on about a 3 month basis, I don’t like to hoard makeup items. I recycle whatever I can though, including any sort of cardboard or plastic packaging the item comes in when I purchase it.
There’s lots of recycling programs out there besides Back to Mac! Some of which will accept packing from numerous brands, not just their own…
http://makeup.about.com/od/companyprofiles/a/Recycling.htm
I’m so horrible, it all gets trashed. I will be recycling soon when our facility opens though. 🙂
On occasion ive given away “good” makeup in hideous colours, crap formulas, & samples. Freecycle is good for that or if you know a preteen/teen girl they love it.
Pump bottles and glass jars in particular I keep to reuse. I on toss “expired” makeup like this: mascaras 1 year or sooner if they dry out or smell different, creamy products if they start to smell or change. Shadows and other dry things I keep indefinitely unless I use up all the product, then I trash them. Recycling is bullshit unless you live close to a processing plant so used up stuff gets trashed.
Right into the recycle bin with the rest of my glass and plastic!
If my lipstick or lipgloss smells bad after a year I toss it out. Mascara I toss every 3 months. I wear contacts and I do not want to risk an eye infection. As for everything else I will keep for years or give it to my cousins. Makeup can last a long time. Just take care of it, keep it out of the bathroom, keep everything tightly sealed.
I keep it all for some reason o_O
Back to MAC! free lipstick baby 🙂
I never finish anything, so I keep all my discards in a big plastic box. My daughters are starting to experiment with make-up and they use what is in the box and have an absolute blast. They practice for hours when the mood hits them. I wish I’d had high-end stuff to play with when I was their age!