Brilliant Hacks To Use Every Last Drop Of Makeup

It’s super important to keep your makeup brushes as clean as possible. The first reason is simple: hygiene! You want to avoid brushing your skin with old, potentially dirty products. But also, makeup brushes are expensive, so you don’t want to be replacing them too often. You won’t be getting the best out of your products if the brush bristles you’re using to apply them are caked in old, crusty makeup. To clean them try working olive oil through the bristles, followed by a wash with baby shampoo. 

Did you know that there’s no point in rubbing makeup products between your fingers and palms before applying to your face? It doesn’t improve efficiency or the look in any way; all it does is waste valuable product. Dotting it directly on your face and then rubbing it in is a much better way to go. And a little goes a long way.

Beauty writer — and makeup artist — Madeleine Spencer had an illuminating piece of advice when she spoke to British newspaper The Guardian in 2023. Contrary to what most makeup-wearers have always done, she argued that you should only apply foundation with your fingers and not a brush! She added, “Remember that you don’t need to cover your whole face: start in the centre around your nose and work your way out.”

This tip will make you wonder, “Why didn’t I think of that?” The next time you’re running low on mascara, but you know there’s a lot of it sticking to the inside of the tube that you just can’t access, simply pop the tube in a cup of warm water. This will loosen the mascara which is so aggravatingly clinging to the sides; you should then be able to squeeze it out of the tube with ease. 

Doing your best to use every morsel of a product is a noble endeavor but do yourself a favor: make it as hassle-free as possible. If you buy products that come in packaging which is easy to open, you’re already halfway there. For example, you want cleanser to come in a wide pot, because that’ll make it simpler to dig your fingers in and scoop out the sides.

DedCool founder Carina Chaz told website Byrdie, “Fragrance application can be delicate. Fragrance should sit on the skin in order to mix with your natural oils. When wrists are rubbed together, top notes will fade and evaporate. When you rub your fragrance, you’re then missing out on the overall experience since you’re rubbing away, or drying out, a lot of the scent.” 

When it comes to storing your products, it’s often best to treat them the same as you would groceries. Some things need to be stored in cool, dry cupboards so they don’t go bad; the same can be true for makeup. After all, you wouldn’t store fruit and vegetables on an open shelf in a hot bathroom, so why would you do that with foundation or eyeshadow, which can also spoil? 

Dermatologist Dr. Alexis Granite told The Guardian that makeup products containing active ingredients should go in the fridge. She said, “It’s a bit of a faff going from bathroom to kitchen to fetch them, but… a fridge will ensure your products will last as long as possible.” For clarity, an “active ingredient” is something specifically formulated to alter the body’s mechanisms: examples containing them include acne creams and dark spot correctors etc.

Rubbing scented lotion into your skin after a bath is one of the most luxurious feelings in the world. Here’s the thing, though: these lotions can be pricey. So, if you want to save a few bucks and conduct a fun experiment, try making your own scented lotion. Simply buy a standard unscented lotion and then add a few drops of the fragrance-testers you’ve picked up over time in magazines or fragrance counters. 

If your eyeshadow palette has shattered because you dropped it — hey, we’ve all been there — try not to panic. Just pour a small amount of rubbing alcohol into the powder and mix it into a paste, then use a flat surface — or a spoon, or your finger — to mould it back into shape again. Give it some time to dry out and hey presto, you’ve got perfectly solid eyeshadow to use again!

If your mascara has become clumpy, or it has dried out much sooner than expected, all is not lost. Simply squeeze a few drops of saline solution into the tube and this should revive the product. Be careful not to try mixing things by moving the brush quickly in and out of the tube, though. All this will do is bring air into the tube and cause the mascara to dry out again.

Sometimes, despite your best efforts, your pressed powder makeup will wind up with a hardened film on top known as “hardpan.” It’s caused by the oils from your fingertips transferring to the powder, and it makes it difficult to pick up on a makeup brush. A great hack to combat this involves Scotch tape: simply press a piece of tape over the powder, and it should remove the hardpan when you peel it back off!

Foundation is super-expensive, so in order to get value for money you’ll always want to make use of every last drop. A great tip to squeeze some extra days out of the foundation is to squeeze some face moisturizer into the bottle or tub. Swirl this around the sides to pick up all the foundation remnants, and you’ve just made yourself a tinted moisturizer! 

On Instagram, nail artist Jenna Hipp once posted, “So you broke your eyeshadow compact, and all of those gorgeous colors are smashed to bits and pieces. Bummer, right? Nope! Don't trash that pretty palette. Instead mix the crushed eye shadow with a little topcoat to create your own custom polish colors. For this super-quick, easy — and economic — look, I added a final dusting of contrasting eyeshadow for a little extra wow factor.”

You know how beauty products suggest you use a “pea-sized amount?” And how often you think, “Pffft. Don’t tell me how much I can and can’t use!” Chances are, this is actually advice you should follow. Why? Because it ensures you won’t be casually wasting expensive lotions and potions, that’s why! Usually, this amount is actually what you’ll need to get the best result. Honest.

Forget trying with all your might to fold toothpaste, hand cream, or body lotion tubes to tease the insides out, followed by the frustration of hurting your fingers only to gain a ridiculously tiny extra amount. For a couple of bucks, a roller key will help you wring every single drop out of those pesky aluminium tubes with minimal fuss. They’re truly wonderful little inventions!

For this money-saving hack, all you’ll need is the broken scraps of an eyeshadow or blush, some coconut oil, and a microwaveable bowl! Melt one eighth of a teaspoon of coconut oil in the bowl and then mix it with another eighth of a teaspoon of your eyeshadow or blush. Let the mixture cool down and dry up for five minutes or so, and then you can apply with a lip brush. 

Toner removes dead cells from our skin, all while giving it a boost of hydration. But here’s the thing: most people pour it onto a cotton pad, before rubbing the pad on their faces. This is wrong, because the toner will simply dry into the pad super-quick, meaning you’ll pour more on, which is a waste of money. Using a spray pump to apply toner is what you should actually be doing.

If you have a product you use fairly rarely, you should keep an eye on its “after-opening” symbol. This will be an open jar on the back of the packaging with a number and the letter “M” beside it. Basically, if that says “12M,” you need to use the product within a year, as you run the risk of it spoiling otherwise. You wouldn’t want to waste a portion of an expensive product simply by not using it quickly enough, would you?

Yes, you can turn eyeshadow into lipstick, but did you know you can also do the opposite? Spencer told The Guardian, “Remember that you can use lipstick as a blush or eyeshadow too, and you can mix it with liquid highlighter or concealer to change the colour or finish.” Her advice is to use a spatula to gather together the remnants of a lipstick bullet, and then create magic!

Here’s an iconic product that’s almost definitely in your bathroom somewhere: Vaseline! Shelley T. told BedTimez that the petroleum jelly brand does more than soothe cuts, burns, and dry skin. “[I use] Vaseline to remove my eye makeup,” she revealed. “Nothing works better.” Add “makeup remover” to Vaseline’s long list of uses! 

Why buy expensive blush when you can do it naturally? “My great-grandmother… told me that just before meeting a date I should pinch my cheeks to look like I’m wearing rouge,” Colin Tracy, owner of Chelsea’s Boutique, told Reader’s Digest. The boutique owner says it’s a free replacement for blush. And it’ll always be the right shade for your skin!

If grandmas are famous for anything, it’s knowing how to best take advantage of a single product. For celebrity stylist Sunnie Brook Jones’ grandmother, lipstick can be used to brighten up everything from your lips to your cheeks to your eyes. As Jones says, “a little glow” and “a hint of shine” can go a long way. 

Meghan’s skin always looks gorgeous, and part of that is down to good primer. Speaking to the website Beauty Banter, she recommended Laura Mercier Illuminating Primer. “I don’t wear foundation unless I’m filming, so this is what I put on every day after moisturizer to give my skin a dewy glow,” she said. “It’s not sparkly, it’s true to its name: ‘illuminating.’”

Now here’s a beauty tip we can trust! The granddaughter of 1953’s Miss World for Sweden told Reader’s Digest about one of her grandmother’s tried-and-true tricks for bright, entrancing eyes: colored eyeliner! Apparently, using a subtle blue liner for blue eyes, brown liner for brown eyes, and so on, is a much softer way of making your eyes pop. No more stark black liner for us! 

Makeup and small toiletries can clutter up a bathroom counter faster than you can say “shampoo.” To combat the ever-growing pile of products, get a magnetic makeup board, suggests Homedit! Attach magnets to your products and simply hang them on the board for a cheap and easy way to declutter your space without throwing away expensive items. 

You know how in old movies, women always take their makeup off by slathering their faces with cold cream? Well, according to Kathy E., those ladies were onto something. “Say what you want, but I’ll never give up my cold cream. I use Ponds to take my makeup off every night,” she told BedTimez. And doctors agree that Ponds cold cream is iconic for a reason: it can moisturize and remove makeup, all in one wash. 

Eyebrow trends seem to change with the seasons, but there’s one eyebrow makeup technique that may never go out of style…depending on who you ask, that is. “I’ve worn white eyeshadow below my eyebrows since 1977,” Marie S. told BedTimez. “I think my face looks incomplete until I’ve highlighted my brow bone.” Take it from Marie — there’s nothing like a highlighted brow bone. 

If there’s a makeup staple every beauty-lover should own, it’s red lipstick. Not only is it effortlessly chic, but according to one grandmother, it never goes out of style. “There’s no reason to own nude lipstick,” a woman named Jeanne S. told the website BedTimez. “Red lipstick only. Berry for day, fire engine for night.” We’ll add it to our shopping list…

Diana wasn’t born with beauty skills; she reportedly had to learn them. “I always taught her to make sure when applying mascara by herself that she covered the roots of the lashes too,” makeup artist Mary Greenwell told Stylist magazine in 2012. And before long, she said, the young royal “realized the power of hair and makeup.”

The “trendy” clay masks everyone uses at the spa could very well be the secret to avoiding fine lines and age spots! “I’ve been doing [clay masks] every Sunday night since college, and I have barely any wrinkles or blemishes at seventy years old,” Rhona W. told BedTimez. Apparently, the ingredient bentonite is what seems to prevent dryness and leaves skin feeling hydrated.

When we hit a certain age, the advice tends to be that we should stop powdering our faces with makeup. This is because as the years tick by, our skin dries out. And this can make powdered makeup look more textured than it should. A solution to this problem lies in your grandma's old advice: less is more when it comes to makeup! Dab on a few drops of liquid foundation instead.

Clearly, our grandmothers were onto something when they incorporated cooking products into their beauty routines! “After shampooing and conditioning, my grandma would do a final rinse with apple cider vinegar and distilled water,” James Corbett revealed to Reader’s Digest. This was a smart move on grandma’s part, as ACV really can “improve scalp health, strengthen hair, and enhance shine,” according to Healthline. 

This may sound like an old wives' tale, but hear us out: Vaseline on lashes. Yes, petroleum jelly just may be the most useful product in your medicine cabinet! It can not only be used to hydrate dry skin or smooth frizzy hair, but according to Healthline — and grandmas everywhere — it may also help your lashes look thicker. Give it a try! 

Kate Middleton’s eyeshadow looked great on her wedding day, and some of that was down to Bobbi Brown makeup artist Hannah Martin. It turned out that the key to applying this eyeshadow was doing it in three steps. So Kate reportedly had Ivory eyeshadow from Bobbi Brown placed on her eyelids first, then Slate in the creases of her eyes, and Rockstar on the lower parts of the lids.

And if you've suddenly found that your fashion and makeup skills could use some updating, then we have some tips for you and grandma. For example, if you “draw” your lips at home, you may want to listen up. According to Reader’s Digest, overdrawing your lips can result in an unwanted clown-like effect. Should the lines fade away during the day, you could begin to resemble the likes of Pennywise, Ronald McDonald... you get the idea. Quite simply, it’s a look to avoid.

Ignoring the tiny printed expiration dates on your makeup products is not worth it, even for the expensive stuff. Bacteria, mold, yeasts, and fungi can lead to rashes, bumps, pink eye, infections, and permanent damage.

If you leave brushes unwashed, the bacteria that forms can cause acne, which, ironically is the reason some people use makeup in the first place. Give them a good rinse weekly.

Remember how much money you saved when you took the time to melt your almost-empty makeup products? You can do the same thing with your nearly-empty lotion bottle, too! Except this time, a Redditor advises swapping out the hair dryer for scissors. Cut the tube in half, and you’ll be shocked at just how much product was hiding in the cap/bottom of the tube. 

Want to know a foolproof way to be the hero of every party? Always carry an eyelash curler! As per website BuzzFeed, an eyelash curler can also be used to open a wine bottle if a corkscrew is nowhere to be found. Just imagine the praise you’ll get for saving the party!