Makeup enthusiast shares brilliant way to reuse common household items: ‘Great repurposing hack’

If you look up #makeuporganization on any social media platform, you will find sparkly reels that showcase grand collections of designer makeup and skin care products usually organized in a white vanity or clear Lucite holders.

For those who do not want to acquire more plastic to house their plastic items, one Redditor shared a great hack.

The scoop

On the r/Perfumes subreddit, the poster asked the community for recommendations on how to store perfume samples. When the overwhelming suggestion was to buy plastic containers made for lipsticks or nail polish, they found other items in their bathroom that could work just as well.

“While doing some cleaning, I had the idea to try to use the lids off of body sprays! I think the square one is actually a foundation lid. I found it randomly in my makeup box,” the Redditor wrote.

The picture they shared shows the body mist caps hold roughly a dozen samples each, while the foundation lid holds eight, housing the entirety of their perfume sample collection.

How it’s helping

The average beauty consumer who follows trends will house their collections in plastic displays — encasing their plastic items in more plastic. It can look nice, but if you’re storing fluctuating collections, like perfume samples, it’s more eco-friendly to find a substitute until you decide you need a permanent solution for your organizational needs.

Those organizers can range from a few dollars a piece to upward of $50. By upcycling your packaging, you can save yourself a lot of money without sacrificing aesthetics.

The beauty industry produces 120 billion products every year, and 95% end up in landfills and oceans. If you can upcycle packaging, you will be able to extend its lifespan and use until it’s broken instead of just when the cosmetics are done. Alternatively, if you’d like to extend the life of a barely used makeup item and recycle packaging properly, you can always recycle with Pact Collective and Sephora.

What everyone’s saying

The reactions were positive, calling this user “clever,” “smart,” and “useful.”

“I like this! Great repurposing hack! I also get creative with ways to keep my tinies organized. I use tea light holders and Oui yogurt cups,” one user said.

“My entire perfume collection fits into a small gift box I got from a Sol de Janeiro gift set. Keeps it out of the sun and helps me curb spending too,” another user shared.

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