r/MakeupRehab

This week, instead of buying a high end concealer that’s supposed to be better for my mature under eyes, I mixed an ampoule I already have with my drugstore concealer to make the consistency thinner. Now I can use two products up instead of spending $40+ on a new one.

I also realized my foundation is a shade too dark now so instead of buying a new foundation, I bought a couple mixers to customize the shade. I don’t wear foundation nor concealer enough to have more than one. Tell me your wins!

I feel like I’ve become significantly better at resisting the appeal of sales and the fomo of limited editions. But there’s something about the appeal of minis and mini gift with purchase that really tests my willpower. It’s the appeal of being theoretically able to eventually finish the products that is making me a gold medalist in mental gymnastics. And it’s not like I have a good track record of actually finishing mini makeup. Of all the minis I had, I’ve finished all of the mini primers and mascaras, all of the mini sheer lipsticks/tinted lip balms, one mini powder bronzer, a deluxe sample 0.5g eyeshadow stick and two mini setting powders.

Even though that doesn’t sound that bad, I have right now in my collection:

- 1 mini twist up brow pencil

- 3 mini liquid blush, 2 mini cream stick blushes and 1 mini powder blush

- 3 mini primers (I’m not really worried about theses they should be all gone soon) and I’ve finished one this month.

- 2 unopened mini mascaras I got as gift with purchase and another gift with purchase in use.

- 2 mini lipsticks I had a third one I finished this month. One of those is a very pigmented matte long wearing red lipstick.

- 1 mini stick bronzer and 2 mini powder bronzers

- 8 mini eyeshadow sticks all proper minis not deluxe sample size

- 1 mini eye primer

- 1 mini powder

That’s 27 freaking mini products. I know the 3 primers, the mini nude lipstick, the two backup mini mascaras and one of the mini powder bronzers I can finish in 2026. But that’s still leaves me with 20 mini products left. I’m writing this to hold myself accountable, because Nars just released a new liquid blush and knowing them they will offer a mini as an offer on the Sephora website soon and it will test my willpower.

I’ve seen people use all of the same products I do throughout various tutorials, all different kinds of applicators, all different application methods/orders, etc.; and somehow, their makeup just always looks undeniably better. I’ve also seen people on social media make pharmacy makeup look better than any professional makeup I’ve ever owned. How much of this is down to the products you use, the way you apply them, or just overall having a pretty face that holds any makeup well?

I can’t help but feel like so much of makeup just comes down to natural attractiveness and being able to pull off any makeup, no matter the products nor application, because your natural features are already fine on their own. In my case, it’s a lot harder to try and whittle down a botched bust, or put lipstick on a pig, as they say. 😅

ETA: I should’ve mentioned, I tend to watch tutorials done in natural lighting, rather than the staged, over-lit, over-produced stuff. I prefer a more natural, low-maintenance look, so I’ll watch everyday routine tutorials that aren’t heavily photoshopped or anything, just someone at their bathroom mirror or whatnot. But even still, they just look so effortlessly chic and ready for the day by the time they’re done, and I look, well, not lol

trying to figure out if i have unusually chaotic shelf habits or if this is just beauty culture

i have a rule about finishing something before cracking open the backup. in theory. in practice i get halfway through a moisturizer and convince myself its "close enough" to start the new one.

the reality from talking to friends seems closer to 60-70% before something gets rotated out.

what is your honest finishing rate before you replace something? do you actually empty the bottle or is mostly used close enough?

*Trigger Warning: replies will contain product names, descriptions, and opinions.*

We focus on a palette for the week and our thoughts on it. All palettes are welcome. This includes eyeshadow, cheek, lip, pre-made, and self-made. Grouping of singles can also be a palette (ex: colour palette or scheme).

Did you do the PAW challenge last week? Which palette did you use? Did you find it successful or was it a failure? Have your opinions on the palette changed at all? Do you plan to keep the palette and use it again?

Which palette are you going to use this week? Why have you chosen this palette? Do you have any goals you hope to reach in using it?

BAW/CAW- Did you use any particular cheek product last week? Has it made the cut or is it time to let it go?

i currently use a 2-in-1 lipliner and lipgloss (it’s from sheglam)

(I’m just starting out with makeup)

What can i use or do to keep it to last all day??

Remedy for sticky packaging... Pour some dry baking soda on the closed container. Rub it around with your finger. Use a wet toothbrush to scrub it, & wipe with a damp paper towel. Repeat if necessary. This just saved my favorite old Smashbox eyeshadow palette =D

Welcome back to the 10 by "Summer" project!! 🌞

What better time than now for a little spring clean of our makeup collections! 🧹

The project works like this: Choose any 10 items and pick a goal that you want to work towards by the end of the season. Anything beauty related is fair game; makeup, haircare, skincare, fragrances, etc. Select your goals  for this project: finishing an item (aka panning), hitting pan, reaching a usage goal, or even just testing an item out.

10 is just a suggestion, though feel free to add any number of items you like. Make it work for you!

This project starts on the first day of spring, 21st March, and will run until June 20th. Feel free to join anytime. The more, the merrier!!

I'll post an update every two weeks: 🌻4th Apr 🌼 18th Apr 🏵2nd May 🌺16th May 🐝30th May and finale on🐞 20th June.

Please let me know if you would like to be tagged as a reminder for when the updates come out. I'm having some Reddit issues, but I will do my best!

Myself & u/Thislittlepiggysays are running this project, so if you have any issues, please let us know!

Hey everyone! As the title says, i am horribly addicted to buying make up products. I own every product that has ever been popular but i still find myself searching for new things that i don't own every single day. I want to stop spending so much money on make up (my whole vanity goes up to 5500-6000 € like wtf) but idk how to stop!! What should i do guys 🥲

I can’t believe that it has been 5 years since I posted my idea to drink a quart of water every time I wanted to buy skincare. My old post has more background, but essentially I was spending a lot of time researching skincare to the detriment of other hobbies. Purchasing products was less of an issue for me, but I was still recovering from the beauty box era and had enough of most product types to last 6-12 months. Since I didn’t actually need anything, I realized that this research was helping me to feel socially connected and potentially intellectually stimulated. Aka I was lonely and bored.

Well, I am here to tell you that this water drinking method actually worked. If you don’t believe me, compare how much I was posting and commenting on Reddit 5 years ago vs now. Here’s why I think it did:

* I recognized that this habit of researching was a symptom of unhappiness. This took some of the fun out of it immediately.

* I directly addressed the need that this research was meeting, which was social connection. This required me to push myself a little bit, but I started texting people more once I was researching less, and that led me to find my current friend group.

* To address the boredom, I read more physical books and got a physical newspaper subscription. When I did have leisure time on my phone, I tried to divert it to industry news. I deleted the Instagram and Reddit apps whose content often sparked my curiosity about ingredients. I still don’t have the Reddit app and I rarely have Instagram.

* Drinking a full quart of water takes a long time to do, so it allowed that initial impulse to pass while also letting me feel like I accomplished something positive.

* Drinking a full quart is also slightly uncomfortable and I started to associate mild discomfort with researching, like Pavlov’s dog. This was my intent but I didn’t think it would work so well or so quickly, given that I was self-aware.

Something about replacing the habit of mindlessly researching and checking Reddit with the habit of drinking water genuinely did something to my brain. I encourage you to try it - it’s free and you can adjust the amount of water to suit your body and how often you get the urge to purchase/scroll.

Quick disclaimer: it is possible to drink too much water, but spacing it out is the most important part. Drink no more than a quart/liter per hour. Most people should drink about 3 quarts (about 3 liters) per day, more if you’re exercising or in a hot climate. You can start with a cup or two if a quart sounds like too much.

I am much happier and healthier now. Looking back, this small change was one of the first steps I took to give myself a better life. Please let me know if you try it!

Hi Reddit, I’m trying to figure out my practice around throwing/renewing makeup.

I’m a performer so I use makeup professionally but not that often.

I’ve read that you need to throw out makeup every 1-2 years cos Bacteria which makes it feel like it’s impossible to use up in that time frame - especially eyeshadows.

I notice that some of my old eyeshadows (4y maybe) are very pressed and not so pigmented but they were kind of fancy so I am wondering if repressing them will bring them back to life.

Is this a reason to repress or do people just do that to save crushed product, make their palettes efficient that kind of thing?

Appreciate you!

MUR Weekly Empties Thread!

What did you use up this week? What are you trying to use up? What seems to never, ever, ever, empty, despite your best efforts?

Share your empties here!

I am trying to buy makeup less and so I was looking around my house to find products that I already have that I could use! I put lip liner on and then Vaseline over it and honestly it’s become my favorite lip combo it looks so good!

Secondly, I put a glitter glycerin on my face and honestly I haven’t been using foundation it looks so good and glowy on me!!

I’m just so proud that I didn’t go out and spend money and still it looks so good!

I own:

15 lip tints (some of them being duplicates of each other)

5 eyeshadow palettes, 3 mini ones

5 sheer red lipsticks (some are duplicates)

7 lip glosses

3 mascaras

4 black eyeliners

At least 15 lipsticks (some are duplicates)

A few colorful eyeliners

4 glitter eyeliners

1 liquid eyeshadow

1 blush

2 concealers

I didn't even buy that much. Sephora is expensive, ulta can be too! I have Bipolar 1 which also causes me to overspend, whether I'm manic or not. How do I control my impulsiveness?

Hi! I completed a project pan for winter lippies and will be switching out to my spring/summer project pan pretty soon 😊 Here’s the progress I’ve made in each colour category:

❤️ Reds
Started with 5
\- 1 declutter
\- Two halfway finished
\- 1 soon to be finished

💜 Purples
Started with 6
\- 1 declutter
\- Wasn’t able to make much of a dent in this category as I wasn’t very confident in wearing my more unique shades 😢

💖 Pinks and Nude tones
Started with 7
\- 1 Pan!
\- 1 declutter
\- 1 half way done

🤍 Clears
Started with 3
\- 1 full pan!
\- 2 almost finished!

What goals I accomplished:
- pan/declutter at least 1 lippie per colour category ✅

- create new favourite lip combos (favourite purple combo, cherry cola lips, everyday red lip, etc) ✅

What goals I didn’t achieve:
- use every product at least once per month -> a part of me believes that this is almost impossible when you have a large collection + are trying to pan products. I really have to focus on a product to be able to finish it, so I’m not sure if I can also try to use everything at least once. But it was a good goal in the start to get to re-know every product before focusing on a few!

- try to wear more bold lip colours during the day time -> with changing friend groups, lifestyles and even jobs, I wasn’t able to experiment much in this department 🥲 I’ll try again in the summer with more fun bright colours!

- not buy more lip products -> probably my biggest fail lol. 3 of the new products I actually found around the house after starting my project pan so I wasn’t sure how to include them, but all the rest were bought new. 3 of them because of wanting them for a long time + sale, 1 impulse purchases and 1 to dupe a panned lipstick + is a limited edition.

What I learned:

- I’m not a layered lip combo type of person 🤦‍♀️ maybe I’ll do a more intricate lip look in the morning, but I definitely won’t reapply it the same way throughout the day. I rarely even reapplied my lip liner, so the max I’m doing is lipstick + gloss

- I forgot how much I love clear gloss! But when I start purchasing it again after panning what I have, I’ll stick to Korean clear glosses that have the silicone applicator that I can easily wipe off and not have to worry about staining it with what I have underneath.

- Definitely not a matte liquid lip person. Not buying any again.

- It’s not about how many days you wear a lipstick, but rather about how often you reapply it. If you wear every day the same lip, but reapply only once due to being lazy and not wanting to bother, you will get through product very slowly. But if you wear different lippies but reapply them often you’ll get good use of them. To me this means that it’s ok to have a somewhat diverse collection of lipsticks as long as I remember to reapply them often. 🙂‍↔️

All in all, I’m happy with my progress and think this was a good start to a rolling project pan! I definitely could’ve done better in the shopping department, but I’m also happy that I didn’t buy more than this as I usually would’ve. I’ve definitely become more mindful of my shopping and hope that it only gets better with time!

Feel free to ask about any questions 😊
I’ll be posting my spring/summer project pan later this month over at the project pan subreddit!

What is the one makeup item you will not let yourself run out of?

I ran out of one of my products in a category where I only had the one product. I did my research, decided the one I was using was the best option, and set up a plan to mindfully buy it.

I am so proud of myself, I walked into the store picked up what I needed checked out and left. Didn’t browse other products to see what was new, and stuck to my plan. I did have my husband there for support which was great!

I REALLY wanted to buy a different product in this category for the high of trying something new. But then I realized the product I was using was just fine, and buying something new to me would just feed the desire to buy more things.

So proud of my progress. I’ve had a few lapses, but this is a step in the right direction for me!

I’m headed to my second home for 6 months that is pretty remote and so popping over to Target or Ulta is not a thing. There are literally no Sephora stores in the whole state of VT. Anywho I’m bringing only a small supply that I want to pan. And a few backups of things I KNOW I will run out of. I’m even making myself use eyeshadow as blush in order to use up some of my palettes. Very excited to see how little I come back with.

As a cool-toned fair girlie, I've recently come to the realization that popular, viral, and high-end products are rarely my favorites or the ones I reach for the most.

Instead, it's all about tone. And honestly, colourpop and other drug store brands have been doing cool tones really well lately.

I'm really trying to focus on what I have that works so I don't keep buying more.

My makeup looks best to me when I stay looking like an elegant ice princess and don't try to warm up my face too much.

I think it's helpful to have a really clear sense of when you like your makeup the best, and just stick to that and don't feel FOMO to try new things.