The promise of beauty… even after it’s gone

If you wear makeup, you probably like to buy makeup. And if you like to buy makeup, you probably accumulate makeup. For some reason, it doesn’t occur to us to thin out our wealth of beauty supplies, perhaps because it makes us feel rich in options. Unfortunately, lipstick isn’t a safe, long-term investment. The FDA, when not deciding which cough syrups we have to present a little ticket to the pharmacist to buy, keeps track of the cosmetic industry, and has reported on how long makeup is actually safe for. A quick list looks like this:

lipstick: 1 year
mascara: 3 months
foundation: 3-6 months
powder: 2 years
nail polish: 2 years

I know you have makeup in your bathroom older than that. So get in there and start remembering when “Tropical Tango” was your favorite lip color.

But then you have a wastebasket full of bottles… what’s an environmentally responsible organizer to do? Most local recycling programs won’t take packaging that is not easily identified (like soda bottles or spaghetti sauce jars), but Origins has stepped up to the plate and started a program that takes packaging from any cosmetic company for recycling. They’ll even hook you up with a free sample of one of their skin care products for your efforts. Nice!

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(Thanks for the tip, Nadalia!)