I don’t wear much makeup on a daily basis, but I do wear lipstick. Or I used to.

At some point over a year ago, I stopped wearing lipstick. I had a couple tubes of shades that I really liked but they no longer glided on smoothly. I had another tube that was way too pale, and a fourth was too thick and uneven. I tried applying one and then the other to get a blended color but it wasn’t effective, so I just stopped wearing lipstick.

After making antibiotic salve last week, it occurred to me that it might be very simple to create new lipstick from these unusable ones. That’s what I did!

I took the four tubes of lipstick that I’m not using, and pushed the applicator to the very top. I broke off each lipstick at the base, then scraped out the remaining contents into a glass jar. I then boiled a small pot of water and put the glass jar into the pot (creating a makeshift double boiler). I added some petroleum jelly, then waited a few minutes while it all gently melted together.

The easiest thing would have been to pour the mixture into a small round glass container but I wanted to try to use the original lipstick holders. This made a little more mess and took a bit more time, but was worth it.

I adjusted each empty lipstick applicator to the lowest position, then poured the liquid mixture in until it was just about flush with the top. I let it set in an upright position until it completely cooled. I didn’t get a nice smooth pointed shape like lipsticks in the store, but with use it will smooth out.

I am so delighted with the results of this little experiment! Instead of four tubes of unusable lipstick, I now have four tubes of a color that I love. It’s the perfect shade for me, and amazingly, it not only goes on smoothly but it stays on longer than my old lipsticks used to.

Not only that, I don’t need to blot it to prevent it from getting on my teeth. I always thought it was a waste to apply lipstick, then blot it and have half of what I just applied be thrown away on a tissue! I don’t know what is different now, but practically it means my new upcycled lipsticks are easier to use and will last longer.

If this sounds time consuming and difficult, it really wasn’t. It didn’t require any special skills – just melt and pour. The entire project took somewhere between 15 – 20 minutes from start to finish.

Avivah