6.26.2011

Melting lipsticks

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The other day I asked you lovely readers on my Facebook page and Twitter if you had any experience with those meltdown lipstick moulds. It seems no one had used them before, and searching them online, it seemed a bit pointless to buy one to use once, and then just have it. Sitting there. Taking up space. So instead I decided to melt these down and pour the new color into an old lip pot container, which worked out great!
Luckily Lydia of The Vintage Mama suggested I use a double boiler, so the lipstick wouldn't burn. Since I don't have a set just for double boiling, I just heated water in a medium saucepan to a simmer, and placed the cut off lipstick bits in a smaller pan, and put that among the water, heating it. Worked like a charm!

The lipsticks I chose were all in red-ish, some too matte, some too dark, and most just didn't wear well enough. I also added the remainder of the lip pot, so the result was a nice, berry color with a summery sheen. Since I'll need a lip brush to apply the new color, it'll stay at home, and I'll have one lipstick in my purse, nice and simple!


.....Later edit: Tips from readers! (Because you guys are awesome).....

.....Mix with chapstick or cocoa butter for a sheer lipcolor.....
.....Pour mixture into chapstic tube, mint tin, or empty makeup pallets.....
.....Line the pan and spatula in foil, making cleanup much, much easier.....
.....For a "lipstick", create a tube by wrapping foil around a dowel or other cylinder, and pour liquid inside. Freeze it, remove the foil, then stick it in a lipstick tube.....

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32 comments:

Ms.Tips said...

Nice! great idea, the color look amazing:)

Vintage Hippo said...

I did the same thing recently! But I always just use a hairdryer :) Best way to make your perfect red shade for sure.

So Yeah So said...

This is such a great idea. Thanks for sharing.

Old World Underground said...

I LOVE THIS!!

Heichelbech-Weill Genealogy said...

I have done this many times. I buy the empty lip balm tubes on etsy and then melt everything down into them. I use a rinsed out baking soda or other tin can in water as my double boiler. Since I plan on throwing those in the recycling anyway, there's no clean-up. Paint pot is great, I just personally hate using a lip brush.

I think the color came out a really nice shade! Better than many reds I've paid $$$ for.

Katherine said...

What a great way to use up old-not-quite-right lipsticks!

xx
Katherine

Anonymous said...

Awww ... I did this a couple of times as a teenager. I think I used an old eyeshadow & some vaseline to make a new lip gloss once??? The double boiling method also works great for melting chocolate.

Kelly xo
Elegantly Academic

Unknown said...

Smart idea. Thanks for sharing. :)

Caitlin said...

I wish I knew about this before I threw out a bunch of my lipsticks!

nadiaazira said...

wow,great idea...thanks for sharing! =)

Sarah said...

Love this idea, particularly because old lipstick tubes are too gorgeous not to use! Just have to wait till I have some lipstick stubs.... xox

Unknown said...

Oh wow this is so cool! I would have never thought of this - that's why I LOVE the blogworld... gotta go and take ALL my lipsticks that are just not quite right and mix them together. Can't WAIT to try it... I think later today it will happen. THANK YOU!

Leanns' Vintage said...

love this idea!!


x

Daisy said...

genius idea and that colour is gorgeous!

Casey Maura said...

Awesome! I've got a couple leftover bits and pieces of old lipsticks that are too far down to really use, but I'm sure I could scoop them out and melt them down... Thanks for the idea!

Colleen said...

That looks like fun! What an awesome idea!

Anonymous said...

I'm happy it worked! I'm eager to try it out now. Right after I buckle down and do my Work! (although my vintage lipstick tube has been riding around rent-free in my travelling sewing case lately, mocking me)

Unknown said...

Cooking with lipstick how fantastic, he colour looks lovely.

Mariah Rose said...

Great idea! And it looks like it paid off really well too. I fancy the color it turned out to be.

Unknown said...

What an amazing way to recycle! The colour came out wonderfully. Thanks so much for sharing this, i'm definitely going to try it out myself. x

Lydia @ TheVintageMama.com said...

Glad to help! The color looks great too! Maybe next time take notes on the colors and the proportions...just in case of a happy accident that you create your most perfect color.

Vintage2Vogue said...

love the tip! So clever!!!

Lydia from Vintage2Vogue

http://vintagetwovogue.blogspot.com

Sunduri Das said...

Fantastic idea. I will have to try this. The shade turned out really pretty.

Unknown said...

Wooow awesome idea!! It seems to be very clean to make but Im sure I would make a total mess all over my kitchen .... lol .. <3

Autumn said...

I have bought and used the lipstick mold and loved it, I used it to melt down some old stuff and to make some new stuff of my own, using TKBtrading.com's pigments and lipstick base, which was much harder to get a nice product out of. When I ordered my kit it also came with a free kit, which I gave to my sister who also adores it!

danielle said...

what a cool idea! i might have to try that :)

Tasha said...

Not using Facebook and Twitter much if at all, I didn't see your original question about the molds, so I'm only guessing you're talking about shaped lipstick molds, the kind you would purchase for making your own cosmetics products? Years and years ago I used to have a small handmade cosmetics company and I did use those pretty successfully. Not sure what your question was about them though. And if you were asking about something else ignore me entirely. ;)

The Retro Natural said...

Nice idea! I've done this with brow wax that was too light and mixed it with the minimal amount of darker brown wax I had left from another pot, it's nice to know you can save and more importantly use up your left over cosmetics. :)

Angelica said...

Thank you for sharing it with us:)
I'll do it today:D I'll never throw my old lipsticks:))
such a great color, you got
Hugs and kisses
Taida

CrystaL* said...

This is so great! I have to try this myself as I have so many lipsticks I just don't use anymore but can't bring myself to throw them out.
Hope your having a wonderful summer so far.
Much Love,
Crystal

Nadine-Adele ♥ said...

amazing idea!
im going to try this out! I have so many lipstick colours I dont wear!
nadiine-x

Anonymous said...

I'd have never thought about doing this. I usually just throw all of my old lipsticks in a "lipstick" drawer and forget about them. This is a really cool idea!