Too many makeup samples!

November 24, 2015 12:36 PM

I have a subscription to a couple of monthly beauty sample boxes (Birchbox for example). Most of the stuff I use, but I am rapidly gaining a surplus of some things I'll never be able to use up. What can I do with this excess beauty supply inventory?

I plan on cancelling them when the year ends, so that will eliminate the problem. In the meantime, I'm stuck with awkward amounts of makeup/beauty supplies that don't seem particularly useful to anyone. It's too small of an amount to sell, a local women's shelter has said they are not interested, and gifting these things seems sort of tacky, although I will give some of it away if I think a certain person will like a product that won't work for me. In particular, I have a lot of eye shadow, eyeliner, mascara, lip gloss, perfume samples, and things of that nature. I have more mascara and eye liner than I can use in 5 lifetimes.

So - for the unopened/un-used items - are there any charities that would find this kind of thing useful? Or just ... different groups of people that I could offer it to that I can't think of?

For items that I tried once or twice - Do you have any creative uses for it? Craft projects that use eyeliner pencils or something? I feel gross giving this away, especially with eye/mouth makeup, which is most of it.

I really hate to throw this away if someone has some use for it. If that's the answer though, I can be OK with that.

posted by Fig to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (28 answers total)

Do you have any tween girls in your life? That's what I did with mine - I was in the exact same situation, so I asked a friend of mine if her daughter might want them. She did a spa night slumber party and they were a huge hit with the eleven year old set.
posted by librarianamy at 12:42 PM on November 24, 2015 [8 favorites]

This is just the sort of thing that freecycle is perfect for. Someone will no doubt want those cosmetic samples, perhaps for purposes you can't even imagine.
posted by DrGail at 12:45 PM on November 24, 2015 [6 favorites]

If it's business appropriate unopened stuff, a homeless/women's shelter that helps women get back on their feet and get to job interviews would be a good place to check with. If it's too flashy for that, some food banks might take them as well.
posted by Candleman at 12:47 PM on November 24, 2015 [10 favorites]

I have been offering mine to my friends with kids in dance classes -- they always need makeup for recitals, and their moms don't want to buy them expensive stuff they'll use once. Garishness of colors is a bonus.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 12:50 PM on November 24, 2015 [6 favorites]

My university collects toiletries and stuff for low income/first gen/away from home students in the student resource center, and they'd accept unused makeup as well, so perhaps see if a local college has a similar program? Used stuff I'd just toss.
posted by vegartanipla at 12:51 PM on November 24, 2015 [2 favorites]

There is a very large community of people who love swapping/selling beauty products, including used products and subscription box samples. Since you're not hoping to trade or make money, don't bother with listing everything individually-- just post a list (or very clear photograph) or Craigslist for someone to take the lot for free.
posted by acidic at 12:51 PM on November 24, 2015 [2 favorites]

If the samples are unused, there are places where you can swap unwanted samples with other box folks like reddit's bbexchange.

I have the same problem and what's worked for me is just, uh, putting them in a box and offering them to any women that come to my home. It's not the most innovative solution but friends are typically okay with accepting a once-used eyeshadow whereas any legitimate place will not.
posted by everybody had matching towels at 12:54 PM on November 24, 2015 [4 favorites]

Apparently women's shelters also appreciate nice cosmetics? Maybe call one nearby?

Or, you could host a clothing swap (invite over 10 friends who all bring clothes, cosmetics, books, kid stuff, etc that they want to get rid of. Throw it all in a big pile and try things on. Everyone keeps whatever suits them, then you take the remainder to a donation place). It's a fun way to introduce your friends to each other.
posted by pseudostrabismus at 12:57 PM on November 24, 2015 [5 favorites]

Do you have any friends who subscribe to the same services as you? That's worked out for me. There are some things I would LOVE to get more of and my friends didn't care for, and vice versa. (Now I have *two* of the perfect lip gloss sample.)
posted by fiercecupcake at 12:58 PM on November 24, 2015

Ooh, yes, what pseudostrabismus said, too. We call it a "naked-lady party." Nice cosmetics would be really well received in my friend circle! We all already wear each other's clothes...
posted by fiercecupcake at 12:59 PM on November 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

I offer the birchbox goodies I don't want to my colleagues. Doubly convenient as my birchbox comes to my office so I don't have to cart them in to work.
posted by Ziggy500 at 12:59 PM on November 24, 2015

I periodically go through my makeup/toiletries/body care and put together a box to leave in the office ladies' room with a "please help yourself" sign. Obviously this is for clean, unexpired and unused/lightly used stuff--not the dregs of a bottle of lotion or an opened tube of mascara or anything like that. It usually goes quickly.
posted by mama casserole at 1:03 PM on November 24, 2015 [3 favorites]

Everyone else is so generous! I use mine as birthday present fortifiers for my sisters (throw a few samples into every gift bag, top with tissue paper, voila), and stocking stuffers at Christmas.
posted by easter queen at 1:13 PM on November 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

Do you have any buy/sell/giveaway FB groups in your city? I can almost guarantee that these will be snapped up in minutes if you post them as freebies.
posted by anderjen at 1:15 PM on November 24, 2015

I've donated them to Dress for Success in the past. Recently I took a bunch of samples (about 100) and started a beauty box round robin on my local Buy Nothing group (people take what they need, put in what they don't use anymore, then hand it off to the next person on the list).
posted by matildaben at 1:15 PM on November 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

I have a friend who is a beauty writer at a well-known magazine and gets tons of samples. When she's done going through them for work and personal use, she will periodically pass on unwanted stuff to her friends. The last time she did this, she gave me a boxful of stuff. I picked out what I wanted and then took the remainder--now twice-picked-over-- to work, where the reaction brought to mind phrases like "feeding frenzy".

But yes, if you know any tween or teen girls who are starting to get into makeup they will LOVE having a bunch of different things to try.
posted by The Elusive Architeuthis at 1:15 PM on November 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

Yep, bring to work is what I have done before. It was a blast.
posted by Stewriffic at 1:28 PM on November 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

Hell, don't limit yourself to tween/teen girls. I've given some nail polishes and other Birchbox odds and ends to friends with sons who were delighted to have them to play around with.
posted by Stacey at 2:14 PM on November 24, 2015 [3 favorites]

Sell it in bulk on Poshmark. I made $100 by selling my Birchbox and Ipsy leftovers!
posted by Hermione Granger at 3:03 PM on November 24, 2015 [7 favorites]

easter queen's idea of gift fortifiers is a good one. Tying a little tube of glop onto an envelope like it was a gift tag, is a nice touch.

Or, you could get one of those reusable cloth advent calendars with pockets - or improvise with craft-store compartmenty things or reused cross-sections of liquid bottles or whatever your creativity inspires - and populate an advent calendar to give to a friend.
posted by tel3path at 3:28 PM on November 24, 2015

Maybe a community theater group or school drama club could use them.
posted by SisterHavana at 4:11 PM on November 24, 2015

Our office keeps a basket in the ladies room and we all swap samples we're not interested in. It's been quite a hit.
posted by hyperion at 4:28 PM on November 24, 2015

See if your community has a charity that helps disadvantaged teenage girls get prom dresses and accessories. We have one down the street from me, and I also have a million unused and unwanted Birchbox samples. They were thrilled to get mine -- when the girls pick out their dress and shoes, every one gets a little sample bag of makeup, so I know they will go to great use.
posted by mostly vowels at 5:37 PM on November 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

Somebody already mentioned Freecycle -- I've posted Birchbox leftovers on Freecycle several times and lots of people respond asking for them. I save up a few boxes' worth to give away.
posted by chickenmagazine at 5:57 PM on November 24, 2015

Just a note, OP did already try a shelter: a local women's shelter has said they are not interested.

Someone once left a box of sample size stuff in the lobby of my apartment building and I picked some stuff out in the afternoon and it was all gone by the evening and I thought it was so awesome, so if you live in a building with a common mail area that might be the lowest effort way to go!
posted by the thorn bushes have roses at 6:34 PM on November 24, 2015 [2 favorites]

Sell it online to Reddit's makeup community, see the FAQs:

https://www.reddit.com/r/makeupexchange
posted by xicana63 at 6:08 AM on November 25, 2015

Also - mind sharing the list of stuff you have? I'd love to unload some of it for you. Feel free to DM me
posted by xicana63 at 6:10 AM on November 25, 2015

Response by poster: Thanks for all of your ideas! My Thanksgiving weekend project is to 5S it all, then see how much i -actually- have to get rid of (both new and gently used), then make some decisions.




and, you guys gave me just enough reasons to not feel guilty about wanting to renew at least one sub... I am not alone in my excess beauty product accumulation!
posted by Fig at 8:01 AM on November 25, 2015