Hacking my lipstick

Every mom of small children has had the experience of opening a lipstick tube, only to find that its contents have been smashed into the hastily slammed-on cap.

A certain 4-year-old has ruined two of mine recently. One I found in my bathroom, the other (empty) tube somewhere in the van, its contents missing.

But don’t worry.

My butt will find it the next time I’m wearing white jeans.

Those were my last two lipsticks. A cosmetic emergency!

One of the lipsticks was my favorite color, so I’m a bit disappointed by that. But the other was way too dark and I never wore it anymore.

As it turns out, I also had a tube of lip balm that I never used because the zinc oxide in it turned my lips white, a look that’s not so attractive on a living person.

I decided to do some hacking.

I cut off the too-dark lipstick and the too-pale lip balm into a small, disposable medicine cup. I melted them in the microwave at 15 second intervals and stirred well (it took 30 seconds for them to be just the right texture.).

Now, I have a whole LOT of a lovely mauve shade of lip color which can be applied with a finger or lip brush (which I consider to be a frugal cosmetic tool, because there is so much lipstick left in the tube once you think it’s done!).