Sunday 26 August 2012

Decanting and recycling my empties

I've previously mentioned having amassed a vast amount of beauty and skincare products through beauty boxes, gifts, freebies and bargain buys I'd be mad to've missed. - Yep, it's an addiction!

Today I started rooting through some of the half used items I have and was shocked to find I had 3 15ml sample tubes of Lulu Timebomb Flashback Night Cream...all open!!!


 
I've salvaged a spray bottle from my empties and decided to decant the tubes into it for two reasons: 1) to save space in my skincare box, and 2) So I can see just how much I have left before starting something new.
 




















Tip: If you're considering doing something similar, make sure you thoroughly clean the bottle including the sprayer before use. I also did a little 'test squirt' before transferring the cream by pushing the sprayer into one of the tubes to make sure the cream wasn't too thick to be drawn up by the pump.

 
After some snipping, squeezing and a bit of shaking..... here's the end result.....3 x 15ml tubes = 1 30ml bottle.


If you haven't already started snipping the tubes when you think they are empty, it's well worth doing - particularly with thicker creams as they do tend to stick to the sides. You can get days more use from the product clinging to the packaging - either using a finger (be careful of any rough edges though) or a cotton bud. I just use a bulldog clip to seal the tube closed again after use.

Do any of you also do the same or similar?
 
Feel free to share your tips in the comments section below.
 
 
 
 
 
I've also re-used my Yankee Candle jars as hair clip / bobble storage, cotton wool balls / cotton buds, make up brushes and to pour Radox bath salts into as they'll look much more luxurious and expensive in a jar.
 
 



 

Here are a few other suggested uses for your empty Yankee jars:

Pot Pourri holder

Savings jar (I'm already using one on another of my posts here)

Container for hot chocolate sachets etc

Make Up Brush holder

Button container (this I may well do as usually I cut the spares off clothes I buy and throw them however, my OH bought me a small sewing machine for christmas (I've never sewn but love Kirsty's Home Made Home so he thought he'd try to encourage me to 'make do and mend' bless) so I could well be making some use of them finally.


Feel free to post some more ideas on how you recycle/reuse empty items.

Happy recycling everyone! xxx