Reusable Mascara: Hack or Wack?

 

Hi everyone and welcome to a new “series” I’m trying out for this blog, where I test out beauty hacks and see if they are life-changing, mediocre, or complete fails! As someone who is not crafty whatsoever, this may not go over so well.

The first hack I’m trying out is one that I heard of a few years ago and haven’t heard about since, but the idea was so intriguing that I remembered it. The idea behind it is that all mascara formulas are essentially the same, it’s only the brush that makes a difference in how the mascara works. Obviously there are a few differences, like an organic formula, waterproof formula, etc. but this “fact” has always seemed pretty true to me.

The hack went further to say that if you were to clean a mascara wand, you could simply put the wand in a new (cheap!) container of mascara and have a brand new tube.

My sample of Stila Huge Extreme Lash mascara recently dried up so I decided to test this hack with the sample. I loved this mascara while it lasted, so if I could get a few more months out of it this hack would be completely worth it.

 

To begin you have to thoroughly clean the mascara wand. I thought this would be hard but it’s surprisingly easy! I took a tiny paper cup and poured a bit of eye make-up remover into it, then swirled the wand around in that for thirty seconds or so. As you can see, a lot of the product came off. To clean the rest of it, I ran it under the sink and used my fingers to gently brush off the rest. This entire process took less than two minutes and wasted a lot less make-up remover than I thought it would.

 

Next you need a new tube of mascara. I went to the drugstore and literally bought the cheapest mascara I could find, which happened to be Wet n Wild MegaProtein mascara. It was about $1.50 and looked to be a similar size as the Stila sample.

 

 

 

I threw away the Wet n Wild wand and simply stuck the Stila wand into the Wet n Wild formula container. I tested out my “new” mascara and it does seem to work well, just like the original Stila Huge Extreme Lash.

 

There are a few differences that I’m noticing. The MegaProtein mascara has a very wet, liquidy formula so it doesn’t hold a curl as easily as the original Stila mascara did. The Stila wand and the Wet n Wild container aren’t a perfect match, so I’m worried about the mascara drying up quickly. But for $1.50 as compared to a $23.00 new tube of Stila Huge, I can definitely live with these differences!

However, if you try this out for yourself I have a few recommendations for you. If there is a drugstore formula that you’ve tried and liked, I recommend you use that one instead of the absolute cheapest one you can find. I like the Wet n Wild formula, but if you want something waterproof, organic, or less aqueous I suggest you try something else. You also may want to buy a tube that will actually fit your wand, perhaps even taking the wand you want to use into the drugstore with you. Also, if you notice that your mascara wand has a lot of broken or bent bristles, you may not want to reuse it! Final suggestion: in case this hack doesn’t work for you, save the drugstore wand so that you don’t waste it!

Overall, I’d say this is a great money saving hack. Mascaras get used up so quickly that if you are in love with a high-end one, you could end up repurchasing it three or four times a year. With this hack, you can get the same or at least a similar result with a much smaller cost. And if you try this hack and you don’t think it works for you, you still haven’t wasted a lot of money.

I hope you like this new hack series and potentially found it useful! Have you ever heard of this hack before? Will you try it?

Xx Katie