I’m all about getting creative with your beauty routine, and on those days when you’ve forgotten to slip the one cosmetics product you must have right now in your makeup bag, knowing what to use as the perfect pinch hitter counts.
Check out my list of sixteen beauty product substitutes for those MacGyver moments:
- No cuticle oil in your repertoire? Switch in olive oil, lip balm, or petroleum jelly.
- If you left your mascara at home, use black liquid eyeliner instead. Simply swish the brush over the bottoms of your top lashes, then dab off the excess with a cotton ball or tissue.
- Forgot the liner instead? Use the mascara on a small eyeshadow sponge or Q-tip to dot color carefully right on top of the lash line.
- Any facial moisturizers, night creams, eye creams or other moisture-infusing wonders translate to softening the rest of your bod and work just fine when used as foot cream, hand cream, etc. (Note: this does not go both directions. Body moisturizers tend to gunk up your pores when used on your face.)
- Need to fix some drippy self-tanner or just add some shadow to a puffy-looking jawline? Use last summer’s too-dark foundation.
- In the absence of lipstick, use your cream blush to tint lips.
- Got lipstick, but no cheek color? Warm the lipstick with hot breath or by rubbing it between your fingers, then rub on cheeks for an instant glow. This one’s a classic!
- If you’ve run out of toner, lemon juice works as a natural astringent.
- Use a brown eyeshadow to fill in wimpy brows without brow powder.
- What’s that? No eyeshadow? Use the brow powder on your lids, or even your cream blush.
- Almost everyone knows that hair conditioner makes a great shaving cream in a pinch. Try it and check out your supersoft legs!
- A smidgen of moisturizer defrizzes hair almost as well as Frizz-Ease.
- Forgotten to cover up? Pressed powder blended with moisturizer is a great stand-in for concealer.
- A little shine serum doubles as a light brow gel.
- No bath salts in sight? Epsom salt or baking soda will work just fine. (Add a little essential oil in your favorite fragrance to the mix if it’s not girly enough for you.)
- Your hubby’s or dad’s old tackle box will make a fine train case – and maybe he’ll stop fishing.
Gotta love those home remedies.
I like using conditioner better than shaving gel even regularly. I use coconut oil as a moisturizer (or grape seed oil) and I’ve recently learned that shea butter is the best deep conditioner I’ve ever tried.
great tips! I love this!
These are great tips! I’ve used a few of them, like the epsom salts for bath salts.
My mom taught me the lipstick on the cheeks thing! It totally works!
love these! i also love using coconut oil as a cuticle cream, moisturizer, lip balm, and deep conditioner! it has so many uses!
Wow, great post. I am crap at remembering to use my cuticle oil so use my normal creams/oils
i use lipsticks on my cheek all the time! 🙂
lipstick on my cheeks*
Such Gteat tips and tricks. Love this post. Completely agree with the tackle box as a train case. So organized too with all the compartments. Great post!!!
These are all great beauty tips.
I love all of these “hacks”! Some I’ve definitely used more than once.
Awesome! I used to use lipstick as a blush ALL the time, but now I have a huge collection of blushes, so it doesn’t happen as often – might have to go back to that for a little bit – fun to go back to your roots! <3
OMG! Amazing tips! I never knew any of this. Thanks! Sharing this!
Great tips 🙂 Thanks!
Thank you so much for sharing this list of beauty substitutes! I know I sometimes forget important products and need a back up plan!
Love 1 and 12 🙂
I need to bookmark this post for the future! I love these tips!
Thanks so much for sharing this – great tips!
Great tips! Definitely using some of these.
Wow, so many great tips!
These are such great tips! thank you for sharing!
Great post! 🙂 I love homemade beauty products!
Love all these tips! I love quick fixes!
Good tips! I’ve heard of some of them before but I like #7 the best.