7 Things to do in with the Colors in Your Palette That Aren't Your Faves ...

Got a couple of colors you don’t particularly like? How about blending them together to create a new and fantastic shade. You might find out that layering a couple of the ones you can’t stand results in a new color that you absolutely love. I wouldn’t recommend this on a rushed morning, but maybe on a weekend when you have some time to experiment, you can play around with the colors and see what you can do with them.

I once had a horrible brown shade of eyeshadow in a palette I bought. I just assumed I’d toss it, but then I ran out of eyeliner. So I used a wet eyeshadow brush and swiped it on as liner. It was fabulous! I went ahead and used the rest of it in the same way. So next time you have a blue that is worthy of the 1980s, try it as a liner and you might be surprised.

Many make-up manufacturers have started selling their compacts with removable color swatches. That way when you run out, you only have to replace the lost color instead of buying the whole palette again. Not only is this good for the environment in the sense that there is a lot less wasted packaging, but it also allows you to pop out the colors you don’t use and swap with a friend for the ones you do. Hold a make-up exchange with your friends and you’ll all go home happy.

Glitter makes everything better, right? Well, almost anyway. Next time you have a color you don’t care for, try mixing in a dab of shimmer and see if that changes the way you look at it. You might be surprised at what a little bit of glitter can do for that shade that will probably wind up in the garbage.

Blush palettes often come with only one or two colors that work for my skin tone. What to do with the others? Try using them as eyeshadow or liner. Many blush or bronzer colors are earth tones, which makes them ideal for swiping on your lids. You can also use eyeshadow as blush if the color is just right.

Maybe that shade of blush looks awful on its own, but perhaps it could be just the right shade for defining your cheekbones. Use it to highlight the color you usually wear and you might discover a use for it after all. Many palettes are stamped with their specific purpose and you might find that in this case, following the directions works out for you.

OK, so there really are some shades that are better in the trash than on your face. I still can’t figure out how they even make it into palettes, but they can serve a purpose. Use those bright, slightly ugly colors for costumes or face painting. A bit of water will make them easy to apply anywhere on your body. You can make any disguise that much better by using up those funky colors.

What colors do you usually throw away? I hope this list has given you some fun new ideas for using them up. Which ones do you think you’ll try?