What Do You Do With Your Expired Makeup and Skin Care Empties?

If you’ve ever cleaned out your vanity, you know the guilt that comes with tossing expired makeup or empty bottles of skin care products. A lipstick that’s gone off but was barely used. A foundation you bought in the wrong shade. A drawer of cleansers and creams in plastic bottles that somehow keep multiplying. Most people would just throw them out or let them gather dust in a shoebox. 

The truth is, our beauty habits produce more waste than we think. But what if there were ways to give these products a second life? Here in the Philippines, two initiatives are doing exactly that: one sends expired palettes to embalming students, and the other turns shampoo bottles into eco furniture.

A different kind of palette

Launched in late 2024 through a collaboration between advertising agency TBWA\SMP and the Pacific Center for Advanced Studies (PCAS), Heaven Palette is a project that takes unwanted cosmetics and repurposes them for embalming students. The idea may sound unusual at first, but it is very logical and smart.

For Katrina Mercado, a licensed embalmer and PCAS Luzon administrator, it’s a natural extension of her advocacy. “I feel like it’s a shared experience to buy makeup only to realize too late that it wasn’t a good match, or that you’ve only used two or three shades out of the 50-something color palette and it’s nearing the expiry date,” she says. “Through this campaign, we can repurpose not just expired cosmetics but also unused or unsold ones, lessening the amount of waste produced by both consumers and makeup companies.”

This is especially helpful if you’re a makeup artist or a beauty influencer who receives tons of PR packages daily. “Since we started the campaign, we have received donations from notable personalities, professional makeup artists, and other makeup lovers who have finished cleaning their stash and are in the middle of updating their inventory,” Mercado shares. 

And yes, embalmers really do need makeup. High-quality cosmetics with good coverage and pigmentation can be expensive, and smaller funeral homes often struggle to stock them. “So rather than [throwing away] your old makeup, why not give it to your local funeral home?” Mercado urges.

Beyond being practical, it also pushes back against stereotypes of funeral makeup looking cakey or artificial. “We can finally veer away from the thick and ill-matched tone of the foundation and bright red lipstick on all bodies, no matter the gender or skin tone,” she explains. “With this, we are hoping to produce a generation of embalmers who are not just technically competent, but also artistic.”

It also reframes expired makeup not as waste, but as a tool for dignity, helping families see their loved ones at peace one last time.

How to donate old or expired makeup products

If you’d like to take part in the Heaven Palette initiative, you can drop off your expired, pre-loved, or unused makeup at designated donation hubs in Quezon City and Cebu. 

In Metro Manila, donations may be brought to the Pacific Center for Advanced Studies c/o Cosmopolitan Memorial Chapels and Crematory along G. Araneta Avenue in Brgy. Doña Imelda, Quezon City.

For those in the Visayas, contributions can be made at the Cosmopolitan Memorial Chapels in Nivel Hills, Lahug, Cebu City.

From empties to eco bricks

If your stash is more skincare bottles than palettes and lipsticks, another route exists. French beauty brand L’Occitane has been running its Eco Hero Recycling Program in the Philippines, which lets you drop off plastic empties at their stores. Unlike brand-specific take-back schemes, they’ll accept empties from any brand, as long as they’re plastic and clean.

The empties are passed on to The Plastic Flamingo (The Plaf), a local social enterprise that turns them into eco bricks, eco logs, and even furniture. 

“Since plastics take hundreds of years to decompose, they pose a real threat that affects climate change, wildlife, and human health,” says Aprille Cabrera, merchandising manager for L’Occitane Philippines. “Microplastics can enter our oceans, soil, and even the food chain, creating long-term consequences for both nature and people.”

It’s not a perfect system–plastic recycling rates in the country remain low–but it’s one way to keep at least some of that beauty waste from heading straight to landfills or waterways.

How to donate beauty empties (Eco Hero by L’Occitane)

To join L’Occitane’s Eco Hero Recycling Program, simply collect and clean your plastic beauty empties (regardless of brand) and make sure they’re completely dry with any non-plastic parts removed. Once ready, you can bring them to any L’Occitane store nationwide. 

As an added incentive, shoppers who drop off at least three full-sized empties (100ml or more) in a single visit receive five percent off their purchase on that day.

Long way to go

Neither Heaven Palette nor Eco Hero will solve the beauty industry’s waste problem on their own (Mercado cites a staggering stat: “the makeup industry produces 120 billion units of trash annually”). But both suggest meaningful alternatives—ways to give our products value beyond their shelf life.

For Heaven Palette, it’s about helping not just embalmers, but grieving families too. “We want the deceased to look as close as possible to how they did when they were still alive, and if the makeup looks good, if their departed loved one looks peaceful, it can help with the grieving process.”

For Eco Hero, it’s about changing habits, one bottle at a time. “The efforts of reducing plastic waste and promoting sustainability when compounded can create a stronger culture of sustainability and make eco-friendly practices the norm rather than the exception,” Cabrera says.

At the end of the day, beauty products may expire or get emptied, but the care we extend, whether to people or the planet, doesn’t have to.