Let’s establish something—mascaras are exceedingly versatile. And, no, we’re not just talking about the formula. We’re talking about the wand—the unassuming applicator you continue to dispose of without a thought. There’s a lot of conversation about repurposing the formula as concealers of greying strands, substitutes for eyeliners, and enhancers of your brows, but what about just the wand? Clueless? That’s exactly why we’ve rounded up a whopping 13 ways you can repurpose your wand, and, trust me, they’re so handy.
Wait, Your Mascara Wand Has So Much Untapped Potential!
Nail Your Nails
Are you looking to dramatise your nails with a little bit of texture? Here’s what you can do: layer your nails with a colour of your preference, and wait for them to dry. Retrieve your wand, drench it in another colour, and sweep it across your nail. The bristles lend an aesthetic, contoured effect to your nails. You can continue doing this with more colours.
Exfoliate Your Lips
We can go on and on about the importance of exfoliating your lips. But how do you slough dead cells and flakes off the surface of your lips much more effectively? Enter wand. Just coat the brush in whatever formula you’ve chosen for the process (our favourite DIY scrub has to be a honey-sugar one), and scrub away gently. Follow this up with a balm to lock in moisture.
This hydrating balm is ultra-luminous, and it melts seamlessly into your lips. It’s infinitely portable, pH-balanced, and paraben-free. You’ve gotta get your hands on this high-shine formula ASAP.
Tame Your Flyaways
I’m speaking from experience when I say that this hack has salvaged my hairdos. My hair is frizz-prone and riddled with a lot of breakage thanks to colour and treatments. And any time I attempt at pulling them into a simple ponytail for when I’m stepping out, you’ll notice stray flyaways and breakage everywhere. A simple brush-down with a wand settles the problem. Quite literally. You can spritz the brush with a little bit of hairspray, or even water, and there. A neat ‘do. Oh, and you can up your ‘do’s glam quotient by styling your baby hairs too.
Master Your Mascara
Look. As much as we love mascara, sometimes, we’re left cringing at ourselves in the mirror because of the number of clumps clinging to our lashes (reminder: do change your mascara every three months). So not a flattering look. With your repurposed brush, you can weave out any unsightly clumps without making the situation worse.
Brush Your Brows
One of the simplest ways to employ this brush in the equation is by sweeping it across your eyebrows to achieve a groomed, neat look. Such a saviour for when I haven’t threaded my eyebrows. You can go on to fill your eyebrows with an eyebrow definer.
Condition Your Brows And Lashes
Instead of tossing your mascara in the bin, repurpose the brush as an oil applicator for the brows and lashes. It’s evidenced by science that castor oil enables the growth of hair, and not just the ones on your head. But layering it on is quite the task. To save yourself from a situation that involves you stationing yourself in front of the mirror, and applying the oil with trembling fingers, drench the spoolie or brush in a little bit of the oil, and slather it on your eyebrows and lashes for thicker, longer, and shinier hair. A plus? This also ensures that you’re coating every single lash.
Conceal The Greys
If you have a few grey strands sprouting out of your scalp that you’d like to cover up, you can dip your brush in a little bit of pigment depending on the colour of your hair, and sweep it over the strands to conceal them temporarily.
Remove Makeup
You know how makeup accumulates on parts of the face you don’t think of cleansing too much? The patch of fuzz sitting atop your lips, or even your sideburns for that matter. The best way to clean them of residue and build-up is by spritzing some of your cleanser on the brush, and combing through the areas gently.
Separate Clumped Lashes
While you’re advised to dispose of your mascara within two or three months, you don’t have to do away with your brush. Hold on to it for when you’re doing your mascara the next time. Once you’re done applying mascara, you can use your older brush to separate individual lashes if they’ve developed clumps.
Clean Your Jewels
Yeah. These bristles can really do a lot of cleaning. You can brush them over your jewellery — notorious for trapping dirt and build-up from your creams and moisturisers in their nooks and crannies. This brush will dust all of it right off, and within seconds.
Salvage Your Mascara
If you’re reaching the bottom of your mascara tube, you know there’s a lot of product in there that you’re not able to reach. And you cannot just waste all of that. All you need is some baby oil and a mascara brush. Put a drop of the oil in the tube, and twist it around with your brush. This will guarantee you a few more coats for sure!
Maximise Efficiency
Use a disposable brush to scrape product out of the sides of a bottle of foundation — or any other product that you’re running out of. These are places you normally wouldn’t be able to reach.
Root Touch Up
It’s tricky colouring your roots without dyeing the rest of your hair in the process. The easiest way to solve this problem is by drenching your brush in some mascara before colouring just the roots carefully, and you’re done.
See? Pretty hack-y, isn’t it? So don’t toss away that old mascara brush of yours yet.
Featured Image: Pexels
