Every beauty lover has been there. You go to pump out your favorite foundation, and click, click … nothing. Many people would toss the bottle, lamenting the lost product and wasted money. But one TikToker is proving there's a smarter, more sustainable solution — one that saves product, money, and your makeup look.
The scoop
TikToker Kelly, who goes by Plant Based Baby (@plantbased.baby), recently shared how she rescued a beauty product trapped in a broken bottle.
In her video, Kelly explained that the pump on her nearly full bottle of Kosas foundation broke, leaving her to brainstorm how to save the product — and her money.
@plantbased.baby upcycling 101: my bottle & jar collection continues to come in handy! made a DIY tinted serum I suppose... thoughts? 😬 #upcycling #upcycling101 #upcycled #beauty #makeup #kosas #skincare #skin #skintok #foundation #serum #rhode #glazingmilk #diy #reducereuserecycle #plantbasedbaby ♬ The Kite Luisa Marion and Noah Floersch - luisa_marion_music
In her TikTok, Kelly shared that she saves empty bottles for unforeseen circumstances like this — everything from glass skincare bottles to traditional food jars. To salvage the foundation, she chose an empty glass bottle with a dropper top. Using gravity to her advantage, Kelly carefully transferred the foundation into the replacement bottle, which was a lesson in patience. She said the foundation was so thick that it took 24 hours to transfer into the bottle.
After transferring the product, Kelly realized the dropper couldn't properly dispense the thick foundation. As a solution, she thinned out the formula with a milky toner, giving it a tinted serum-like consistency
"I think a past version of myself would have thrown out the broken makeup product without a second thought," she said in the video. "I'm happy I've become more resourceful."
How it's helping
Though salvaging one beauty product may seem like a small act, using products to their fullest is a pillar of responsible consumerism. And that's especially needed in the beauty industry. While exact numbers aren't known, some experts estimate that around 20% to 40% of all beauty products end up as waste.
When products go unused, all the energy, materials, and resources that went into making them — from raw ingredients to packaging and shipping — are wasted. By salvaging her makeup from a broken bottle, Kelly ensured the beauty product — and everything that went into making it — was utilized to its fullest.
Kelly's conscious choice to save and repurpose old containers reflects the idea of a circular economy, where items are reused or repurposed instead of discarded. This mindset not only reduces waste but also lowers demand for new items, lessening resource extraction and the environmental costs of manufacturing.
It's easy to imagine a less sustainable alternative. Kelly could have purchased a new plastic container for her foundation, choosing convenience and overconsumption to solve her problem. Instead, her creativity and adaptability led to a planet-friendlier solution.
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Always 💯 What everyone's saying
Beyond benefiting the planet and her wallet, there's another perk of Kelly's repurposing — she's inspiring others to follow her lead. Now, a simple act of resourcefulness has encouraged others to take sustainability more seriously.
TikTok users applauded Kelly's smart salvaging, with some commenting that her resourcefulness inspired them to adopt more sustainable habits.
One commenter wrote: "Since watching your video about upcycling bottles and jars, I'm now doing it — and I love it so much."
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