The best things in life are free.

18th January 2011 : Uncategorised




For a while now, I’ve been depotting my mac eye shadows & popping them into palettes, as it saves space & makes things a lot easier when looking for certain colours. Obviously not everyone thinks this way, and for those of you who prefer to have the indivdual pots, this blog post may sway you slightly. I’d been saving all my eye shadow pots in a little bag & I had then shoved them in a draw & completely forgot about them. It was always something on my “to do list”. For those of you who aren’t aware of the Back to Mac scheme, it’s basically just a good way of recycling empty packaging & Mac give you something back in return for 6 empties. Usually a lipstick. I took along my 18 eye shadow empties & picked out 3 new colours. It would have cost me £40.50 but got 100% discount. Very satisfying indeed. These 3 are the colours that I had been oggling for a while, and obviously with the lipstick now retailing at £13.50 (stop mac, seriously, stop with the price increases) now is a good time to take back your empties. I picked up Chatterbox, Creme Cup & Shy Girl.



Lush also do a recycling scheme, where if you take back 5 empty black pots, you get a free fresh face mask. I don’t find it very hard emptying any lush black pots, especially if you regularly buy the fresh face masks anyway, they only have a shelf (or fridge) life of 2-3 weeks, so after this time it should all be used up. I am definitely guilty of throwing a few away in the past…and now i regret it. I picked up “Catastrophe Cosmetic”. It’s my absolute favourite face mask. I love everything about it, the smell, the colour, the texture, the way it makes my skin look. I’ll be buying these over and over and over, and then hopefully being rewarded for recyling buy recieving a free one every now and then :)

Overall, quite a satisfying little shop, since I ended up spending no money on things I actually want and love. So, ladies and gentlemen, the moral of this blog post is SAVE YOUR EMPTIES & SAVE THE PLANET. :)

♥

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  1. Great choice of lipsticks, those are probably in my top 3 favourites from Mac x

  2. Rach

    SO SO Satisfying! I have Chatterbox and Cremecup and they're both firm faves so i'm sure you'll love! x

  3. Holly

    I love creme cup(:, chatterbox looks lovely!xx

  4. Great post! I don't buy from mac or lush though, but if I did I'd definitely enjoy free stuff! xo.

  5. Tat

    the best things in life really are free (especially in these circumstances)

    lucky girl x

  6. heyy, what are the mac things you can recycle? just things in the pan?
    And is it any pots for lush?
    thanks for this post btw i never knew that much about these schemes, I'm gonna start saving my pots now! :L x

  7. such a good idea! the lipsticks look lovely, can't wait to see swatches :)
    ♥

  8. amanda

    Thanks for sharing. I didn't know these companies have a recycle program – wish more would! It will help justify purchases ;)

  9. I had no idea either of the two had this scheme!! Kicking myself now. Those lipsticks are gorgeous!

  10. The best kind of haul indeed! When I worked at LUSH I literally have hundreds of black pots, I actually wish I was kidding! Oh and I used to B2M all my MAC eyeshadows, but now I recycle them in a different kind of way!

    xoxo

  11. KLEE

    excellent lipstick choices! chatterbox is my favourite at the mo xo

    wakeupbuttercup.blogspot.com

  12. I have a bag of empty eyeshadow pots to take back too! I think it is a great scheme and the free things are fab too! ;)

    Chatterbox and Shy Girl look gorgeous!
    x

  13. Melanie

    I've been hearing a lot about Lush face masks, may have to try one or two. Lovely blog by the way x

  14. you picked 3 brilliant lipsticks!! love shy girl !!

  15. I have some empty lipsticks and a nearly empty foundation bottle does that work the same way as empty eyeshadows? I have creme cup and shy girl and love them very much too :) xxx

  16. The lipsticks look gorgeous especially the one in the middle. It's really good that such stores have this kind of recycling system. x

  17. Katie

    wow, that is so good that you saved yourself £40 at mac! I have quite a few empties now too, i think i need to take them back asap so I can get my hands on a new lipstick :) Love the shades you chose!

    http://www.ox-Katie-xo.blogspot.com

  18. I love all of these lipstick, great choices.

  19. Anything with the back 2 mac print on the tabs of the box can be exchanged for freebies!

    I was told they wouldn't accept eyeshadows unless they had the pan in them…obviously I was wrongly informed! Will need to get back on this.

  21. Nik

    When returning pots back to lush, you can either get a fresh face mask OR a pot of Hair Doctor. They don't advertise this on the little sticker on your black pot, but it's advertised in the Lush Times paper :) ALSO, word on the street is, soon you may be able to recycle your pots and receive a £4.95 chuck of soap instead of a face mask/hair doctor. It's not for definate yet though! Exciting!

  22. Great colors tht u picked up! It's always nice when things are free. =)

  23. Rachel

    I did not know about the Lush offer (thanks for letting me know!) but I love getting the lipsticks from MAC! Shame I stopped using their eyeliners really, because I used to get through loads of them!

  24. <3 your blogg babe :)
    Follow me?
    izzy xx

  25. Emma

    i only have three mac lipsticks and they are the colours you have chosen :) i want to depot things when i buy them too, 4 to go! Do you just hand them back missing the pan or do you glue an empty one back into the pot? x

  26. Lydia

    I recently did a back to Mac and got Creme Cup lipstick too :) it's always a great feeling to get free things! x

  27. £40.50 for three mac lipsticks really makes me cringe. I won't be buying lippies from there for a long time for sure. I did the same thing as you the other day and took my empties back for a new lippie, I felt very smug.
    x

  28. i love MAC so much.))

  29. Onna

    Love this, have loads of lush black boxes. need to take them buy, its also on my to do list! What from mac can you return for the B2M?

  31. Georgie

    I'm saving up Mac Lipstick cases too, the recycle program is such a good idea!
    xx

  32. Eliza

    such a sick idea
    well done you ;) haha.
    but i seriously agree with you on the price increases, please please stop MAC you're making me sad :(
    creme cup looks prettyyy
    nice post my love! xxxxxxxx

  33. Emma.W

    I didn't know Mac did that! I wonder what other brands/shops do these kind of things!

  34. Agata

    Creme Cup is lovely, just be careful it doesn't snap as mine did! x

  36. Oh wow that is such a good idea!! Glad you got lots of freebies x

  37. Chloe

    £13.50? aww crap xx

  39. Steph x

    I love shy girl, one of my favourites! :-) xx

  40. This is a cute post. I didn't know that Mac and Lush did that. Thanks for the tip!

    thatssofletch.blogspot.com

    xo, Jay

  41. I got your text and literally RACED to my laptop! I love it! The first pic is soooooo satisfying to see!! J for Jealous xxxx

  42. Oh no I threw away so many lush ones :( I'm going to keep them from now on xxx

  43. I wish they would swap the empties for eyeshadows rather then the lipsticks at the mac counters!

    Nevertheless its a great scheme!

  46. Ayden

    Great post girlie :) So many of my friends didnt know about back to mac, although its written on the inside tab of the boxes, they tend to keep hush hush about it! Well, more than what lush do over their recycling scheme. Both are awesome though :) I did my first b2m a few days ago! Felt so good, but when I saw your post my eyes popped – I have never seen so many empty eyeshadow pots! haha :) on the look out for a nice face mask, so il be sure to check out that one which is your fave! xx

  47. If you just buy the shadows in the pan in the first place, (without depotting) then amount you save is pretty much £1.50 less than what the lipstick is… But still good if you have ampties lying around :)

  49. What an interesting post!
    You've got an amazing blog, i'm a new follower :) xx

  50. franki

    That's amazing that you managed to save up 18 pots! There really is nothing better than a freebie :)
    I've been saving up my Lush pots for a little while now – I think I've got one more to go and then I can get a free face mask, I might have to try Catastrophe Cosmetic since you've made it sound amazing! x

  51. Wow, I'm not one to usually choose lush or mac products, but this is vvv persuasive! Such a good scheme :)

    Danni
    xxx

  52. MJ.FTW.

    SO AMAZING!!

    A HAUL FOR FREE AND SAVING THE ENVIORNMENT?

    so perfect indeed

  53. what camera do you use Zoe? x

  54. Vida

    This is awesome! I have been saving up for a back to MAC…only one more to go!

  55. Brilliant! I had no idea MAC did this…my pots are starting to run low so I shall definitely be keeping them to recycle and bag some freebies! =D

  56. Gorgeous lipstick shades. I'll definitely be holding onto my Mac packaging when I finish up the products that I currently have. De-potting is a great idea, I really need to start doing it. x

  57. Oooh I knew about the Lush recycle business but I didn't know MAC done it too! I usually just but the refills, thanks hun xx

  58. It's good to know Mac and Lush are getting on the eco-bandwagon, hopefully it'll inspire more big brands to encourage recycling too :)
    And it's a great opportunity for us to get some freebies too
    xoxo

  59. Eva

    Ooh you went to the MAC in Jolly's :D I work there! But not at MAC sadly :(

    I love Chatterbox, that was my first lipstick from MAC.

  60. Begooo

    Is this for worldwide MAC stores?! Or only yours?

    Cheers,
    B.

  61. Alaina

    wow I didn't even know this existed – thank you for sharing :)

    aegmakeup.blogspot.com

  62. Kim x

    I had no idea mac did this! definately going to start saving my empties now!! x

  63. Thats a great idea by lush and Mac :)

  65. Chatterbox is going to look great on you.
    I just got shy girl recently – love it!

  66. mw

    chatterbox looks pretty!

  67. Those lip colors are gorgeous!

    xoxo,

    colormenana.blogspot.com

  69. Thankyou so much for this post! I'm a newbie with Mac and had no idea you could do that so thankyou for the heads up! Love your blog and you're also in my faves on my new-ish blog, check it out :) kellssb.blogspot.com
    x

  71. Lauren

    hey zoe!! this is totally off-subject but what is your favorite brush to use with your bare minerals foundation??? THANK YOU!!!

  74. I love this post! Really thinking of getting a lush facemask….

  75. Wow I've never heard of these recycling schemes!! will definitely have to invest in them in the future though!!

    beautyconfessionsofabiggirl.blogspot.co.uk

  76. Omg you went to jollys! love it there :)

  77. how do you depot your mac eye shadows and can you please do a video on how to?

    • Saraaaaa

      They do its on their website