Your Expired Makeup Is Now Collectible

Makeup is one of those types of items that many people hold onto a little too long. We’re told that you really only have a limited time before you need to replace items like mascara, foundation, and lipstick. But, most of us push the limit mostly out of habit. We tend to use the items until they’re gone- even if it takes us years to do it! But, those old makeup items, depending on age, can now be considered collectibles and some of them aren’t even as old as you might think.

Most collectors focus on bygone eras with unique history and packaging such as cake mascara, “radium” powders and creams, or gold metal lipstick tubes with the push-up lipstick inside. Others focus on certain designers or specific years. Unusual shapes or designs are generally more collectible as they catch the eye and were made in fewer numbers.

But, even makeup from the relatively recent past can considered collectible now! It all depends on what you’re into. Many designers and even drugstore companies will only make a product for a limited period of time. Even if that time period is 10 years, it makes the product rarer if it is no longer in production. Makeup from the 1990s and early 2000s is gaining a real following with collectors now. The colors of beige, plum, and brown that dominated the era signaled a new direction in the field of makeup and were considered quite unusual at the time.

For many others it’s all about the packaging. Elegant enameled compacts in Art Deco designs are particularly collectible. But, there are designs from every era that are collectible today.

The Hollywood Regency of the 1960s produced many a filigree makeup item. At the same time Mary Quant revolutionized makeup with her sleek, modern cases and unique pastel colors. The 1970s makeup items continued this mod theme with streamlined plastic packaging in opaque hues. The 1980s saw a newer range of pinks and purples for the makeup and the beginning of a more reserved era for makeup packaging where black and clear plastic dominated the industry. In many ways they still so, which is all the more reason that collectors go wild over some really unique and artful packaging.

Many fans of makeup also go crazy for how history shows up in grooming. For example the compacts of the 1920s were tiny, owing to the fact that makeup in public was a newer phenomenon. Some of the compacts also had a space for a few coins, a symbol of the fact that women back then did not usually carry wallets. Instead their dates were supposed to handle all of that on a night out, the spare coins were for emergencies and perhaps tipping the washroom attendant.

Likewise, the history of war shows up in cosmetics as well. Many of the wartime lipstick tubes and compacts from the 1940s are now collectible. Due to metal rationing some brands in hard years switched to paper or plastic tubes, a harbinger of what was to become our norm today.

And of course you can’t talk about makeup without discussing all things related to a women’s beauty regime: skin care, cold cream, perfume, and vanity items are all big collectors items. In particular perfume bottles from 1900-1960s are very desirable for their beautiful designs rendered in glass and metal.

There is a whole segment of collectors who focus on hair-related items including pomades, curlers, hair irons, combs, mirrors, and barrettes and combs. The items to collect are almost endless!

All of this is to say that even some of the expired makeup you’ve been hoarding in the back of the bathroom cupboard might be considered collectible. We don’t, however, recommend using expired makeup and perfumes as bacteria can easily grow in old cosmetics. Also, older products were subject to different regulations (or none at all), meaning that some can contain harmful ingredients that would not pass a safety test today.

The most collectible makeup items are in good condition and have their original packaging. Completely unused makeup items are the rarest and fetch some of the highest values at auction. That is, with some exceptions.

Makeup that was previously owned (and used) by stars like Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, or Audrey Hepburn has brought in huge sums of money in the past and the signs of use make them all the more desirable based on who owned them. A single lipstick once owned by Marilyn Monroe sold at auction for $65,000 in 2024 and one of Hepburn’s sold for even more than that back in 2017.