This Hack Can Save Your Broken Lipstick

If you've ever treated yourself to a gorgeous new lipstick in an exciting new color only to have it snap in the first couple days of owning it, you know just how much of a bummer it can be. Good news: all is not lost. You can actually salvage that tube, even if it's broken clean through. All you're going to need is a lighter and a refrigerator — and your lipstick will be ready to use in just minutes. 

What you need to do, StyleCaster explains, is "melt the broken end of your lipstick" just a little bit by holding it over the flame of your lighter. When the end is soft and sticky, you'll want to "press the two" broken halves of the lipstick "back together." The outlet continues, "Once they've reattached, pop the entire tube in the fridge for a few minutes to make sure it's fused and set." After the reassembled lipstick tube has a chance to cool and harden, just take it out of the fridge, and your lipstick should be good to go! 

But that's not the only makeup hack you can turn to in order to save your broken lipstick...

What if the lighter method doesn't work for your break? Maybe the whole lipstick broke off at the base, or maybe the tube of lipstick got stuck in the top. Don't worry, you can still recover it. 

According to Allure, if your lipstick broke off at the base, you just need to "scoop out" whatever's left in the bottom, using either a sanitized bobby pin or paper clip, and place the chunk of lipstick that had broken off right back in the tube, pushing it gently into the base. However, if the lipstick got stuck in the top of the tube, you can either ease it out with a pair of tweezers or a toothpick and place it carefully back in the base. Or, if that proves too difficult, the outlet notes, "Just leave it in the top and use a lip brush to apply it from now on."

But what if your lipstick is just straight up in pieces, and there's no way of reassembling it in the tube? No worries here, either — just keep it in a small container, per Allure. That said, if you want to make this lipstick mess pretty again, "melt it in a spoon over a candle," then "pour the melted [lipstick]" into its new container, and finally, harden it in your freezer. No matter the breakage, there's need to let a gorgeous lipstick color go to waste!