This Student Is Making Paint From Recycled Makeup
Everyone has their favorite medium when it comes to creating art. Some opt for bright paints, while others prefer pastels or colored pencils. But, thanks to a student’s ingenious innovation, painters can now create beautiful masterpieces using discarded eyeshadow pallets.
Ameenah Begum created the paint made from recycled cosmetics to make a point about reusing.
“The difference with this paint is that is has quite a unique property to it, in that it has a cosmic shimmer,” explained the University of Sussex student.
“Cos” is a line of watercolor paints created as an example of how the “circular economy” can benefit and improve the environment.
“Due to hygiene protocols and other lawful reasons within the store, they have rules where they have to trash all of the cosmetics that are no longer able to be sold on the shop floors,” said Begum. “This could be due to anything such as it being dropped or damaged or discontinued.”
The paints are made from recycled eyeshadow pallets that have been thrown out by cosmetic stores. The shadow is crushed into pigment and mixed with solution until it binds. The by-product creates a high-quality watercolor paint with the added benefit of a shimmery effect.