Reusing Vintage Lipstick Cases

I own a few vintage lipstick cases, and I have for the longest time wanted to find a way to use them. Needless to say, you cannot just go to the store and get lipstick refills for them. Nevertheless I decided to go to one of the local beauty stores and ask if any of them had any ideas, and as it turns out, one of the ladies there had tried refilling lipstick cases herself.

This is how it's done.

There are two types of vintage lipstick cases. One type is essentially empty when you buy it, and you get the lipstick refill tube separately. If you have one of the empty lipstick cases you have to get hold of an old refill, remove the lipstick from it, and clean it thoroughly. If you have one of the normal lipstick cases, remove the old lipstick and clean it thoroughly. The lipstick case in the picture is the latter type. I prefer these, as they are easier to clean. You can actually dismantle it by pulling off the tube, clean it, and put it together again. You can see the different parts below.



Once this has been done you can go ahead and decide which replacement lipstick you want. I would recommend you to take a gauge measure of some kind to try and determine the size of the lipstick replacement. So far (I've only done two lipsticks so far) the sizes seem fairly standardized.

The lipstick needs to be firm, and it's probably easier to do this with a new lipstick than an old one.

Once you have decided on a lipstick, put in the freezer for a few hours. I left it for two hours. Then take a piece of tissue and use it to get a grip on the lipstick. Pull the lipstick gently out, insert it into the vintage lipstick case, and voilà, you are ready to dazzle your friends with your elegant, vintage lipstick :o)