Best Places to Dumpster Dive for Makeup

 

A list of the best places to dumpster dive for makeup can help you get started. Ulta and Sally's are the two most popular dumpster diving locations.

Ulta Beauty

One of the most popular cosmetics stores for dumpster divers is Ulta. Divers used to be able to find tons of discarded product. What types and conditions of makeup you find are largely determined by your location and whether or not divers have gone before you.

Sally's Beauty Supply

The dumpster behind Sally's Beauty Supply is another popular stop. Aside from cosmetics, expensive hair products and accessories such as brushes, curling irons, hair dryers, and so on are frequently retrieved from dumpsters.

Your Local Best Places to Dumpster Dive for Makeup

While your town may not have an Ulta Beauty or a Sally's Beauty Supply, it does have other stores that sell makeup. Department stores such as Bloomingdale's and Macy's fall into this category.

Department Stores and Stand-Alone Shops

Unless they are in a downtown city, most department stores are in shopping malls. It all depends on where you live.

• You'll need to know which dumpster belongs to them. That is usually obvious from observation and/or investigation.
• You'll also need to learn when and how frequently the cosmetics department trash is discarded. At the end of each business day, most stores remove their trash.
• You'll soon find out if the store is a good choice for dumpster diving based on when and how they dispose of cosmetics.

A few other stores that carry cosmetics include:

• Dillard's carries Estee Lauder, Lancome, Mac Cosmetics, Triforce, Clinique, Elizabeth Arden, and Dior cosmetics.
• Saks Fifth Avenue offers a variety of cosmetic brands such as Givenchy, Dior, NARS, Tom Ford, Laura Mercier, Lancome, Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel, Armani Beauty, REN, La Mer, and others.
• Cosmetics from Giorgio Armani, Givenchy, Dior, Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, Hourglass, Kosas, Bobbi Brown, and other brands are available at Neiman Marcus.

Types of Makeup Often Found in Dumpsters

The variety of makeup available in dumpsters is extensive. Lipsticks, foundation makeup, mascara, eye shadow, eyeliner, hair products, hair accessories, perfumes, and skin lotions have all been discovered by divers. You may come across unused samples or testers on occasion, but more often than not, you will come across opened returned products, used testers, final sales, expired products, damaged, broken seals, and/or used.

Ruined Makeup Deterrent to Dumpster Divers

A few years ago, there was a wider variety of salvageable cosmetics in dumpsters. With the popularity of dumpster diving for makeup, retailers became concerned about potential lawsuits arising from expired and used/contaminated products.

Souping Makeup

The threat of legal repercussions has motivated managers and owners to break, damage, scrape, and render the cosmetics worthless and unusable before throwing them away. Divers call this practice "souping" because employees frequently pour liquid cosmetics over the ones they've cut, slashed, or gouged to render them unusable. Many divers have been put off by this practice.

Some Stores Still Just Toss in Trash

There are still stores in towns/cities where retailers haven't had to deal with dumpster divers and thus have no need to start this practice, because dealing with throwaways requires more time and effort.

Tips for Dumpster Diving for Makeup

Several makeup dumpster divers have successfully created YouTube instruction videos. These divers eagerly share their knowledge with helpful hints and film their dives and hauls for devoted viewers.

A few popular tips include:

• Wear gloves that can't be pierced by broken plastic containers or other sharp objects.
• Carry hand sanitizer with you and use frequently.
• Wear high boots when climbing into dumpsters.
• Makeup divers use alcohol to sanitize makeup packaging/containers and brushes.
• Divers describe how they cut away questionable parts of found lipsticks.
• Don't leave a mess. Nothing will put the skids on dumpster diving faster than making a mess of someone's trash. Be respectful and leave the dumpster the way you found it.

Dumpster Haulics scored an unexpected $7,500 Ulta haul!

Is Dumpster Diving Legal?

Dumpster diving is technically legal. According to a NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) discussion, a 1988 Supreme Court ruling declared that police did not need a warrant to search through curbside trash. This decision has given dumpster divers a green light.

Local Laws May Ban It

Some counties and/or cities, however, have prohibited dumpster diving. Before you take the plunge, make sure you understand the local laws.

Theft

If you retrieve trash from a company bin, the trash is likely to be considered abandoned and no longer anyone's property. If this were to be challenged in court, it might depend on whether the company was paid to dispose of the merchandise. If that's the case, taking the product from the trash bin isn't theft because the company was previously compensated for the merchandise and chose to throw it away.

Trespassing

If the dumpster you're looking for is on private property, you could be charged with minor trespassing. You cannot be charged with trespassing if the dumpster is on public property.

Health Risks in Dumpster Diving

When you use a dumpster-retrieved product, you expose yourself to certain health risks. Because trash is rarely sorted when placed in trash bags, the makeup you retrieve may be in the same bag as half-eaten meals, discarded customer tissues from testing makeup products, used hygiene products from a bathroom, and other types of daily trash. Germs found in trash can be harmful to your health, especially if you apply contaminated makeup to your skin. Furthermore, expired cosmetics could