40+ People Share Their Disgusting Makeup Stories

Makeup is an art and one that usually takes hours upon hours of practice to get right. We’ve probably all made some critical makeup errors in our days, whether it’s drawing monstrous eyebrows or overlining lips. However, some people are just downright disgusting when it comes to how they apply makeup. We collect 40+ of the more disgusting makeup stories people have shared.

It doesn’t matter how many obstacles you put in their way, cats will always find their way around it. For makeup, it’s important to keep it out of reach or keep it off any surface that your furry friend is likely to jump up on.

This commenter stated that their cat loves to licked pressed power, and is even able to open the magnetized Naked palette to lick up the powdery deliciousness. He will even lick his own fur, resulting in a stripe of color.

Movies and TV shows have definitely romanticized the idea of leaving a love letter written in lipstick on the bathroom mirror. It’s next to impossible to try and get off, and you’ll also ruin a perfectly good lipstick in the process.

This disgusting story is about a girl who wrote a message of love for other patrons in a toilet stall in lipstick. However, she didn’t even wipe it clean before she reapplied the lipstick all over her own lips.

Claire’s would be a fascinating place to work at. Usually, it’s filled with little kids who like the look of overly glittery makeup, or people wanting to get their ears pierced for the first time. There’s something for everyone who’s new to the world of makeup, and also under the age of 12.

This poster describes her experience working in Claire’s and how she would often have to sanitize makeup brushes because so many people were rubbing them on their faces before exclaiming how soft they were. This is quite disgusting.

Were you really a girl in middle school if you didn’t have some strongly-scented lipgloss. In this poster’s case, they had some blueberry-flavored lip glosses, which would be asked for by the same girl on a daily basis.

This girl would constantly make comments about wanting to eat the lip gloss, and while the poster mostly ignored these comments, she finally gave in because she was so persistent. Did she eat the gloss like she said or was it all a scheme?

Most drugstore makeup products won’t last too long; why do you think it’s so cheap? While drugstore brands can be great for saving money, don’t expect your products to last a very long time.

This poster found a Rimmer lipstick in her collection that was only a little over a year old. We’re pretty sure everyone has one or a few lipsticks that are over a year old. Unfortunately, the bullet had turned black due to mold instead of its vibrant red.

It can be a real hassle if you’re doing your makeup but you’re not close to a sink. Most people don’t have the privilege of having their own bathroom to do makeup in, and will usually do it at their desk or vanity. So, what happens when you’re in a rush or lazy and need to wash your brushes?

This poster told the story of a girl who used to lick the product off her eyeshadow brush instead of using other brushes or washing it. This is a disgusting post — we can’t imagine why people would do that to themselves!

Plenty of people kicked off on Twitter and YouTube a few years ago when the Jeffree Star and Shane Dawson palette collaboration dropped, and not in a good way. Plenty of people found stray hairs in their eyeshadow pans, which destroyed the palette.

This was a similar situation to this poster. They had bought a single eyeshadow from eBay, however, when they looked closer, they saw a hair sticking out of the pan. After confirming their suspicions, they threw the shadow in the trash.

Anyone who wears eyeliner will know that it’s a tricky thing to use, especially liquid eyeliner. If your hand moves or too much product comes out of the liner, you may have to start your whole eye look again which can be really annoying.

In this case, this poster was using their black eyeliner when they were accidentally scared and jabbed themselves in the eye. The applicator had applied a whole lot of black eyeliner, making their entire eyeball black and leaving them with a red eye for two days!

The cat’s litterbox is probably the last place any of us want to find our makeup brushes. In fact, we think that most people would probably keep their makeup brushes in a completely separate room so they don’t become wrecked when something like this happens.

This person shared that her old roommate would leave her makeup brushes on the carpet beside the cat’s litterbox. Even worse, she’s wearing a full face of makeup every day, so there’s no chance she’s washing and drying all of her brushes in time. Gross!

Lots of people are too scared to use eyelash curlers. While they’re a godsend for anyone with straight lashes, the fear that we will accidentally rip out or somehow cut all our lashes off puts us off. This next story probably won’t help.

This person describes the time when they accidentally ripped out most of their lashes before their first week in high school. Luckily, their glasses managed to camouflage most of the damage but it proves just how easy it can happen.

When people say ‘it’s good enough to eat,’ they usually don’t follow through by trying to take a bite out of it. This woman went to the store one day to buy a new lipstick, double-checked that the tube was in good condition before purchasing and bringing it home.

However, she clearly didn’t twist far enough up as when she got home she discovered that there were bite marks towards the bottom of the lipstick bullet. We hope that they brought it back for an exchange, although it may be hard to explain.

People all over Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok are warning others about abrasive exfoliating face scrubs due to the microbeads. These beads are not only dangerous for the environment because they can get into our ecosystems, but they’re also terrible for the skin.

When using an exfoliating scrub for their acne, this user discovered that one of the beads had gotten stuck in a pore. Instead of just clogging this pore, it developed into a disgusting cyst that had to be surgically removed. You have been warned!

People will usually do anything to try and get out of an exam or term paper. However, this next person took it a little too far and ended up having her eyes glued shut just minutes before she was due to take her midterm.

Glitter eyeshadow is notoriously hard to apply, so many makeup gurus recommend using lash glue instead of glitter glue to ensure the glitter pieces stay on. However, for this person, the last glue didn’t stay in one place and glued their eye shut!

After the hit TV drama, Euphoria aired a couple of years ago, thousands of people took to the internet to showcase their own recreations of the dramatic eye makeup that most of the cast wear where glitter is placed underneath the eye.

After this person’s attempt, they accidentally fell asleep and the glitter pieces managed to get under their eyelid. During their sleep, the glitter cut the eyelid and eye all up and left them with a massive eye infection that was so bad, they had to miss a few days of university!

Our eyelids are incredibly sensitive pieces of skin. A certain smell or chemical can set off a number of reactions that can leave you with either a nasty rash, infection, or discoloring. We have to be careful about the products we put on our eyes.

When this girl was seven, she and her friend clearly didn’t get the memo and used nail polish as eyeshadow. The reaction was so bad, the girl went home screaming and her grandmother spent hours trying to flush the irritant off her eyelid. Ouch!

The way people do eyebrows is starting to become a trend. Back in 2017, the norm was a dark, heavily filled-in brow. However, in 2021, people prefer to use soap to brush their eyebrows hairs to make them as bushy as possible. We’ve probably all been partial to an eyebrow crime or two.

To compensate for her newly plucked eyebrows that started above the middle of her eye, this user used black eyeshadow to fill in the gaps. However, she had light brown hair, so her eyebrows ended up as tadpoles!

We didn’t even know that people could get poisoned from using lip products! Unfortunately, this poster found out the hard way that it was true. When the poster went to the MAC store to pick up a beet-colored lipstick, one of the staff members tried to help them out.

They wiped down a lip pencil, however, two days later the poster woke up to discover that they were really sick and couldn’t swallow. It ended up being a really expensive lip liner, but it’s disgusting to think what could have been on that pencil!

When someone in a TV show or movie hurts their eye, they’re usually given a ridiculous eye patch to wear while it heals. However, this actually happens in real life too — and it, unfortunately, happened to this person.

This girl was being driven to her tennis lesson by her mom and was applying makeup in the car. As her mom slammed on the brakes, the mascara wand went directly into her eye and scratched it. While it isn’t too disgusting, it’s a lesson to never apply your makeup in the car.

The age-old question when it comes to makeup, is drugstore or high-end makeup better? In some instances, people prefer to spend a little bit more on their base products as high-end eye and lip products can be just as good as their drugstore counterparts.

However, that isn’t to say people don’t want to have luxury products! When this girl came across a discarded Givenchy lipstick on the ground outside her friend’s apartment, she picked it up and took it home. Let’s hope she disinfected it first!

Expiration dates on makeup and beauty products exist for a reason. If you take a look at any of your products, you’ll probably spot a number followed by the letter M, this is how many months the product will last after you first open it.

On their way to buy their usual conditioner, this person discovered that it was a new shade and thinking that it was a new scent, they saw no problem. When they took it home, it was a completely different story and was actually sour-smelling.

Unless we are holding onto makeup items that have sentimental value, like keeping a certain lipstick you wore to an event, or an eyeshadow palette you wore on your wedding day, people should not be using makeup items older than two years.

This poster was disgusted to find out that their mom had been using products from when she was in high school, which was around two or three decades ago. They had even been complaining about an itchy eye caused by their mascara!

People who are using oil-based products need to take extra care when looking for expiration dates on their products. Over time, the oil will start to separate from the product and cause your makeup to look like an oily mess!

When using an eyeshadow primer from Benefit, this person discovered that the expiration dates on makeup products are actually relevant. When they pushed down the nozzle, all they got was half product and half orange oil. Disgusting!

This past year has probably made everyone realize just how many things we used to do are unhygienic. Lots of people won’t trust the five-second rule nowadays, and we need to be especially careful when we’re putting anything near our face. Often, that means makeup brushes need to go for a regular wash.

This poster witnessed a woman drop a brush on a hair salon floor, have another worker pick it up, and put it back in the pan for the makeup artist to use. Not only is that disgusting, but it’s unhygienic too. Think of the bacteria now on that person’s face!

In every single school year, there’s a makeup product that suddenly becomes popular — and all the cool kids need to have it in order to still be seen as cool. This was the case for this person in high school around 2003 and Lancôme Juicy Tubes.

Lancôme products are quite expensive, so we don’t blame this girl for picking up a Juicy Tube that fell onto the bathroom floor. While they say that the product looked brand new, we really hope that they gave it a wash before using it!

Sometimes you just have to manifest something that happened, and if you put enough positive out into the universe, it will happen. This girl must have been manifesting a new makeup brush as low and behold, during a bus journey, she was gifted a new Ecotools blush brush.

While the brush was originally found on the bus floor, the poster kept it. They even tell us that they didn’t wash it for their first use so who knows what disgusting things could have been on it. We hope they have learned from their mistakes!

While makeup used to be quite a luxury, thanks to drugstores and cheap brands, anyone can go to any grocery store or pharmacy and find a makeup product that is within their budget. Mascara can even be purchased for as little as five bucks.

This poster’s mother didn’t seem to get the memo, however, as they had been using the same mascara since the 1980s. It’s a wonder that the mascara hasn’t dried out by now, and how little makeup this person has worn to still have product leftover 40 years later.

Usually, you can tell a makeup product has gone off by the smell alone. It won’t smell anything like it used to, even perfumed products. However, how do you tell this whenever you lose your sense of smell? This poster had bad allergies when she decided to apply a cream eyeshadow.

However, it wasn’t until the next day when her nose became unblocked that she went to reapply the eyeshadow and found that it smelled absolutely rancid. Even worse, she managed to get a stye!

Some of us don’t want to spend 30 minutes, or even up to an hour doing our everyday makeup. Some people will just value sleep a little bit more, so will try and find hacks that will apply the makeup faster.

This special eyeliner from Avon was a perfect fit for this poster — as they could wet it, apply it to their lower lash line, and squeeze the eyes shut to help the eyeliner transfer. However, the poster and their mom were using their spit to wet it.

When we go into a makeup store, we want to be greeted by a staff member who will be able to show us what products would work best and to give their expert opinion. However, on this occasion, they missed the mark big time.

This poster encountered a worker in a beauty store who was adamant that she didn’t have to wash her beauty blender. While the beauty blender does need water to absorb the product, this does not clean off the product. Maybe she needs more training.

If your friend or your sister has been bugging you to let them try your newest addition to your makeup collection, this is your sign to not let them use it. While we would trust most of our friends and family members, you never know the bacteria they may have that they’re transferring onto your makeup.

On this occasion, this poster used their roommate’s mascara. However, when she woke up the next day, she had gotten pink eye. A disgusting consequence of her actions!

Plenty of people love to keep sentimental pieces of makeup, however, it’s advised that after two years of owning it, that you never attempt to put it on as it will be past the expiry date. You never know what could be growing on it.

This person had kept their iconic red lipstick for sentimental value, however, when they opened up the bullet a few days later they found the mold growing all over the lipstick. It’s fair to say that the lipstick was tossed into the trash immediately.

It’s probably best to keep your makeup far away from any pets you may have. Mainly because they may destroy whatever you have with you, however, as this poster found out, they may also put their own drool all over the products.

Bringing her kit to her sister’s night to do her makeup, she discovered that during the getting ready process, her sister’s basset hound had drooled all over the eyeshadow palette. After a bath in some rubbing alcohol, it was good to go but it’s still disgusting.

Keeping your makeup area clean and hygienic is vital, but if you want to avoid breakouts, you also need to clean what’s being put on your face too. Most experts say that makeup brushes should be washed twice a week if someone is applying makeup on a daily basis.

As this poster found, product can be trapped between bristles and if the brushes aren’t cleaned on a regular enough basis, they will start to grow mold. Keep your face and your makeup brushes clean and you’ll have a better skin day!

It’s always a good feeling to be proven right, even when it’s over something as juvenile as this. This poster shared the story of the time that she and her friends were trying out different makeup products using testers.

While her friend initially made fun of her for using testers on her arms instead of creating a full face of makeup like she was, it was the original poster who had the last laugh. The next day, both girls woke up, but only the friend had gotten pink eye from the testers.

It’s always good to carry around an emergency makeup kit, as you just never know when you make need to go extra glam that day! Although this person’s kit only extends to an extra bottle of foundation that’s kept in their car, it’s also the wrong shade.

To make matters worse, this person doesn’t even have a spare foundation brush. They only use their hands to rub it in, meaning there isn’t an even cover and who knows what kind of bacteria is transferring from their hands to their face? Disgusting!

People with acne will know that there isn’t just one product to cure it. While some people may find medication works best, others will find spot treatments that will work well enough to make the acne go away.

This one user used a whole tube of benzoyl peroxide, and as the name would suggest, this was a pretty strong chemical. For a week after, the skin was peeling off this person’s face due to the mistake they made. We hope that the discomfort didn’t last too long!

While this person was making a lipstick tester, they opened the cap of the lipstick bullet to find that there was a creepy crawly that had already made its home there. The leg was also sticking out at the top of the bullet.

Thankfully, this was just a tester so it was able to be thrown out quickly before anyone used or bought it. Thank goodness people are on the lookout for these kinds of production mistakes or errors, or else someone would have been having a surprise visitor.

We cannot stress this enough — wash your beauty blenders! While many people think that it doesn’t need to be washed because they’re run underwater before use, they are sorely mistaken. The product can build up on the sponge over time.

This will not only make your makeup sponge dirty looking, but it’s also a breeding ground for bacteria. Many people who cut their beauty blenders often find mold growing on the inside. Just soap and water will do, and it only takes a minute!

Parents can be quite clueless sometimes, and it’s up to us as their children to try and teach them along the way. After all, parenthood is a two-way street! So, when this poster recently visited home, she was able to teach her mom something new.

This poster discovered that all of her mom’s brushes looked super dry. Upon asking when was the last time she had washed them, she was surprised and has no idea that she had to wash them at all. Good luck trying to get the dirt out of those brushes!

Say you’re getting ready for an important date, however, you realize that your eyeliner has run out. What do you do? Well, if you learn anything, don’t use an ink pen to try and replicate a cute eyeliner design, and don’t put it near your eyes!

This person shared that when they were younger, an old friend used to use an ink pen to draw on her eyeliner, and then use the same pen to take notes in class. Whilst it is a talented pen, this is probably a very bad idea.

We’re not opposed to trying out new things when it comes to makeup. A few years ago, if someone suggested putting soap in their eyebrows, people would have laughed in their face. Now it’s a massive trend, with lots of companies selling these products in their place.

However, lipgloss might not be the new soap brows. This story explained how a young girl used to apply lip gloss to their eyebrows in order to keep them in place. Hopefully, it didn’t make her eyebrows look wet and clumpy.

People should be careful when applying oil-based products, or even if they have oily skin. This is because if you’re dipping your makeup brushes back into powder, they won’t react well with the oil that could be hiding in the bristles.

This person had started using eyeshadow as a contour as it was the perfect tone. However, a few months into use, it stopped working and going onto the product. Taking it back to the store, she was told it was because a coat of oil had formed over the top. Ew.

A few years ago, cake eyeliner and mascara were a huge trend that took off. It was essentially a recreation of makeup that was used back in the 1920s and 1930s, however, the pomade needed to be moistened in order to work. If too much water got on it, it would be reduced to sludge.

This poster’s ex-sister-in-law found the right ratio. One spit was enough to make the pomade work and be applied successfully to the eyes and/or eyebrows. However, we highly suggest that you don’t do this as it’s quite disgusting.

Sneezes can be triggered by anything; it could be a fleck of something that irritates the nose or even a certain smell. It doesn’t always indicate that someone has a cold, however, it’s still not nice to be around someone who is sneezing.

This person unexpectedly sneezes all over their eyeshadow palette. Luckily, it was just her using it, because it would have been much worse if others were using it. She didn’t even clean up her palette afterward!

Q-Tips are so handy for a number of makeup-related things since they’re awful for cleaning out earwax. They allow people to get precision on a look, or quickly fix any mistakes that were made along the way. This poster says they use it to tidy up their eyeliner.

While most people would use a makeup remover in order to get precise and sharp eyeliner lines, this person has admitted to using their spit. They claim that they aren’t ashamed as it’s their own face and mouth. Disgusting!