I Tried A Bunch Of Vaseline Beauty Hacks And Was Seriously Impressed

My paramour wears a blue plastic cap.

Hey! I'm Crystal, and I've suffered from very sensitive and dry skin my whole life (helllooooo, eczema). But recently I've discovered that Vaseline is GREAT for people with sensitive skin.

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It's 100% pure petroleum jelly, hypoallergenic, and noncomedogenic (i.e., it won’t clog your pores!). And since my revelation, I've used it in place of products that contain neomycin (which I'm allergic to) for cuts and scrapes, and I even like to use it as a moisturizer for my lips. But one day I thought, There HAVE to be more uses for Vaseline...right?! I mean, it's been around FOR.EVER.

So, I looked up a bunch of popular Vaseline ~hacks~ and tried them (so you don't have to). Here's what I found did and didn't work:

1. Using it as a makeup remover.

Crystal Ro / Darren Leis / BuzzFeed

How it's supposed to work: Massage the Vaseline on your makeup, then use something soft like a tissue or baby wipe to take it off! Easy peasy.

How I think it worked: This worked really well. I really liked the way my skin still felt soft and moisturized rather than dried out afterwards, too. I found removing my makeup with Vaseline was more effective than without — in the last photo you can see there's still some residual mascara and liner when I used a makeup wipe WITHOUT the vaseline.

**And please note that YES, Vaseline is safe to use on and around your eyes.**

2. Using it to hide split ends.

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How it's supposed to work: Use just a dab (half the size of a dime) and gently apply it to your hair — it holds your ends together and makes your hair shiny.

How I think it worked: My hair could certainly use a trim, but I don't have FULL-ON split ends, so I wasn’t expecting much from this. I feel like this just kinda made my hair clump together; it might look nicer for photos and to tame fly-aways? But this is kind of a just-OK hack.

3. Using it in place of a highlighter.

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How it's supposed to work: Dab just a touch on your cheekbones and any other areas you want to make ~pop~!

How I think it worked: Does my cheek look "brighter"? Sure. But really it just kinda made my feel skin feel greasy, and I think it made my cheek looks way too shiny. This was not a great hack.

4. Using it to make a lip scrub.

Darren Leis / BuzzFeed

Darren Leis / BuzzFeed

How it's supposed to work: Combine Vaseline with sugar and apply to lips, then rub to gently exfoliate.

How I think it worked: This was annoying to make (I just made up my own measurements, pretty much equal parts sugar and Vaseline), but it did work. My lips definitely felt smoother after. That being said, if a little gets in your mouth it tastes HORRIBLE. And this was very messy to clean off. I probably wouldn’t try this again.

5. Using it to give yourself the perfect manicure.

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How it's supposed to work: Using a cotton swab, outline your nails with Vaseline. Paint your nails like normal, let them dry (about 20 minutes), then wash your hands and watch the polish come off with the Vaseline.

How I think it worked: I wasn’t sure how accurate with the polish you have to be with this, but again was pretty surprised that the hack actually worked. It doesn’t cut down any time in the nail polish application, but if you’re a messy nail polish applier like moi, then this certainly helps.

6. Using it to create a cream shadow.

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How it's supposed to work: Combine a favorite eyeshadow powder with a little Vaseline and it will glide right onto your lids!

How I think it worked: This was very easy to do and worked really well. I really liked how smoothly my eyeshadow went on as a ~cream~. Unfortunately, I found that the makeup caked up in the crease of my eyelid eventually, so I probably wouldn't use this technique IRL.

Darren Leis / BuzzFeed

7. Using it to help put in earrings into holes that are (almost) closed.

Darren Leis / BuzzFeed

How it's supposed to work: Apply some Vaseline to the area surrounding your earring hole and also the earring to make it easier to put an earring in an old piercing hole.

How I think it worked: Again, this worked great, and made putting earrings into my old earring holes REALLY easy. It might be annoying to have Vaseline left on your earring, though, but it’s easy enough to wipe off — but I’d be curious if it could potentially damage your jewelry in the long run?

8. Using it to prevent your nail polish bottle cap from drying shut.

Darren Leis / BuzzFeed

How it's supposed to work: Apply liberally with your finger around the rim of your nail polish bottle to prevent it from sticking shut.

How I think it worked: This trick certainly made the bottle top easier to open. I’d be curious to see if it lasts for a long time or just works temporarily. That said, it took seconds to do, so it's worth a shot!

9. And finally, using it to fix scuffed shoes.

Darren Leis / BuzzFeed

How it's supposed to work: Literally just rub a dab of Vaseline onto the scuff marks on your shoe and watch them disappear.

How I think it worked: I'd definitely say this worked — I mean, look, it's not like it made the shoes look BRAND NEW, but it certainly helped fix some of these minor scuffs, so in a pinch this works well. Though, I'd be curious how long this ~quick fix~ really lasts.

Final thoughts:

Of all these hacks, the one I will most likely use again is Vaseline as a makeup remover. I was honestly very surprised at how well it worked! The other hacks I can certainly live without, but it's fun to know so many of them did work. I think they should change their motto to "Vaseline: helping you do all kinds of shit for over 100 years."

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