Our impact

A gift in the wrong shade. A duplicate. A fragrance you never opened. Beauty products like these often stay unused until they expire and end up in the trash.

On SwapMyBeauty they go to a member who actually wants them, and you get something you’ll use in return. The product is used for what it was made for.

When a swap brings you a product you wanted, that’s one less thing you need to buy. No new product is made for the exchange: the products already exist and simply move to someone who will enjoy them.

We don’t publish estimates of emissions or waste avoided, because we can’t measure them reliably. We prefer to show what we can count.

These numbers come straight from completed swaps on SwapMyBeauty. No estimates, no projections.

Our counter starts with our first members. As swaps complete, you’ll see here how many products found a new home, counted from real swaps only.

Every listing must be in date, and we ask for the best-before date or the open-jar symbol. Products are swapped while they’re still good to use, not when it’s too late.

Shipping has an environmental cost, and we won’t pretend otherwise. Here is how we keep it down:

• One parcel per member per swap whenever possible, even in a three-way MultiSwap.
• Nothing ships until every member has accepted, so there are no wasted trips for swaps that fall through.
• Fragrance always travels by ground, never by air.

Our prepaid labels use real carrier rates, and your share is shown before you pay. See Shipping & fees.

• Reuse a sturdy box or padded mailer from a past delivery.
• Use paper, tissue or cushioning you already have before buying new bubble wrap.
• Remove or cover old labels and barcodes so the carrier only sees the new label.
• Keep every product sealed and protected: a well-packed parcel arrives once, with no returns.

SwapMyBeauty is for sealed products, but every product eventually runs out. A few tips for the empties:

• Empty and rinse containers before recycling them.
• Separate pumps, droppers and caps from bottles and jars: they are often made of mixed materials.
• Recycling rules differ from city to city, and many small or mixed-material beauty containers aren’t accepted in curbside bins. Check your local program before you put them in.
• Leftover fragrance and nail polish shouldn’t go down the drain. Many communities collect them as household hazardous waste.
• Some stores and brands run take-back programs for beauty empties. It’s worth asking where you shop.

We don’t call SwapMyBeauty carbon neutral, zero-waste or “green”. Swapping is a simple way to make better use of products that already exist, and we’ll keep sharing only what we can show.

Questions about anything on this page? Email privacy@swapmybeauty.com.