On the collar: Bright red lipstick usually finds its way onto any nearby collar, whether you're giving an acquaintance an awkward hug-pat or you've somehow managed to smear it on your own collar (guilty). We spoke with cosmetic chemist Karoline Wells of The Elixery Cosmetic House in Minneapolis, who admits that she has to remove a lot of pigments from clothing in their laboratory.

"The best way to remove lipstick from fabric is to use plain dish soap," says Wells.
"Dish soap contains extra degreasers, which are very useful in removing 
lipstick. This is because the pigments in lipstick are ground into an oily base, so anything that dissolves the oil will help dissolve the lipstick pigment."

Wells says you should apply enough dish soap to cover the stain, and then let it sit for a few minutes to "do its magic." Rinse with hot water, and repeat until the pigment is gone.

On your clothes: Ah, the tell-tale sign that your flawless complexion isn't all-natural: a ring of makeup around the neckline of your shirt. Department store associates have to deal with this sort of thing all the time, but what do you do when it happens in a trying-on frenzy in your home? How you treat the smudge depends on your clothing's material.

Cotton or Poly-blend:

Pam Helms, Chief Innovation Officer for the Caldrea Company, shares her advice for getting that makeup stain out of your t-shirt:

"Using a clean toothbrush, gently remove excess foundation. Apply a spot cleaner, like Caldrea Sweet Pea Stain Remover, on a dampened cloth and repeatedly dab until the stain comes to the surface. Continue to blot until the stain is no longer visible and flush with water. Cotton blouses should go immediately into the laundry."

Wool or Silk:

Professional dry cleaner Don Daley, who has been in the dry cleaning business at Huntington Cleaners in Detroit for over 30 years, recommends taking it to a professional. "I always tell people to leave a stain alone if it's on an expensive fabric like silk, wool or rayon. Ninety-five percent of the time I can get any stain out if it's left alone, but the damage that gets done when people try to fix it themselves -- I can't fix that." Even that harmless little trick of using soda water? Don't do it. According to Daley, adding water (soda or otherwise) won't help an oil-based stain like foundation, and, again, could ruin the fabric. He says you can blot the stain to remove any extra product, but don't rub it, as that can cause damage to the fibers of the clothing.

Inside your purse: Those makeup crumbs can cover the bottom of a purse and everything else in it. To get them out for good, try using a toothbrush and spot treatment like OxiClean (if it's a liner that can be pulled away from the purse interior) or (if the damage is extensive) take it to be relined at a luggage or shoe repair shop. If it has a leather interior, simply wiping it out with a damp cloth (try baby wipes) can remove the majority of the powder.

On your carpet: Hey, if you can give yourself the perfect DIY manicure, you can definitely handle not spilling nail polish all over your white carpet, right? Yeah, maybe someday. When your nail polish takes a spill, here's what you should do:

Absorb as much of the polish as you can with a paper towel. Blot, don't rub, as you don't want to spread the stain around. Once most of the product is picked up, get an old towel (one you don't mind staining, obviously) and add some acetone (most nail polish remover has acetone in it) to the towel. Blot the carpet stain with the acetone remover. Once the stain is relatively saturated with acetone, take a dry section of the towel and press it over the stain -- it should extract a lot of the color. Move the towel to different dry areas and repeat. When you've noticed that the towel has stopped picking up the stain, cover the area with a carpet cleaner and continue the dry towel method until the stain is (fingers crossed!) gone.

If you spilled the whole bottle of nail polish and it's a light-colored carpet, it may be worth cutting the carpet out and patching it with a piece from inside a closet.

On your clothing: If it's a sturdy fabric (like cotton), you can try putting acetone on it and using the method above. A warning: Clothing containing acetate, triacetate or modacrylic will actually dissolve upon contact with acetone, so make sure to read the label. If it's expensive clothing that you invested in (or can't bear to take a risk on), take it to a dry cleaner.

On your clothing: Daley says that if it's a wash-and-wear item, you can usually treat it with a spot solution (like Shout!) and throw it in the wash to get the stain out. If it's an item you wouldn't normally wash (silk, wool, etc.), take it to the cleaners.