Hopefully you regularly go through your medicine cabinet to toss expired medications.
But what about your makeup and skin care products? Believe it or not, these can go bad, too. Maintaining healthy skin certainly includes regular facials and proper skin care, and a big part of that is having products that aren’t past their prime.
But how do you know if your face cream or eye shadow needs to be tossed? Here’s an easy to follow breakdown:
Face Makeup/Treatments
Liquid formulas are good for at least six months, powder-based can last for up to two years. Anti-aging or acne skin treatments will last from three months to a year. If the color changes, it’s time to replace.
Mascara/Liquid Eyeliner
Three months is the maximum shelf life for both of these products. The wet environments are ideal for bacteria growth. Often after three months, mascara starts to dry out and don’t work as well anyway.
Eyeshadow/Pencil Eyeliner
Pencil eyeliners and powder eye shadows can stick around for up to two years. Regular sharpening of the pencil provides a clean surface (provided you rub down your sharpener with alcohol now and then). Powder shadows, which lack water, also resist contamination for longer periods, although they can become harder to pick up on your brush over time. However, cream eyeshadows should be replaced every six months.
Lipstick/Lipliner
Two years is the maximum you should hold on to your favorite lip gloss or tube of lipstick. Lipliners can actually stick around beyond two years if they are treated the same as pencil eyeliners. The texture of lipsticks make them great breeding grounds for bacteria, but there is also the potential that they will dry out over time, making them look less creamy when you apply them.
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