Makeup and cosmetics like creams and perfumes all have a shelf life. Continuing to use beauty products after a certain period of time can leave you at risk from spreading bacteria and developing infections. It is important to spring clean your makeup every year to ensure that it stays fresh and totally hygienic.
The first thing to do is go through your collection and putting everything you haven’t used over the past year into a pile. Next step is easy - throw it away. This may be hard if something expensive is included, but it not a good idea to use creams or makeup that have been left for this amount of time.
With whatever is left, go through each item checking its colour, consistency and smell. Anything that has developed an odour, changed colour or changed in its consistency should also be thrown away. This is especially true of creams, mascara and liquid foundations.
At this point your collection could have shrunk dramatically. There is still work to do however. With the remaining items, try and work out when you purchased them. A mascara for example has only a shelf life of 6 months because of the sensitive nature of the eyes. Your mascara may look ok, smell ok and have a normal texture, but if you have been using it on a off for more than 6 months, it is time to part ways and throw it out. As a rule, powdered makeup has a shelf life of a year, pencils about 3 years, and liquids including foundations and creams, about 6 months. Anything that you have in your collection that has been open for longer than these periods should go.
Next is the good part where you get to purchase brand new stuff! You may feel sad and hard done by that you had to throw away what seemed like perfectly good cosmetics, but the bright side is you get to replace them.
Have any of you experienced the negative effects of old makeup or cosmetics? Send in your comments below.
With whatever is left, go through each item checking its colour, consistency and smell. Anything that has developed an odour, changed colour or changed in its consistency should also be thrown away. This is especially true of creams, mascara and liquid foundations.
At this point your collection could have shrunk dramatically. There is still work to do however. With the remaining items, try and work out when you purchased them. A mascara for example has only a shelf life of 6 months because of the sensitive nature of the eyes. Your mascara may look ok, smell ok and have a normal texture, but if you have been using it on a off for more than 6 months, it is time to part ways and throw it out. As a rule, powdered makeup has a shelf life of a year, pencils about 3 years, and liquids including foundations and creams, about 6 months. Anything that you have in your collection that has been open for longer than these periods should go.
Next is the good part where you get to purchase brand new stuff! You may feel sad and hard done by that you had to throw away what seemed like perfectly good cosmetics, but the bright side is you get to replace them.
Have any of you experienced the negative effects of old makeup or cosmetics? Send in your comments below.
