You may have looked at the title of this blog and thought, “Makeup has an expiration date?” Yes, your favorite mascara has an expiration date. I definitely think that all of us makeup fanatics push the expiration dates to the back of our minds and eventually end up forgetting about it. It can be hard to part with your favorite liquid lipstick, but you do not want to have bacteria or fungi in your products.
I know when I buy a pretty expensive foundation I expect it to last a long time. Even with any product like an eyeshadow, I want to be able to savor the product and use it FOREVER!! How much I actually look at the expiration date is a little daunting. For some items, I don’t remember when I bought the product. “Was it when I was in L.A. at the IMATS or is it from that time I ran into Ulta after doing errands?” Ladies, if I cannot remember what I did last Saturday, then how am I going to remember the date I bought that concealer? So, I was thinking, how important is the expiration on our makeup products anyway.
Well, I have some answers. Bacteria can and will grow in your makeup products if you do not throw them out. If you really think about it, makeup can get really gross. I mean I am thinking about all the times that I put on lipstick. For me, it’s usually something like reaching around in the never-ending bottom of my purse for that one specific lipstick and applying it, where I just gave my dog a kiss. Now, I am not saying that my dog is dirty, but he is a dog.
So, here are a few tips to follow when you go through your products. I recommend looking at your products at least once a year. When looking at them, see if any of your products smell funny, have a different consistency, or are dried up. If they are toss them out right away! If you do remember when you bought the product, you can look at the back of the product and see how many months are on it, then decide if the product needs to be thrown out. Certain types of products have different time lengths that the FDA explains.
So, I am going to start paying more attention to the expiration date on all my makeup products. You should too, because no one wants an infection or bacteria growing in their beauty products.
