You Missed a Spot is a new Spring Cleaning feature for the month of April focusing on the not so obvious places you will want to tidy up for the season! Each Thursday visit us for a new installment that goes beyond the how to’s of vacuuming, window washing and laundry!
Ladies, I know we love our makeup and all, but many of us have too much and worse, we are probably keeping and/or using items that may be expired! Seriously, mascara has an expiration date and its not when it dries out. Think about it, makeup goes on your face and is reused multiple times so from the very first use you are certainly contaminating it! As time progresses, the bacterial multiplies until your makeup in riddled with it which means when you use it, your applying the bacteria back onto your face, lips, around your eyes etc! Gross, I know! Since makeup isn’t an a completely organic substance, you often can’t even tell that the makeup is filled with bacteria so the best indicator of whether or not you should keep or toss your makeup is time! It doesn’t matter if you bought the makeup a year ago but used it twice, from day one it was contaminated with bacteria and over the last year it has been multiplying. So, here are some tips on when to keep and when to toss.
- First check your makeup labels and look for what appears to be a small pot of makeup with the lid coming off. That little symbol will indicate how long you can use the product before needing to discard it. Inside the pot will be printed a number and then either a letter M for months or Y for years. For example, right now I am looking at an eyeshadow that shows the pot and it says 6M inside, which means this eyeshadow will last 6 months before I need to discard it. Since I purchased this last month, I have about five more months of use before I should get rid of it. Good to know!
- Powder makeup usually last about 2 years if not specified on the container itself. Make sure you use clean brushes to avoid adding new bacterial over time.
- Liquid face makeup like foundation or concealer lasts about a year, and again, if you can use fresh applicators like clean sponges, you will reduce the risk of bacteria spreading to your face. To ensure freshness of liquid makeup, keep it in the refrigerator to stay fresh!
- Lipsticks can last from 12-18 months, but a good thing about lipstick is that you can keep it in the refrigerator or put it in the freezer to kill bacteria.
- Liquid eye products like mascara or liquid eyeliner only last 2-3 months, again, keeping them stored in the fridge will help reduce bacteria, but after 3 months you need to toss it!
- Nail polish is a tricky subject because it goes on your nails, not your face so its not so much a risk for bacteria, but the sure sign that it is going bad is when you start to see the liquid separate. That goes for liquid makeup as well, separation means the makeup is breaking down and you need to toss it. Sometimes, however, you will find that your nail polish is clumping or drying out, but there is a way to revive it. Stop at your local beauty supply store and get some nail thinner and add a few drops to your nail polish. Shake it up and it should even out the consistency of the polish so its usable again.
- Finally, another sign that your makeup has gone bad is the smell. Make sure to keep an eye, or a nose, on the odor of your makeup. A lot of times fragranced makeup won’t smell bad, but it can start to smell stale which is a sign its ready to go!
One final tip I have is to really limit your spending habits when it comes to your makeup! Buy only what you know you will use and for any extras, try picking up a drug store brand instead of a high end name so that its easier to part with your makeup once the expiration date has passed. If you can, try to label your makeup with a small sticker or keep a list of when you purchased each item in your makeup bag and leave it in there so you can keep and eye on when you need to get rid of an item.
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