Beauty Hoarders, Consider This Your Tough Love Wakeup Call!
While it can be tempting to hold on to every purchase for as long as possible, cosmetics do have expiration dates.
Foundation: Let’s begin with the life span of a foundation. If your foundation has a pump then it will stay fresh longer, but if you are dabbing your fingers into a bottle every day you should think of tossing your foundation makeup every 6-8 months
Face powder: Powders are the Energizer Bunnies of makeup. They keep going…and going—at least, for up to 2 years.
Mascara: Toss your mascara after 3 months. Mascara has the shortest life span of all make up because of the risk of transferring bacteria back and forth from your eye into the mascara. If your mascara starts to dry out, throw it away. Don’t add water or saliva to your mascara to rewet it. Doing so will only increase your chances of getting an eye infection.
Blushes: With powder or cream blushes, texture is an indicator—if the formula has become so hard it won’t budge from the compact, it’s time to buy a new one. Discard your cream blushes after a year and powder blushes after 2 years
Eye shadows: Eye-enhancing shadows? Yes, please. Eye-irritating ones? No, thanks. To keep your eyes from getting red or itchy, replace powder shadows after one year.
Eye liners: A Liquid liner can last up to 6 months. As for pencil eyeliner, if properly stored and sharpened regularly can last up to one year
Lipstick and lip gloss: You’ll know a lipstick has gone bad when it gets hard and you can’t spread the pigment on your lips; lip gloss will feel streaky and globby if you try to apply it. These lip products should be replaced after a year.
So in the end think of your make up a bit like you do your food. If it smells weird, develops a film, or has a mold-green tint to it, it’s gone bad and needs to be tossed out.