How Long Should You Keep Makeup?

While you’re doing your spring cleaning, maybe it’s time to take a look at your makeup bag, as well.  To keep your makeup fresh and your skin healthy, you should go through your makeup every few months, check smell and consistency, and take note of each item’s purchase date.   Keeping your makeup bag fresh and up to date will help you avoid skin irritation or infection that could arise from using old cosmetics.   Let’s talk about a few general guidelines regarding the shelf life of common cosmetics.

First and foremost, if your makeup smells funny, throw it out!  This seems like it would be common sense:  You don’t want to be putting something IN YOUR EYE that smells like it’s gone off.  Please. If any of your lotions or potions smells off, get rid of it, no matter how much is left in the container.

Now, here’s a list of general rules regarding the shelf life of make-up:

• Concealer:  12 months
• Foundation:  Water-based, 12 months; Oil-based, 18 months.
• Powder:  2 years
• Lipstick:  1-2 years.  Again, if it smells bad, throw it away. Now.
• Lip Gloss:  1-2 years.
• Mascara:  3-4 months.  This is the product you’ll want to replace most frequently.
• Pencil eye liner:  If sharpened regularly, can last 2-3 years.  Same with pencil lip liners.  Sharpening these pencils regularly removes the top layers of product and helps keep the surfaces relatively free of residual bacteria.
• Powder eye shadow:  2 years
• Cream eye shadow:  1 year
• Powder blush: 2 years
• Cream blush: 12-18 months

In addition, to help keep your makeup free of bacteria, you should wash your makeup brushes in a mild detergent every couple of months.  Makeup sponges should be washed weekly.

A final caution:  If you tend to use a lot of “natural” cosmetics which are free of preservatives, these should be tossed sooner. The lack of preservatives and the composition of many botanical ingredients means that natural makeup tends to go bad sooner.  Keep your eye on it.

So if you still have that fuschia blush and blue mascara in the back of your drawer from that 80s party you went to three years ago?  You guessed it: Time to get rid of it.