Most of us do not even realize that our makeup can actually expire, some of us use our makeup daily, and the tube is empty before the expiration date even comes around. We do not realize that placing these expired products on our face and on our skin, which absorbs 60 percent of what it comes into contact with, is dangerous.

Makeup does have an expiration date, and over time cosmetics can harbor harmful bacteria that can lead to infections. If you do not remember when you purchased your cosmetics, there are also signs that you can look for such as texture, smell, etc. You can also mark your makeup with the month and year when you get it to make sure you know when it needs to be thrown away.

Keep in mind these expiration dates will be shortened if you are using cosmetics with no preservatives in them.

First, some general housekeeping tips:

• Clean your brushes once a week to keep the bacteria down, as an added plus this will also cut down on any acne.
• Don’t place water on your makeup, powder eye shadow, etc, this is how bacteria breeds.
• Throw your sponges out after one week of use.

Eye make up

Your eyes are a haven for bacteria so all of these are dependent upon how you take care of your makeup and brushes. For example, do you wet your powdered eye shadow? Do you clean your brushes once a week? If you do happen to contract any type of eye infection and have used your make up recently you should throw away all of your eye makeup.

• Liquid Eyeliner/Eye Shadow: Discard after three months.
• Pencil Eyeliner: As long as you sharpen before use you can keep this until it is gone, sharpening will remove the bacteria.
• Powder Eye Shadow: Powder Eye Shadow should be discarded after one year.
• Mascara: Discard after three months.

Face & Cheeks

• Loose Powder: Loose powders should be discarded after two years. This is longer than your powdered eye shadow because of the amount of bacteria your eyes hold.
• Powder Blush: Discard after 2 years.
• Liquid Foundations/Crème Blushes: Generally, discard after one year, but if your foundation starts to smell funny or different than before or you notice that the liquid is separating throw it away.

Lips

• Lipstick: Discard after a year to a year in a half. You will notice the difference in the smell. If there is a strong odor or a waxy smell, throw it away.
• Lip Liner: As long as you are sharpening before each use you can keep this until it is gone.

Careful, that stuff is hazardous!

And as always when your makeup is expired be nice to the environment when you discard of it. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, throwing your unused cosmetics in the trash could cause contamination to the ground and ultimately become harmful to you and others. There are facilities in your area that handle hazardous waste; you can find the closest facility here.

As a side note, if you are a little frightened that the EPA says makeup needs to be disposed as hazardous waste, and remembering that we said your skin absorbs 60 percent of what it comes in contact with, you are not alone. That is a primary reason for the push toward natural or organic cosmetics.

Now that you are more aware of when your cosmetics are no longer safe, in an upcoming post we will walk you through labels like “natural” and “organic,” tell you what they really mean and we will look inside the Sibu Beauty products.