Here is when to say goodbye to your favourite beauty products

The Make-up Doctor Rita Parmar writes about keeping your beauty products up to date and getting rid of old items.
Beauty productsBeauty products
Beauty products

When to say goodbye to your favourite beauty products...

Here are the tell-tale signs of when a product is past its best and when to ditch it:

1. The formula stops working. Yes, this is true, certain products are formulated with certain ingredients to ensure the consistency or finish of the products. You’ve probably noticed that moisturiser separating with an oily layer or that has turned ‘watery’, or that foundation just seems a bit ‘cakier’. All these things can be down to the shelf life of the product and the ingredients no longer working. Before you ditch that product that you once loved and never buy it again, if it is misbehaving, it may be that you’ve had it too long. If the formula has stopped working it’s not going to have the same result! Here is how to check. Take each make-up products and look for the small image of a jar with a lid on, on the image it will say 6M or 18M or whatever the use life is of the product. 6M would mean six months and so on. Some products can have a best before date like foods, so use those products before this date. The effect on skin for some people can be nothing but, for others, breakouts or a reaction to the product when it is past its best.

Check the expiration periodCheck the expiration period
Check the expiration period
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2. The product has been contaminated. Have you ever had one of them mascaras that’s amazing but then half way through the bottle it goes clumpy? Or a blusher that seems to look like there is a layer of something sitting over it and every time you try to get some on the brush it won’t come off? This can happen to many products and is all down to the care of the product. Sometimes the mascara lid has not been screwed back on properly or the foundation lid has been left off and it has oxidised, or the blusher was put back in your make-up bag with no lid on, and contamination from other products has left residue over the surface preventing it from working. These items may not be past their sell by date but still won’t be working at their best for you, this may mean they won’t ‘sit right’, appear as smooth or as easy to apply and even contain bacteria that leads to breakouts. To prevent this take care of new products keep them clean and lids and screw tops fastened fully. Keep make-up bags clean and free from debris.

Either way we spend so much time (collectively over the week) applying make-up. Using products at their best will surely make things easier and give us a better finish but also prevent bacteria and breakouts to products, so, if that is the only reason to spring clean our make-up bags, then it’s a good one.