Have the urge to do some spring cleaning?
Start with your makeup bag.
The item that you need to pay the most attention to is your mascara, which can turn rancid, says Pati Dubroff, Dior Beauty’s international makeup artist.
Old mascara can cause eye irritations, and it’s a pain to apply because you’ll need to comb the globs from your lashes – which ends up making a flaky mess, Dubroff explains.
Mascara is usually good for three months.
But the clock doesn’t start ticking when you buy mascara; that happens once you’ve opened it and the brush is exposed to air.
Dubroff – who works on the faces of Kate Winslet and Kirsten Dunst, among others – suggests two quick tests to tell whether mascara is past its prime:
Smell it. A new mascara has a faint perfumelike smell, while an old one will smell like gasoline.
Study it. If the wand comes out of the tube either shedding flakes or with the mascara in one big clump, it’s time to buy a new one.
As for the other cosmetics in your bag, Dr. Nicolette Picerno, a double board-certified plastic surgeon in Denver, lists the shelf life for these products:
Foundation: oil-free, 12 months; others, 18 months.
Powder: two years. Powder dries out and won’t go on as smoothly.
Concealer: 12-18 months. Stick concealer lasts the longest. Liquid-based concealers may start to separate or get lumpy.
Blusher: powder, two years; cream, 12-18 months. Again, powder dries out or develops a “slippery” texture, caused by mixing with natural oils from skin. Cream blushes contain more emulsifiers, which are less stable and break down over time.
Lipstick: one year. To make sticks and glosses last longer, store them in the refrigerator.
Fragrance: 18 months to two years. They carry low contamination risk because they usually contain alcohol, a natural preservative.
Tools: Brushes should be washed on a weekly basis and sponges should be replaced every month.
– Staff and wire reports
