April 25, 2016
Spring Cleaning Your Beauty Tools
It’s Time To Clean Out Your Skincare, Makeup and Makeup Brushes
We spring clean our closets. We spring clean our houses. We may even spring clean our diet with a detox cleanse. But when was the last time you took time for spring cleaning your beauty products? Spring is the perfect time to do the annual purge of your makeup, skincare and makeup brushes. Here’s how to determine what should stay, and what should go.Skincare Products
Has your skincare collection outgrown your medicine cabinet, bathroom and vanity area? Then it’s time to clean and consolidate.- Go through and throw out any expired products. The average beauty product’s expiration date depends on its packaging and when you opened it. And since only OTC products (like sunscreen and anti-acne treatments) are required to have expiration dates stamped on their package, a good rule of thumb is that if you opened the product more than12 months ago, it has expired.
- Toss any eye cream or moisturizer where the water has separated from the product and is resting on top.
- If you don’t use the product on a daily basis, and you haven’t used it in a couple of months, chances are you aren’t going to.
- Sunscreen should be thrown out 2 years from the time it was manufactured, NOT the time you opened it.
- Avoid a skincare product overcrowding this year by incorporating multi-tasking products into your skin care routine, like our Cell Revive Serum Complete that combats all 12 signs of facial aging in one product.
Makeup
Makeup colors follow trends just like fashion. So you probably have a few shadows or lipsticks in the back of your drawer that you haven’t used in months, possibly years. A good rule of thumb is if you haven’t used it in 6 months toss it. If the trend ever comes back around, it’ll be longer than the product’s shelf life anyway, so you’ll need to purchase it new. General guidelines for makeup expiration include:- Liquid Foundation: 6 months or if it has separated
- Concealer: 1 year
- Powder: 1 – 2 years
- Cream Blush: 6 months
- Powder Blush: 1 – 2 years
- Mascara: 3 - 4 months or if it has dried up
- Liquid Eyeliner: 3 months
- Cream Eye Shadow: 6 months
- Pencil Eyeliner: 2 years
- Powder Eye Shadow: 2 Years
- Lip Gloss: 2 years or if it has separated
- Lipstick: 2 years
- Lip Pencils: 2 - 3 years
- Nail Polish: 1 – 2 years or if it has separated
Makeup Brushes
Most of us tend to keep our makeup brushes forever. After all, if you’re pretty good about consistently cleaning them, shouldn’t they last forever? Unfortunately no. Makeup brushes like skin care products and cosmetics do expire. However, unlike skin care and cosmetics, makeup brushes do not have expiration dates stamped on them or obvious signs of expiration like product separation. Some good, common sense guidelines for knowing when it’s time to say goodbye to a makeup brush are:- The bristles are constantly falling out. Light bristle shedding is normal for brushes. But if you are noticing bristles coming off your brush every time you are using it, it’s time to let it go.
- The bristles are getting stiff or hard. If your makeup brush not longer feels soft to the touch, toss it.
- The brush has lost its shape. If your brush bristles are starting to splay out or that brush that was originally angled is starting to look a bit flat, say goodbye.
- Your brush is starting to have a funky smell. A suspicious foul smell from your brush is a sure-fire sign that it’s time to part ways. Which leads us to remind you to wash all your brushes at least once a week to avoid product build-up and bacteria growth, which can cause serious health risks, injury, and even death.