The things you should know about your makeup

Women love their makeup. Ask any woman to throw away her precious (expired) cosmetics and chances are that you’ll get a dirty or indignant look. But what most women don’t realise is that hoarding cosmetics and keeping them for years will do more harm than good.

Beauty experts say that it is avoidable to keep makeup for years and that it is a good habit to go through your makeup kit at least once a year so that you can chuck out things that are well past their use date. Not only will expired products use up space, they can also wreak havoc on your skin.

Your mascara, liquid eyeliners and kajals should ideally be replaced every six months because each time you use them and put the wand back in, it accumulates harmful bacteria. Just because you haven’t finished a tube of mascara, doesn’t mean you use it forever. Do your eyes a favour and spend a bit on your eye makeup items.

But makeup sponges and eye makeup brushes in bulk — this way you can use them just a couple of times and chuck them away. Don’t keep cleaning the sponges repeatedly — they’ll just collect germs, which you will end up putting on your face unknowingly.

Your bottle of liquid foundation ideally should be kept for just about over a year. Keep it in a cool place and never ever use your fingers for application — stick to a sponge or brush.

Lip glosses and lipsticks can just about last for two years before you should throw them away. Similarly, compact powder can be safely used for two months unless the powder has changed colour.