Is It Time to Toss Your Favorite Makeup?

I've looked inside hundreds of makeup bags over my career, and I can promise you one thing: we all hold onto discontinued lipsticks or favorite palettes way longer than we should.

While that perfect shade might feel timeless, the reality is that all makeup has a shelf life. Whether it's a liquid foundation or a powder blush, your products don't get better with age.

Here's my definitive guide to understanding cosmetic expiration dates, spotting the signs of a bad formula, and knowing when it's time to start fresh.

How to Find the Expiration Date (Look for the PAO Symbol)

Brands make it easy to track freshness by stamping a Period After Opening (PAO) graphic right on their packaging. You might be surprised to learn that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) doesn't actually require beauty brands to print expiration dates on standard makeup, so checking for this symbol is your best line of defense.

Check the bottom of your compact for a symbol that resembles an unsealed container with a number stamped inside.

• If you see "12M" inside that graphic, you have exactly 12 months of safe use from the day you first break the seal.
• Seeing "24M" gives you a two-year window.

As long as the seal remains unbroken and your room doesn't get too hot, fresh cosmetics typically last up to three years. (Just remember that clean or organic beauty brands are formulated with fewer traditional preservatives, which means they will spoil much faster!)

4 Signs Your Makeup Has Expired

Not everything in your vanity will feature a clear printed timeline. If you’re staring at a tube and can't remember when you bought it, rely on your senses to gauge its safety.

Here’s what I (and the Cleveland Clinic) recommend watching out for:

• Smell: If your mascara suddenly gives off a harsh chemical vapor or a strange, fermented scent, pitch it.
• Texture: Liquid foundation is ruined once you see it splitting into distinct layers. Powders shouldn't get overly chalky or clump together, and pencil liners shouldn't scratch your eyelids. Also, keep a close eye out for any fuzzy dark spots or greenish growth on your cream blushes (that’s literal yeast and mold!). Throw it out immediately.
• Color: Air exposure actively alters cosmetic pigments. If your perfect shade match suddenly pumps out looking surprisingly orange or much darker than it used to, the formula has completely oxidized.
• Performance: Sometimes cosmetics just stop functioning. Mascaras will leave messy flakes on your cheeks, and cream bronzers will refuse to blend. Worse, when these degraded formulas stop sitting evenly on the skin, they clog your pores and trigger breakouts. If a tube of mascara starts drying out, never try to revive it by adding water or saliva—this injects harmful germs straight into the bottle and ruins the preservative system.

Listen to your skin: Unexplained flare-ups, redness, or new blemishes are often your skin's way of rejecting contaminated cosmetics.

Makeup Expiration Timeline

Powders and pencils hold up way better over time than liquids or creams. Mold loves moisture, so anything wet breaks down pretty quickly.

If you're doing a ruthless purge of your makeup drawer, use this quick cheat sheet to figure out exactly how long to keep your staples:

• Mascara and Liquid Eyeliner: Three to six months. Never risk your eye health with old formulas! The dark, damp interior of a mascara tube is the ultimate environment for nasty microbes to multiply, which puts you at risk for serious issues like styes and conjunctivitis.
• Liquid Foundation and Concealer: Six to 12 months.
• Cream Eyeshadow and Cream Blush: Six to 12 months.
• Lipstick, Lip Gloss, and Lip Balm: Six to 18 months.
• Powder Eyeshadow, Powder Blush, and Powder Foundation: One to two years (12 to 24 months).
• Pencil Eyeliners and Lip Liners: One to two years (12 to 24 months). You can easily keep these safe and fresh just by sharpening them regularly, which physically shaves off the trapped surface bacteria.
• Makeup with SPF: Six months. Because SPF is classified as a drug by the FDA, these products are legally required to have an explicit expiration date stamped on the container, so pay close attention to that printed date.

The Best Way to Store Makeup to Extend Its Shelf Life

Where you keep your collection matters just as much as how long you've owned it. If you treat your cosmetics a bit like groceries and store them the right way, they’ll last.

Your bathroom might be the most convenient place to get ready, but the daily steam and heat from your shower create an awful environment for your cosmetics. Instead, find a dark, climate-controlled spot away from windows.

Make it a daily habit to double-check every single cap and lid after you finish your morning routine. Leaving a bottle slightly unscrewed lets air sneak in and ruins the product.

What Happens If You Use Expired Makeup?

Airless pump bottles are great for keeping germs out of your foundation, but the second you dip your fingers or a brush into a pot, apply it to your face, and reach back in, you’re transferring skin microbes right into the container.

Keep your products to yourself—sharing lip gloss or eye makeup with friends is a fast way to swap germs. When you're in a store, grab a clean cotton swab instead of putting open display samples on your skin. And skip the urge to buy cheap makeup at flea markets or random online sellers, since those are usually expired, opened, or fake.

If you catch a cold sore, trash your lip glosses immediately. The same strict rule applies to eye makeup if you ever get pink eye.

Don't ignore your tools, either. Lather your brushes and sponges weekly with a gentle cleanser, then lay them flat to air-dry.

Expert FAQ: Your Makeup Expiration Questions Answered