All cosmetics can “go bad” after sitting around for any length of time, but most beauty products don’t come with an expiration date on the label. When it comes to lipstick, you can usually smell when the oils have become rancid. And with liquid makeup and moisturizers, the ingredients can separate if they sit unused for any length of time. When it comes to mascara though, you don’t want to wait around for a foul smell to occur before you toss it.

Mascara and liquid eyeliners should be throw away and replaced every three to six months. This is not a marketing scheme to get you to buy more mascara, believe it or not.

At first, I thought replacing mascara every three months was absurd. Why should I throw it away before it’s empty? I mean, if you are buying a $6 tube of mascara, replacing it every 3 months doesn’t sound very wasteful. That’s only $2 a month for beautiful eyes. Not bad. However, if you’re spending upwards of $20 for mascara, replacing it every 3 months just sounds wasteful and downright silly!

Truth is, whether you pay $6 or $26, you are still going to get a buildup of bacteria if you aren’t careful with your mascara. Follow these guidelines below to make your mascara go the distance.

Make Mascara Last Longer:

• NEVER share your mascara. Ever. Doesn’t matter if it’s your best friend or your daughter, eyelashes have mite and dust and all kinds of things on them. Eyelashes are made to protect your eyes from bacteria etc, so they are catching all those things you don’t want in your eyes. By letting someone else use your mascara, you are getting whatever crap has collected on their eyelashes in your mascara, then you are introducing it to your own eyelashes. Gross!
• Wash your face and eyelashes before applying mascara. Don’t add additional coats of mascara again during the day to freshen your look. Whatever has fallen on your eyelashes since you washed them and applied the first coat, will then go into your tube of mascara and potentially contaminate it.
• Clean your mascara wand every month. Use a gentle soap, preferably sulfate-free, and let the wand dry completely before reinserting it into the tube of mascara.
• Stop using all your eye makeup if you get conjunctivitis or any other eye illness. Immediately throw away all your eye makeup products like eye liner and mascara and replace it only after your infection has been away for at least 4 weeks.

By following these simple steps, you can make your mascara last a lot longer than 3 months. Practice good hygiene and cleanliness with your mascara and it will last till the tube is empty, which usually takes about 4-6 months with daily use. It’s also best to only have 1 or 2 tubes of mascara at a time so you can use them up in a reasonable amount of time before they go rancid. Keeping used tubes of mascara around longer than 6 months isn’t a great idea. However, you can keep bran new, unopened tubes of mascara around for up to 2 years.

If you don’t follow the above steps to help keep your tube of mascara clean, you risk contamination and infections. Ladies who do not practice good hygiene with their mascara should definitely replace it every 3 months.

Make sure to follow the guidelines above to keep your mascara clean. And remember that every time you pump the mascara wand, air gets into the tube. This creates a possible breeding ground for germs and eye mites. Not only that, it can make your mascara dry out and get clumpy much sooner.

You should never pump the wand back in and out to get the mascara on the brush. Simple unscrew the top and swish the wand around the in the tube before you pull it out. Think of it in the same way you would clean a bottle with a bottle brush. A gentle sweeping motion while the wand is still inside the tube will get an adequate amount of mascara on the brush and you’ll be ready to apply it to your lashes. When your mascara starts getting clumpy or smells funny, throw it out!

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