One of the items that is hardest to figure out when to get rid of it, is mascara. Mascaras always come in a solid coloured tube and you never know how much there is in there in the first place. Unlike lipstick where you can see the stick growing shorter day by day, mascara is almost a closed book.
From my rather limited experience with using mascara, here are some sure signs its time to bin the ol’ mascara and open up a new tube:
- The brush looks dry when you pull it out of the tube.
- The mascara flakes from your lashes onto your face
- It gets harder to apply it and to see any effect on your lashes.
- Your mascara-ed lashes just don’t look as lush and long anymore
- Its been more than 3 months.
Hygiene experts recommend that mascara be binned after 3 months because in that time, it would have dried up, or have bacteria in it from regular use. I’ve used some mascara for slightly over 3 months without problems, but it isn’t recommended by the experts.
In order to prevent the introduction of air and bacteria into the tube, take care never to pump the wand in the tube like you see in some movies. This pumping in and out action only serves to introduce air into the tube which not only dries out the mascara inside, but also introduces bacteria into the tube. With something going so near your eyes, you do not want bacteria in the formula!
So, check your mascara and if any one of them fall in the any of the categories above, its time to bin it!
I normally just pull out the wand and swipe it on my lashes and then put in again for my other lash. My mascara normally last 3-4 months before I bin it coz I use it on a daily basis. Hehe
PB says: That’s good practice and I do the same. But some girls I’ve seen push the wand in and out of the tube which is a major no no!
3 months…..ohhh then I can throw out at least half of mine stash….
Thanks for the tip. The question just came to my mind yesterday afternoon when I was using a mascara i bought just before I went overseas like a month ago. it looked dry and made my lashes clump together and had some kind of a stale alcohol smell. yucks!! but i just bought it a little over 1 month ago. huh! sometimes, u never know what kind of stock these ppl are selling you, huh?