I did a spot of spring cleaning over the weekend, clearing out my cosmetics stash and destashing, basically. One of the areas I concentrated on was lipsticks or lip products in general.
When you mess around with different lipsticks all the time, its easy to forget lipsticks you once had or used. So, I spent a couple of hours checking to see if my lipsticks and lip products were still alright and in the process, sent some of them into the bin.
Here’s when you should toss out your lipstick or lipgloss:-
- When your lipstick smells funny – lipsticks have a lot of preservatives in them, but it all has to go some time and when your lipstick smells different from how it should, that’s when you know its going into the bin.
- When your lipstick smells waxy – Take a healthy sniff of your lipstick and if it smells of wax and not lovely scented wax at that, but just pure wax, toss it.
- When its too old – Sometimes, its hard to let go of that favourite colour but if you’ve opened it and used it and had that lipstick or gloss for a long time, its time to let it go. This is especially true of glosses.
- When the colour has changed – If you have some old lipsticks lying around, take a look at the colour. You might notice that the part that is used might have a different colour to the rest of the lipstick. Sometimes, its a sign its going bad. Toss it.
So if you have some time, run through what you have. Different brands of lipsticks and lip glosses deteriorate at different levels. Sometimes, something new might go off faster than something you might have had for a while so there’s no hard and fast rule about it. Also, look through your backup stash – I know some people keep backups of favourite colours. They can go off too even while sealed.
You may not have much or you may have a lot but either way, decluttering is good for the soul 🙂 Any more tips on how to spot a lipstick or lipgloss that’s going off?
Stay beautiful,
Paris B
lemon says
November 10, 2009 at 10:24 amHi,
I feel very “sayang” to throw away old lipsticks, esp when they are barely used! I think the cosmetic companies should come up with mini, or smaller tube of lipsticks, lipgloss, so we can have more varieties and less wastage.
cheers,
lemon ;-D
ParisB says
November 10, 2009 at 6:49 pmHey Lemon
You know what? I agree with you 100%! Some Japanese brands do have smaller sized lippies but I think they have to make it the size they do to justify the prices 😉
Hanz says
November 10, 2009 at 12:49 pmThanks for sharing this..it reminds me to have a look over my ‘old’ lipstick since i got hooked with mineral lipgloss..
ParisB says
November 10, 2009 at 6:50 pmHey Hanz
You’re welcome! Time to spring clean that lippie stash! 🙂
germaine says
November 10, 2009 at 5:11 pmhow if the lipstick appears to have a layer of oil around it? is it time to throw it out too?
ParisB says
November 10, 2009 at 6:50 pmHi Germaine
If it doesn’t smell funky its usually ok – sometimes if its kept in a hot place the oils rise to the surface. But if its oily and funky and/or old I’d say bin it 🙂
Tine says
November 10, 2009 at 6:21 pmThis is a good reminder for me to go through my stash of lippies. I’m sure there’s one or two in there which is a tad manky now *yikes*
ParisB says
November 10, 2009 at 6:50 pmHiya Tine
I know! I was so disappointed when I realised some faves had gone bad
eliza says
November 10, 2009 at 8:30 pmi don’t have much lippies since my lips are quite pigmented
and was afraid if bought too much, i would have to painfully throw them away later.
do you recycle the lippy containers? each time i throw away a cosmetic product i was like “hmmm i should recycle them” but didn’t do it =p
ParisB says
November 11, 2009 at 9:58 amHi Eliza
Unfortunately no I don’t recycle the containers – I just bin them all
winnie says
November 10, 2009 at 9:40 pmwhat if the lipstick is cover with something in green colour? is it fungus?
ParisB says
November 11, 2009 at 9:59 amHey Winnie
My bets would be yes thats mould – chuck it!
Nikki says
November 10, 2009 at 9:42 pmI do the same, i check if they smell funny and check if the quality is still the same 🙂 Thanks for the reminder, need to declutter too!
ParisB says
November 11, 2009 at 10:06 amHey Nikki
It felt good – then you get to repopulate 😉
aretha says
November 10, 2009 at 10:12 pmnot sure if you have tried NARS lipglosses? but mine smell funny even after a few months..im not sure if that its ‘bad’ because i think alot of ppl have complaint about NARS glosses smelling/tasting like plasticine
ParisB says
November 11, 2009 at 10:12 amHi Aretha
I’d heard of Nars glosses’ smell. I guess whatever smells off i.e. not the usual scent will be an indication that the products’ gone off
gio says
November 10, 2009 at 10:21 pmThanks for the reminder, I need to declutter my stash soon too 🙂
ParisB says
November 11, 2009 at 10:13 amHey Gio
Good luck decluttering!
cc says
November 11, 2009 at 9:57 amhi ParisB,
is it the same with lip balms for chapped lips?
ParisB says
November 11, 2009 at 10:13 amHi CC
I’d say yes. I’ve had lip balms go off on me too where they smell funky.
Reba says
August 10, 2012 at 2:53 amI just bought some lipgloss this am and it has, I guess it is, a waxy smell. I didn’t notice it until I already used it. 🙁 Do you think they will take them back?
Chhavi Gupta says
July 19, 2016 at 11:28 pmWhat to do if you have just bought lipstick and when you opened the seal it is smelling differently ?