Five minutes, then stop
When Does Makeup Expire?
Read the PAO jar. Mascara is three months. Cream is about a year. Powder can go two. Smell is a late warning. Infection does not always announce itself.
Updated 16 Aug 2026 · 6 min read · when does makeup expire
The PAO symbol is the date that matters
Look on the crimp, the carton, or the back of the palette for a little open jar with 3M, 6M, 12M, or 24M. That is months after you crack the seal, not months after manufacture. A batch code can tell a lab the production week; it is not a use-by you can read without a decoder. Write the open date on the tube with a marker. The same habit as reading a care label: the instruction is already printed, if you look.
Unopened makeup in a cool cupboard is usually fine to the printed expiry or for a couple of years if there is none. Heat, bathroom steam, and dipping wet fingers into a jar are how a 12M product dies at month four.
Mascara 3, cream 12, powder 24
Mascara is a wet tube you pump air into. Bacteria and fungi like that. Three months is the boring, correct number — six if you are being casual and have never had an eye infection; I would not. Liquid liner the same. Pencil liner can go 6–12 months if you sharpen it. Cream foundation, concealer, cream blush, lipstick, and pots of concealer: about 12 months. Powder foundation, blush, and eyeshadow: 18–24 months, longer if they never see a wet brush.
| Product | After opening | Why it dies |
|---|---|---|
| Mascara, liquid liner | 3 months | Wet tube, eye contact, pumped air |
| Cream / liquid foundation, concealer | 6–12 months | Water, fingers, warm bathrooms |
| Lipstick, lip balm, cream blush | 12 months | Mouth, fingers, rancid oils |
| Powder blush, eyeshadow, powder foundation | 18–24 months | Usually dry; wet brushes shorten it |
| Sunscreen (face) | 12 months, or the printed expiry | Filters degrade; do not hoard |
| Vitamin C, retinoid | Often 3–12 months | Oxidation — colour change is a clue |
Infection risk, not just smell
A sour, paint, or Play-Doh smell means the preservative system has lost. Texture that separates and will not mix, colour that shifts, and mascara that strings are the same story. Throw them. Do not “revive” mascara with saline or water — you just fed it.
The worse case has no smell: a stye, blepharitis, or a corneal infection from an old eye product. If you have had pink eye, bin the mascara and liner you used. Sharing mascara is how you share that. A short five-product routine is easier to date and replace than a drawer of half-dead tubes.
What to do with the leftovers
Do not wash expired makeup down a sink if you can help it; wipe tubes out and bin them. Makeup on a white shirt is a stain problem — treat it as oil plus pigment, not as a reason to keep a dead foundation “for emergencies.” Sunscreen that is past date is a skincare failure, not a beach hack; buy a new bottle and put it at the end of the morning order.
Replace mascara on a repeating calendar reminder. Replace cream blush when it smells or at 12 months. Keep powders if they look and smell like themselves and you have not dropped wet fingers in them. A small kit you finish is cheaper than a museum of 2019 highlighters.
Questions, answered
- Can I use mascara longer than three months if it looks fine?
- You can. You are taking an infection risk for $12. If the wand is dry, you have already pumped it too many times. Buy a new tube.
- Does unopened makeup expire?
- Yes, slowly. Oils go rancid and filters die. If there is a printed expiry, believe it. If there is only a PAO, two to three years unopened in the cool is a common working assumption — not a promise.
- Is the smell test enough?
- No. Smell catches rancid oils. It does not catch a clean-smelling mascara that has been inoculated with bacteria. For eye products, the calendar wins.
