Wednesday 10 September 2014

To cull or not to cull: When should I throw a lipstick away?


We all know that make-up doesn't last forever. Lipstick should ideally be used within a year or two after opening it, but do you really abide by these rules? I'm afraid to report that I don't.


I am aware that I have many lipsticks that have been in my 'collection' for years. When I say years, I mean it! As a guide, I looked over my collection and used the Mac batch codes to work out roughly how long I'd owned my lipsticks. In case you didn't know, here's how to read the codes that appear on the stickers Mac lipsticks:

The first character refers to the batch order. Every month Mac make two or more batches: A is the first batch, B is the second batch.

The second character refers to the month of production:

  • 1 = January
  • 2 = February
  • 3 = March
  • 4 = April
  • 5 = May
  • 6 = June
  • 7 = July
  • 8 = August
  • 9 = September
  • A = October
  • B = November
  • C = December

The third characters refers to to the year of production e.g. 9= 2009      0=2010

Therefore, I can tell that Angel in my collection was produced in the first batch of October in 2009! I should have thrown this out years ago, but I simply didn't think about it until now. The truth is, I own too many lipsticks for someone with one mouth!

Lipsticks can dry out and smell different when out of date, but my Mac lipsticks do not give off any indication of this. However I know it is also not hygienic to be keeping some of them much longer. I refuse to do a massive cull in one go, so my solution is this: I am going to aim to prioritise my use of the older items over the next six months or so. I will be moving house next year and that will be when I cut my losses with the pensioners of my collection! Call me disgusting, but it's my lips that will be wearing the lipstick, no-one elses!

This recent thought process has given me time to think. Do I really want to be owning a lipstick collection of this size? My collection is relatively small compared to some 'beauty gurus' on Youtube and in the blogging world. How long do we all intend to hoard out 'collections' and what purpose do they really fulfil? 

Do you hoard make-up that is past its expiry? What are your thoughts on this?

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4 comments :

  1. Never knew this, should go through mine now..but I just cant throw any away.. :(

    http://redhairedgirlincheltenham.blogspot.co.uk

    ReplyDelete
  2. I know! I'm going to be strict with myself and try and use them up as much I can before they hit the make-up graveyard.

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  3. First time read abouth this, definately will check mines.
    http://steinhardlive.blogspot.com/

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  4. But will you throw any 'out of date' lipsticks away? that's the question! x

    ReplyDelete