Am I really meant to throw makeup away if it is over a year old

[Joss1992]

I've just read that I'm meant to throw my makeup away if it is over a year old. I don't wear makeup very often so there is plenty of it left and it is decent stuff from Benefit, etc. Some of it is 3-4 years old, some a couple of years old. Am I really meant to throw it all away?!

Mascara maybe. Otherwise I never have.
I don't use make-up regularly enough to go through it that quick.

I never have. I am an infrequent makeup wearer. Nothing terrible has happened to me as a result. Remember that all manufacturers want you to buy more.

I do with mascara (although it's rare I have any left a year after opening), but only as it goes near to my eyes so a bit more concerned about bacteria etc, and eye liners. Everything else I just carry on using, sometimes I find pallettes, powders and liquid foundations dry out or go chalky so I tend to chuck them at that point though. Now I don't wear as much make up I'm careful to just have one open at a time unless it's nail varnish where I want several colours.

I have some eyeshadow that I bought to wear for my wedding over 15 years ago.

Occasionally I have thrown away an old lipstick that develops a sort of waxy taste.

I don't. I have a tiny nub of a lip pencil that's 20 years old.

No! I throw away stuff that's unusable but that's it

Eye make I personally do but other make up I would keep as long as it looked okay.

Opened mascara gets tossed away after 6 months max.
Opened powders, 2 years. Opened creams 1 year.

Eye makeup I wouldn’t keep even a year, mascara wouldn’t last that long, but eyeshadows and some eyeliners do, so I don’t buy expensive stuff.

I do with mascara or anything else I apply directly to my face but I keep everything else because I only ever use clean brushes on a clean face

I have an eye shadow set that's marked as St Michael's probably my first one so that's probably 30 plus years old. I dont really use it though!

I don’t.

I wear make up every day and have loads. One of my favourites is a single pot of Chanel Eyeshadow in a dark purple. I have had it at least 5 years and it still hasn’t run out.

I have had a touché eclat that started to smell funny so out it went.

Most make up lasts for ages.

No!

No it’s probably a marketing ploy by the manufacturers to make you buy more. I still have a lipstick I bought when I was pregnant with DD (9). Still wear it.

I've had problems with an old mascara in the past so am careful with that but anything else, hell no, what a waste! I've got an eyeshadow set that must be about 35 years old and I use it every week.

Like pps , if it goes near my eyes I'll throw it away after a year , I keep everything else for much longer though.

Nail polish has the 12m symbol on it too , I'm not sure what happens to it when it goes 'bad'. If it thickens , you just add thinner and carry on using it.

I only throw mascara/foundation away. I keep pretty much everything else until it has run out or I decide I just wont use it.

Maybe the 12 month shelf life on some products is just so companies don't have numpties coming to them that their ten year old lipstick has gone bad.

I think caution should be exercised with eye make up especially if you are a contact lens wearer, but otherwise no.

I wear make up every day and my make up still lasts years. No way would I be throwing it away.

Relieved to see Im not the only one with ancient lip liner. I bought it in vi form more than 20 yrs ago.

I think they have to put a 'shelf life' on products. But in reality I've has some make up for years and been surprised how long it lasts.

I do chuck mascara but thats because it dries out and goes manky after a year (if it lasts that long as I wear make up every day) but everything else I keep.

Sounds like another money making "fact" from the beauty industry!

I don't throw away old makeup. I am not bothered about how old it is.
But I did throw out about six lipsticks the other day, as they were wrongly bought colours at one time or other.. But one of them was a deep magenta colour, and I decided to use it to put a few deep pink streaks in my hair, and it was quite effective.