Keep Germs Off Your Face and Out of Your Makeup Bag

If you don’t perform a little regular maintenance on your makeup bag, you may be swiping bacteria all over your face. The gross stuff growing in your cosmetics and on your brushes can cause acne and spread infections. You use the products to maintain your look, so maintain your cosmetics too. Here are a few ways to make sure that your beauty products aren’t a health hazard.

When you are buying makeup, look for products in tubes rather than jars. This goes for foundations, lip balms, and anything you may apply with your finger. Every time you put your fingers into the jar, you add whatever bacteria is on your hands to the product, contaminating it. When you close the jar, the germs and bacteria can breed in your makeup, so you’ll be applying them to your face the next time you put on your makeup. If you really love products in jars, use a Q-Tip or makeup sponge to apply it rather than putting your germy finger in there.

Bacteria, viruses, and germs can hang around on your makeup applicators and beauty products. If you have an eye infection, like the ultra-contagious pink eye, or a cold sore, you are best off throwing out the products you used on the affected areas to avoid getting the infection or sore for a second time. Toss eye shadows, eye shadow applicators, mascara, eyeliner, lip balms, and other lip products once you’ve used them on an affected area. Better yet, try to avoid using the products on affected areas to help speed healing and avoid irritation.

How old is your makeup? Much like food, makeup can expire. Foams, sprays, and creams can all go bad, creating an ideal place for bacteria, fungi, and germs to grow. Liquids may start to separate or smell strange once they go bad. Powders will start to look waxy. Foundations will oxidize and become darker, leaving you with germy makeup that doesn’t even match your skin tone anymore. If your makeup is 18 months old, it’s time to toss it. Mascara typically only lasts for about 3 months of use before it needs to be replaced.

Cleaning your makeup brushes is important because they are in all of your products and swiping makeup all over your face. Since they are in and on everything, it’s best that they are not contaminated. While there are brush cleansers on the market, you can wash your brushes with the simple combination of warm water and antibacterial hand soap or baby shampoo. Cleaning them after each use ensures the healthiest, most germ-free brushes, but make sure to be gentle to lengthen your brush’s lifespan. Let the brush dry flat. If they are left pointing up or down, the bristles can be damaged.

Don’t swipe icky things all over your face. The grime in your makeup bag could be causing acne, infections, and general grossness, so clean up your makeup to clean up your face.