There are no U.S. laws or regulations that require cosmetics to have specific shelf lives or have expiration dates on their labels. However, manufacturers are responsible for making sure their products are safe. FDA considers determining a product's shelf life to be part of the manufacturer's responsibility. But who pays attention, really? It's also a tiny little thing that you may or may not need a magnifying glass to see.
Some makeup artists I know will handwrite on the bottle when they bought or were gifted the product. They’re looking out for the optimization of the product, but my god. How tedious. Especially when you’re an artist with an exceptional amount of product that you have to keep track of. Same thing goes for skincare, it just goes to a gross texture after too long.
We’ve all started using more and more sunscreen, and that’s another product that will go goopy, or may not be as effective once past its lifespan date. And we all want protection from the sun at maximum capacity.
One of the key features of Beaucoup the App is that it will let you know when your product is at the end of its lifespan. It’s not something anyone talks about but we’ve all experienced it. You start using something new and then at some point you go back to that one great product and it’s just goopy. Or just doesn’t work the same way. Or falls apart. How old is it? When did you buy it? No one knows. It goes into the same void as a lost sock that disappeared in the dryer.
The lifespan of the product hinges on when it’s opened, not necessarily when it’s purchased. If a product is stored in a cool dry place before opening it can last 2-3 years. Once opened, you should absolutely pay attention to that tiny little lifespan image on all makeup and skincare product.
There are factors that will break down your product faster, which comes down to storage. Your makeup products break down faster if they are exposed to:
Sunlight
Heat
Air
Temperature changes
Moisture
When you see that product lifespan date pop up in your notifications, it’s based on the date the product was added to your beauty armoire and the lifespan on the product. If you open your product in a different month than when you purchased, you can manually change that date in your app to be more accurate.
When you are using product at its peak, there are several benefits. Your product is behaving the way it was designed to, and there’s more space in the bathroom!