Breaking bad…beauty habits! Why you shouldn’t hang on to that old lipstick

It's time to let go.During my 12 years as a Makeup Artist, clients have told me some crazy stories about their makeup and skincare routines. From home remedies gone awry to bad makeup habits, I have heard it all (and cringed!). Here are the worst offenders.

Client: "I've been using this same tube of lipstick for 15 years".
Me: "I am afraid for you".
This was my actual response when a woman admitted to me that the reason she didn't need to buy the lipstick I recommended for her was because she had had "Old Trusty" for over a decade. Makeup does indeed go bad. I recently had to recycle six, practically full MAC Lipglass tubes because they became rancid. One of my bad beauty habits is product hoarding, and I have more lipsticks and glosses than I would ever be able to use in a lifetime. As a result, my barely used lip glosses simply went bad because they were old and I couldn't finish them. Here are some basic tips on how to know when to end your relationship with your lipstick:
-Most experts recommend keeping lipsticks and glosses for one year. Personally, I have had some lipsticks last much longer without incident.
-Keep an eye (or nose) on the smell, texture and appearance of your lip products. If your lipstick used to smell like vanilla and now it smells like old Crayons, it has gone bad. If your lip gloss is separated in the tube and there's a weird oily film floating around, it's bad.
-Basically if anything about it changes or has you questioning it's quality, toss it.
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My brushes get a bath every Monday.Me: "So, you'll want to wash this brush weekly".
Client: "Wait...I'm supposed to wash my makeup brushes?".
This is another bad beauty habit that I hear far too often. Call me crazy, but I deep clean my makeup brushes every Monday. In addition to the Monday cleanse, I use makeup brush spray cleanser/disinfectant a few times a week. Why am I so obsessed with clean brushes? The answer is simple: dirty brushes make my skin break out. Not only do dirty brushes make my skin cry, they also "muddy up" up the colors of my products.
For example, if I use a bronzer on Tuesday, a peach blush on Wednesday and a plum colored blush on Friday what color do you think my blush brush will be dusting on my cheeks by Saturday? The answer is a weird muddy blend of all those colors. Yuck.
I deep clean my makeup brushes with Ivory unscented dishwashing liquid. I first wet my brushes with water, then I lather up my brushes, and continue rinsing them until the water that runs off of them is clear. I line them up and let them dry flat.
Photo courtesy of "dia de beauty" blog
Me: It looks like your makeup is smearing a little bit. Let me fix this for you.
Client: Oh, thats just yesterday's makeup.
Me: (awkward silence) Hmm.
Ladies! I implore you, remove every trace of makeup from your face every single night. If you are taking on the sacred ritual of makeup application you must absolutely commit to the proper removal of it. The two tasks go hand in hand, never one without the other.
Why am I so passionate about nightly cleansing?
-Leaving makeup on clogs your pores...duh! Clogged pores equal breakouts and blackheads.
-The proper and thorough removal of mascara and eyeliner is key to lash health. Mascara, especially long-wear formulas, dry out and damage your eyelashes. If you do not break-down and remove mascara every night you will experience lash loss. I strongly encourage taking a mascara break at least once a week.
-Your pillowcase is sad.
With so many quick and easy cleansers, there is just no excuse to sleep in makeup. When I was in my early twenties I was guilty of this bad habit. I would go out fully smokey eye-ified, dance and sweat all night and then fall into bed. My skin suffered and now at age 32, even if I indulge in red wine, I never ever neglect my routine. I drag myself to the sink and do the whole sha-bang. I know that when I wake up in the morning I will be happy that I did.
Exactly.
Client: "Help! My eyebrows need rehab, I can't stop tweezing".
Me: "Hand over the tweezers and step away from the 100x magnifying mirror".
Magnifying mirrors are a danger that no one talks about. Get me in a room with one and I will emerge hours later with pencil-thin eyebrows and "picked at" skin. No one needs to see their face that close, it only results in disaster.
Here's the thing, it is really difficult to tweeze your eyebrows yourself. Creating symmetry is challenging and one rogue tweeze can result in holes in your eyebrows. Eyebrows are very temperamental. More often than not, your mistake will be permanent. I fully encourage tweezing strays that are FAR away from the actual shape of your eyebrow, but be very conservative. Leave the care and beauty of your eyebrows in the hands of someone you trust. Find an aesthetician that understands your needs and then stick with them. Trust me, you do not want to live the rest of your life with sparse eyebrows and you do not want to be a slave to an eyebrow pencil.
Some of my Chanel Glossimers....sigh.
My worst beauty habit is (like I mentioned above) makeup hoarding. I am so fearful that my favorite products will be discontinued that I tend to stockpile them. These stockpiles have led me to have to dispose of twenty-plus Chanel Glossimer lipgloss tubes ($26 each!) because they went bad before I could use them up. All of them were almost full. What a waste of money!
Going forward, every time I buy a new product I commit to throwing away (or giving away) something that is old or that I am not using.
We are all guilty of bad beauty habits every now and again. But, not breaking those habits can lead to some nasty side effects. I challenge you all to divulge your worst beauty habit and tell us how you hope to break it!