How To: Sanitize Your Make-Up

when it comes to sharing cosmetics, trying them in stores and also buying second hand cosmetics, it's always important to sanitize your products, check for expiration dates and also question yourself before purchasing cube full of formula.

Today, I'm going to talk about sanitizing and expiration dates. This will be a "go-to-guideline" to keep in mind when sharing and selling your pre-loved products

When it comes to hygiene, everyone is quite different - some will be alright sharing products with their friends and don't mind selling them, but then there's people like me - who stand clear from using anything that's touched someone else's skin. I've always been very good at makeup hygiene, and it's super important to know about it. This is help recuse break outs and nasty pink eye!

So let's get down to the basics:

• Mascara
• Concealer's
• Lip Glosses
• Everything else that comes in a tube with a wand applicator.

There's honestly no point in sanitizing mascara, it already has an expiration date - which is three months from opening. Also once you share that, there's no way of sanitizing it. It's now been contaminated. So make sure you have disposable wands in your makeup kit, that way you don't have to share and you can keep using your mascara for the full 3 months and never pump your wands. Doing so pushes air into the tube which promotes rapid bacteria growth.

Same goes with lip gloss, concealers and every other cosmetics that's in a liquid formula in a tube. Once that wand applicator goes back into the tube, its classed as contaminated. There is no way of cleaning inside the tube.

• Pressed Powders
• Powder Foundations
• Blushes 
• Eye shadows
• Bronzers

These products are super easy to clean, you can purchase sanitized makeup wipes that can quickly and safely clean your powders without any dramas. You can only use a tissue and lightly pat the top layer on the powder, this will help remove any oils that have came off your fingers / makeup brushes. Another way to sanitize them is using a cotton ball or spritz the top of your powders with the spray bottle of alcohol and set aside to dry.

• Eye Pencils
• Lip Pencils
• Eye Brow Pencils

easiest way to clean these pencils, is to clean the entire product. Using a alcohol spray - spray the outside of the pencil, the top then wipe lightly with a paper towel. Also spray the sharpener and the cap (if there's one) Sharpening the pencil is also an option, that way you have a fresh tip.

• Mousses
• Creams
• Gel

These items are a bit tricker. you  might want to actually scrape off the top portion and as long as it doesn't look mixed and dipped through the bottom, the bottom portion are pretty much safe.

• Lip Sticks

Lipstick is one of the easiest items to sanitize.Using the paper towel, gently wipe the tip of the lip stick getting rid of any residue that may sit on top. Fully extend the lipstick and dunk into a cup of rubbing alcohol. At this point you can set the lip stick aside to dry while you clean the cap.

• Brushes

Its definitely a job that needs to be done, must clean your brushes so bacteria and other offenders don't block up the pores or make break outs. It's basic hygiene! For brushes that are used daily ( without sharing) I suggested cleaning at least once a week. If you share your brushes, do not use them until you've washed them. By doing so - your brushes won't have the other persons oils and bacteria getting transferred on your skin.