What Expires First: Your Serum or Your Expectations?
Beauty has an expiration date. So does holding on
Holding On
Beauty products don’t last forever. Nothing does. This week, I’m diving into a practical and emotional guide to holding on to beauty, and maybe more.
PREDICTION ALERT: 2025 will be the year beauty consumption shifts significantly. People will still buy, but differently. Blame social media’s investigative journalists, the love-hate dynamic with celebrities, the looming recession, tariffs, or the flickering yellow “buy” light on luxury. My take: purpose-led brands, or those that let us “into the kitchen,” will earn our attention. And it’s not just beauty. Change is unfolding alongside the biggest technological leap of our lifetime. It’s exciting and a little scary.
Flirting with Expiration Dates
Eggs have a sell-by date, but often outlast the label. The string beans I buy near my husband’s childhood home in Puglia die in forty-eight hours. The ones I buy in New York? Still thriving three weeks later. Medicine has printed expiration dates, but most of us ignore them. Legal formality? Capitalist suggestion? We swallow them whole. Preservatives are everywhere, quietly buying us time. But when it comes to beauty, the rules are murkier. Do Beauty Products Expire? Short answer: YES. And the countdown starts the moment you open them. Once exposed to air and light, products begin to break down. Preservatives weaken. Ingredients destabilize. That miracle serum? It quietly turns on you like a frenemy in a fancy bottle. If it smells weird, separates, changes color, or gives you a rash, it’s expired. Oh come on, deep down you knew that…..you just looked the other way.
When the Clock Starts Ticking
Mascara? 3-6 months. Later, and you could be flirting .. with an eye infection.
Moisturizers or foundations? 6-12 months once opened. If it’s separating or smells off, say “Bye-Bye.”
Lipstick? About a year. If it gets dry and draggy or smells like crayons, draw it a tombstone.
And when it comes to Sunscreen, you should always check the label because expired SPF can’t protect you.
Still Holding On?
Everyone has that spot in the bathroom where backup beauty lives. Not the lead dancers. The understudies. The “I’ll deal with you later” pile. A sad little club of unopened minis, dry-ish eyeliners, serums with the brand name rubbed off, wedding lipstick, Halloween glitter, and twelve samples you meant to try.
WHY DO WE HANG ON TO IT?
Because it was expensive?
Because it was a gift?
Because it looked good on the vanity?
Because it’s sentimental?
Because you didn’t know how to recycle it?
Because of an impulse you regret throwing away?
Because you might need it one day?
The beauty drawer guilt. The buildup. The clutter. The emotional cost of holding on. There are real reasons to toss expired beauty products: eye infections, irritation, and products that simply stop working. But the deeper reasons? Those are harder to scrub away.
What Are We Really Searching For?
Here’s what I believe. We’re all just trying to feel better. We know our time is limited. We want joy. We want comfort. We want to fix what we can. Beauty is comfort food. Until, of course, you eat too much of it, and then it’s 9 AM on November 1st, and the candy salad bellyache sets in.
But what if there were a beauty fairy? OK, a beauty fairy is super lame, but you get the gist. A modern way for us to track all of this physically and emotionally. Lift us when we bought that serum with exosomes, tap our shoulder when the hair mask in a jar, which you stuck your wet hands into, should be tossed. An SPF fairy, who reminded you to wear SPF when the UV index spiked. A confidante who researched what was out there: brand founders, formulas, the values that resonated with you, and presented you with a few options? A fairy (again, sorry) who scanned the social media without editing out the good and bad stuff. How about a utopia that only sold what was right for you? Your beauty lawyer. The smartest, gentlest force on your side protecting your skin, your wallet, and your time. Wouldn’t that change everything? Oh maybe instead of fairy, I should say genie? (and yes, she's out of the bottle.)
Smart Girl, Dumb Question
Today’s article was inspired by Smart Girl Dumb Questions the new podcast from Nayeema Raza which has featured guests from Mark Cuban to Tamsen Fadal. In a recent episode, she interviews beauty expert Brooke DeVard and asks all the “dumb” questions people are afraid to say out loud. We collaborated on her question about expiration date segment. Please tune into the full episode—it’s a LOT of fun. You can get it on Apple, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts!
So, What Expires First: Your Serum or Your Expectations?
My answer: They are neck and neck.
(Okay, I had to.)