I’m a make-up whizz and there’s a really gross reason you should bin expired palettes – you’ll scream when you learn why
A MAKE-UP whizz who tests beauty products for mould and bacteria has left people horrified after revealing what’s growing on our expired products.
Pamela Pedrozaa swatched an old lipstick and eyeshadow palette from Kylie Jenner’s brand Kylie Cosmetics.
Using a Q-tip, she picked up a small sample from each product and sampled them on separate petri dishes.
A petri dish is a type of culture plate used to hold the growth of cells which can be cultured, bacteria, fungi and small mosses.
Pamela left the samples to fester for two days before seeing what had grown… and there was one product clearly more unhygienic than the other.
A host of bacteria and mould had grown across the eyeshadow’s petri dishes, while a single growth had sprouted on the lipstick sample.
Make-up fans were horrified to find their oldest and favourite products could be infecting their skin with bugs and nasties.
One said: “So that’s why my eyes get irritated when I use my 2016 make-up.”
Someone replied in agreement: “Me getting styes from my 2016 Modern Renaissance palette and not knowing why I keep getting styes.”
Another person penned: “Me watching this while I still use my powder since 2019.”
Other commenters vowed to throw all of their expired make-up products away after Pamela revealed what might be growing on them.
However, some felt there might be a solution.
One viewer wrote: “You just need to put sanitiser spray on it.
“That should kill the bacteria.”
A second suggested: “Just spray 70% alcohol on it.”
A microbiologist previously warned that the contents of your make-up bag could be making you unwell.
Expert Amy-May Pointer said that make-up tools, hairbrushes and eyelash curlers could all be harbouring potentially harmful fungus.
She added that trendy items like jade rollers need to be cleaned after each use after Staphylococcus aureus was found on tools the expert tested.
It can be found on skin and strains of S. aureus such as MRSA (methicillin-resistant S. aureus) can pose a health risk.
There is also evidence of S. aureus’s pathogenicity causing acne.