The shelf life of cosmetics by code on the packaging and

Face creams, cleansing milk, shampoo, shower gel, deodorant, aftershave lotion - any cosmetic product that we use daily is not eternal. Cosmetics, like food, has a deadline for consumption, after which it is better not to use it. How to determine the shelf life of cosmetics on the code on the package?

How to find out the shelf life of a cosmetic product?

A mandatory requirement for manufacturers of cosmetics is an indication on the packaging of information about the period during which the product should be used after opening. However, according to the same requirement, the label on the expiry date is placed on the packaging of goods that can be stored for less than 30 months.

Such information is represented by a picture on the package in the form of an open jar, inside of which there is a figure, and next to it is the letter "M". For example, 12M. This combination indicates the number of months during which you can use this cosmetic after opening, in our case - 12. This code is sometimes difficult to find, because it is small or in an inconspicuous place. If the purchase could not find such a designation, it is better to abandon this product.

There is always a risk that you do not remember the moment of opening one or another means, so it is useful to find out the main signs of aging cosmetics, upon detection of which you should not use it:

• the consistency of the product is heterogeneous - the powder crumbles, nail polishes become sticky or pasty;
• changed color, for example, perfume becomes darker;
• the product became unpleasant to smell;
• open cosmetics were stored at extreme high temperatures or in conditions of high humidity.

Here are the generalized storage periods for certain groups of cosmetics:

• The most stable products are alcohol-based, such as deodorants, perfumes, varnishes and hard lipsticks, pencils. They do not spoil up to three years.
• The risk group includes water-based products, such as creams, body lotions, as well as shampoos, shower gels, etc. On average, they are stored for six months to 9 months.
• Masks for cilia - from 3 months to six months.
• Facial Treatments: moisturizing, against wrinkles, serum and eyeliner - from six months to 8 months.
• Sunscreens, lip gloss, some types of lipstick - no longer than 1 year.
• Spirits and varnishes - from 2 to 3 years.
• Dry powder - up to 5 years.

To keep foods that are not used on a regular basis, you can put them in the fridge.

We decipher the manufacturer's code to check the date of issue and the period of use of cosmetics

How to check the useful life of a cosmetic if you forgot to leave a note for the memory with the date of opening, and by appearance it is difficult to determine the freshness of the product? Moreover, unscrupulous traders strive to sell expired goods, sticking a sticker with a later date on the packaging. Many manufacturers of cosmetics use ciphers for the code is somewhat more complicated than a pair of numbers and the letter "M", which are applied to the primary packaging, jar, tube, box by hot pressing or printing with a dot-matrix printer with indelible ink.

This code is always different from the rest of the markings on the packaging of the goods. Thus, the packaging of the cosmetic brand Biotherm contains the code, the first letter of which indicates the year, and the next figure - on the ordinal day in the year when the products were manufactured. For example, the code HH213 means that the product was produced on the 213rd day of 2002.

When buying a product brand "Ferragamo" you probably saw the code of five characters, which indicates the date of production. It is decoded like this: the 1st and 5th digits indicate the date, the 2nd and 3rd are the month, and the year is encoded in the fourth. For example, code 10494 indicates that the cosmetic product was manufactured on April 14, 2009.

Cosmetics from Ungaro have almost the same labeling of the production date - this is also a five-digit code, where the 1st and 5th marks indicate the day, the 2nd and 4th indicate the month, and the 3rd indicates the year of production. So, if on the package you see the marking 20982, it indicates that the cosmetic product was made on August 22, 2009.

Here are some more examples of decoding pack-code of well-known manufacturers of cosmetics:

• The Estee Lauder Group's batch code brands, such as Mac, Clinique, La Mer, use 1 letter + 1 digit. The letter refers to the location of the factory, the figure corresponds to the months from January to December, respectively, the latter indicates the year.
• The batch code on Oreal Group brands, such as L'Oreal, Lancome, Helen Rubinstein, Kiehl’s or Shop Body, begins with a letter indicating the production location. The next letter indicates the year, and then 3 digits that indicate the number of days since the beginning of the year when the cosmetics was made. And that means 2004, B - 2005, Z is skipped, since it looks like 2, so Y will denote 2003.
• Christian Dior uses a combination of letters and numbers, but only the first two characters matter for the expiration date. The first digit indicates the year, followed by the letter indicating the month: starting from A - January, to M - December, the letter I is skipped because it is identical to 1.

There are other codes, in principle, each manufacturer has developed its own cipher. Naturally, such a variety of codes and decoding is difficult to remember, and to nothing, because in each department of cosmetics should be a decoding table and determine the exact date of production. Feel free to ask the seller or use online cosmetics calculators. They work very simply: you only need to select the brand of interest and enter the code from the package in the appropriate field. One click of a button - and you get comprehensive information about the release date of the product.