How to Organize Your Skincare Shelf and Check Expiry Dates

Somewhere behind the things you use every day there is a sunscreen from two summers ago, a serum you opened and forgot, and a jar whose label has worn off. A shelf audit takes about half an hour, costs nothing and tells you what you own, what is still good and what to finish first.

This is a procedure, so it runs in order. You will want a towel, a permanent marker, some masking tape or small stickers, and a bag for whatever is leaving.

Step 1: Empty the shelf completely

Take everything out, including what is in drawers, travel bags and the shower. Lay it all on the towel. Wipe the empty shelf while it is clear.

Seeing the whole collection in one place is half the value of the exercise. Duplicates and forgotten products become obvious straight away.

Step 2: Sort into four groups

• Daily: things you used this week.
• Occasional: things you use, but not every week.
• Unopened: sealed backups and gifts.
• Unknown: anything you cannot remember opening or using.

Do not judge anything yet. Just sort.

Step 3: Read the date marks

Pick up each product and look for one of the following. They are usually on the back or the base of the container, or on the crimped end of a tube.

A printed expiration date

In the United States, cosmetics are not legally required to carry one. The FDA states that no US law or regulation requires cosmetics to have a specific shelf life or an expiration date on the label. Products regulated as drugs are different: sunscreens, acne treatments and anything with SPF labeling must have an expiration date.

Action: if the date has passed, the product goes in the discard pile. For sunscreen this is not negotiable, since its job is protection.

“Best used before the end of” or an hourglass symbol

This is the European Union’s date of minimum durability. Under the EU Cosmetics Regulation, it appears on products with a minimum durability of 30 months or less.

Action: treat it as the manufacturer’s stated limit for the product.

An open-jar symbol with a number and “M”

This is the period after opening, or PAO. EU rules call for it on products that last more than 30 months unopened, in place of a date. The American Academy of Dermatology explains that the number tells you how many months the product should last after you open it: 12M means twelve months.

Action: this mark is only useful if you know when you opened the product. If you do, do the arithmetic. If you do not, go to Step 4.

No mark at all

Common on products sold in the US, where the PAO symbol is not required. The AAD’s suggestion is to keep track of when you open things yourself.

Sunscreen with no date: the AAD notes that the FDA requires sunscreen to keep its original strength for at least three years, and advises writing the purchase date on the bottle if none is printed. If you cannot say when you bought it, replace it.

Step 4: Check the condition

Dates are a guide. The product in front of you is the evidence. Open each one and look for the signs the AAD and FDA list for cosmetics and sunscreen that have gone off:

• A change in smell
• A change in color
• A change in texture: thicker, thinner, runny, clumpy, grainy, dry or flaky
• Separation into layers that does not go away when the product is meant to be uniform

Any one of these puts the product in the discard pile, whatever the date says. The FDA explains why this happens: preservatives can break down over time, emulsions can separate, and exposure to air, light and temperature changes can alter color, texture and smell.

For the “unknown” group, be strict. No date, no memory of opening it and no intention of using it is three reasons to let it go.

Step 5: Label everything that stays

This is the step that makes the next audit take five minutes.

• Opened products: write the month and year of opening on a strip of tape on the base. If you are estimating, write your best guess and add a question mark.
• Unopened products: leave them sealed. When you open one, write the date on it there and then. Keeping the marker on the shelf makes this far more likely to happen.
• Products with a PAO mark: you can write the “use by” month directly instead, which saves doing the sum later.

Step 6: Put it back by how you use it

Return things to the shelf in an order that helps you finish them.

• Daily items at the front, at hand height.
• Oldest first. If you have two of something, the earlier-opened one sits in front. Finish it before starting the other.
• Occasional items together, on a second shelf or in one container, so they are easy to scan.
• Unopened backups elsewhere, ideally outside the bathroom.

Where the shelf is matters too. The AAD recommends storing cosmetics in a dry, clean place at room temperature and out of direct sunlight, with caps and lids replaced securely after each use. The FDA points out that moisture, as in a bathroom, can help microbes grow, and that heat can break down preservatives. A cabinet with a door, away from the shower and the window, is better than an open ledge above the bath. Fragrance has similar enemies, covered in how to store perfume away from heat and light.

Step 7: Change two small habits

Keep fingers out of jars. The FDA notes that dipping fingers into a product introduces bacteria and fungi, which the preservative then has to control. The NHS advice for emollients in pots or tubs is to take the product out with a clean spoon or spatula. The same habit works for any jar. Pumps and tubes avoid the issue.

Open one thing at a time. Three half-used moisturizers all age at once. Finishing one before opening the next keeps everything on the shelf fresher and makes it clear what you like.

Keeping it that way

Repeat the full audit twice a year; the change of seasons is an easy reminder, and it lines up with checking sunscreen before summer. In between, a quick tidy is enough, and a ten-minute reset for your makeup bag and beauty shelf sets one out.

Before buying a replacement for anything you discarded, it is worth a minute with the pack. How to read a moisturizer label shows where the date marks and ingredient list are found, so the next product goes onto the shelf already understood.