There’s nothing worse than a mouldy blending sponge or that rancid smell that comes from a perfume you’ve left on the bottom shelf for too long. After you’ve completed the critical job of picking the best and most efficient makeup and skincare products, knowing where to store them, and how to safely use them, is of utmost importance.
“All makeup products and tools should be stored in a designated cool and dry place, away from moisture. That means you definitely should not store your makeup in the bathroom. Instead, maintain a vanity kit or a drawer for your makeup products to make sure they’re not contaminated with bacteria from other products or due to high humidity,” recommends Dr Harshna Bijlani, medical head, The AgeLess Clinic.
Apart from the shelf life mentioned on the back of the product (like 12M or 9M for example), changes in colour and texture are the tell-tale signs of your makeup expiring. Post-dated makeup products can cause infection (especially of the eyes), acne breakouts and irritation.
“When you see a a white-ish residue on lipsticks or have difficulty in applying them, or spot the formulas of other products separating (when the water/oil separated from the powder), that’s the time to trash the product,” she explains. Storing rules are not just restricted to skincare and makeup. If your favourite citrus fragrance is not giving you a similar whiff of freshness as when you first bought it, chances are that it might be exposed to sunlight.
Perfumer Rajiv Sheth, CEO and creative director of All Good Scents, reveals that it’s not necessary to store the fragrances in their original boxes, but is critical to save them from sunlight and heat. “Stored in a correct way, a fragrance can last as long as five years.
Where is the best place to store skincare products?
As a general rule of thumb, it’s a good idea to keep your skincare products in a dark location, such as underneath your bathroom countertop or in another cabinet or drawer where they’ll be protected from the light.
Is skincare better in the fridge?
Benefits of Keeping Skincare Products Cold – 
Keeping your beauty products refrigerated can do more than simply provide a cooling sensation to your skin. Here are just some of the benefits of storing your skincare products in a cold place:
- A consistent, cold temperature can help the active ingredients in your skincare products last longer and remain effective,
- Cold temperatures inhibit the growth of fungus and bacteria in your products.
- Cold skincare products feel great on inflamed skin and can provide instant relief, along with treatment.
- Products that are meant to be stored in a cool, dark place are absorbed better when chilled.
Should you keep serums in the fridge?
1. Facial serums – Skin serums are designed to deliver skin-loving nutrients in high concentrations. To protect the nutritional integrity of these active nutrients, storing your serum in the fridge is recommended. Your serum will last longer and the ingredients will remain active for a longer period of time. 
Is it OK to refrigerate lipstick?
IMaxTree Raise your hand if you grew up with a mom who insisted on keeping all sorts of beauty supplies in the fridge. Did she tell you that it would make the product last a lot longer? Yeah, us too. Like much of our Mom’s wisdom, there’s a kernel of truth here: it can SOMETIMES be really beneficial to store your beauty products in the fridge.
But there are important caveats. When it comes to putting products in the fridge, it’s all about knowing what requires chilly shelf space to retain optimum freshness. Think of makeup like you would your food: if it has an expiration date, keeping it in the fridge could be a serious beauty saver! Here’s the breakdown of what beauty products you should (and should never!) store in the fridge.
Oils. Never, ever store your oils in the fridge. Not only will they separate and potentially congeal, the cold will change the chemical makeup and rid your oil of its slip and slide, says makeup artist Annie Tevelin, of SkinOwl, Eye creams and serums.
The cold will work especially well in the morning to de-puff the under-eye area, especially in summer, says makeup artist Jennifer Trotter of Lip Service Makeup, Pencils. If it’s really hot and you need a sharp point on your lip or eye pencil, a few minutes in the fridge before sharpening will do the trick, says Trotter.
However, tread carefully with kohl eye pencils you use on your inner rimsyou want those to be nice and soft, not hard! Anything organic. Organic or homemade cosmetics without preservatives must go in the fridge, but be sure to check expiration because although they will stay fresh longer, they won’t stay fresh indefinitely, says Trotter.
Lipstick. Don’t place lipstick in your fridge. Makeup artist Ramy Gafni of Ramy Beauty says ingredients in products like lipstick will separate if refrigerated and condensation can make them lose moisture. Once you refrigerate, you must always keep that product refrigerated or it will go bad. However, if you accidentally melt a lipstick, a few minutes in the fridge will return it to its normal shape and consistency, Trotter says.
Eye shadow. Eye shadows, blush and face powders do better in a dry location away from sun light that can oxidise and fade pigments. The fridge would just add humidity and create problems, says Dimitri James, founder of Skinn Cosmetics, “Remember that powders, lipsticks and concealers do not contain water so they will not grow mold,” says James.
- Perfume. Don’t do it! Perfumes are intricate chemical compounds.
- Heat them or cool them down and you will change the makeup of those chemicals, destroying the very scent you are trying to preserve! Nail polish.
- One one hand, our moms always claimed that storing nail polish in the fridge will prevent it from discoloring and evaporating with age.
On the other, nail polish is super flammable and refrigerator motors can spark. Keep your lacquers out of the fridge to avoid Wile E. Coyote-style explosions. Read more: How To Organize Your Beauty Products Like A Pro.
How do you store serums?
Highly concentrated in active ingredients, serums must be stored in a dry and cool place far from any source of heat and humidity. However, they are usually kept in the bathroom, the most humid place in the house. The best thing to do is to keep them in the refrigerator.
Why do people put cosmetics in fridge?
Once home to midnight snacks and ice-cold drinks, the mini fridge is gradually being taken over by skin-care products. Being in possession of a dedicated skincare fridge is a craze that shows no signs of abating. Most recently, the mini gadgets enjoyed viral fame on TikTok, where the hashtag has had 83.3 million views (and counting).
Just tap to discover an endless stream of videos featuring proud owners and their chilled #shelfies, laden with temperature-controlled products. But a skincare fridge has a purpose beyond the social media brag. The idea is that it helps to keep unstable ingredients like retinol, benzoyl peroxide and vitamin C (which break down when exposed to light or heat), as cool—and therefore stable—as possible.
“Many skincare products benefit from being kept in the fridge,” says Clinicbe founder and aesthetic doctor, Dr Barbara Kubicka, “Specifically, natural products and those that contain few preservatives. The cold helps ingredients stay potent for longer—especially antioxidants, growth factors and peptides—as well as extending their shelf life.” When a skincare label instructs you to keep your product in a “cool, dark place,” a skincare fridge instantly ticks both boxes.
Its other use is as a dedicated place to cool skincare products. In the same vein as skin icing, keeping serums, eye creams and sheet masks (to name a few), below room temperature can help de-puff, boost circulation and take down redness and inflammation —all while feeling ultra-refreshing on the skin.
Not to mention the fact that seeing your skincare neatly stored in a nifty little fridge is just plain satisfying. Newby Hands, global beauty director at Net-a-Porter, is just one of the beauty fridge’s biggest fans. “As we know, anything cold helps de-puff and firm up the skin, so using it to store sheet masks, eye creams, some serums and tools, like my Gua Sha and face rollers, makes real sense,” she says.
Using something cool on the skin first thing in the morning and, especially, to revive your face at the end of the day and before going out is wonderful.” Hands and her team at Net-a-Porter noticed an uptick in demand for the devices, not least after a surge in popularity for ice globes, so the e-tailer decided to launch possibly the chicest version on the market.
At $160, it comes in the NAP trademark monochrome shades and is as sleek as a fridge gets. “There’s something quite special about having a dedicated mini fridge for your skincare,” says Hands. “Especially when it compactly stores your products and looks this chic.”
Can I put hyaluronic acid in the fridge?
Q & A – There are a bunch of commonly asked questions floating around the internet in regards to what to keep in a skincare fridge.1) Can you keep serums in the fridge? Yes, but you want to keep an eye on it. If the formula starts to change, remove it from the fridge and only keep it at room temperature.
Fridges are great for preserving hyaluronic acid, Vitamin C, and retinol, so if any of your serums are based on those ingredients, you may want to give them a trial in your fridge.2) Can you put niacinamide in the fridge? Yes, the cool temperature will help preserve the ingredient.3) Can you put toner in the fridge? Yes, it will feel so nice on your skin and act as an instant pick-me-up.4) Can you keep moisturizer in the fridge? As mentioned above, you can only store gel moisturizers in the fridge.
Coming up soon I will discuss why.
Should I refrigerate retinol?
Can you put retinol in the fridge? – Just like vitamin C is beneficial but temperamental, since it oxidizes faster than other ingredients, retinol is another one to store in the fridge. Cooler temperatures will preserve the shelf-life plus keep ingredients as potent as possible for as long as possible.
Should I put vitamin C serum in the fridge?
03. Not storing it right – 
No, you can’t just casually leave your Vitamin C serum out in the sun or even in a warm room. Store it in a cool, dark, dry place to prevent your serum from oxidising. Avoid sunlight exposure at all costs, and keep the lid completely sealed. If you’re super worried about being careless, keep the serum in your refrigerator instead — it’s probably for the best.
What makeup or skincare should be refrigerated?
Skin-Soothing Mask – “Any skincare product that claims to be soothing, cooling, or anti-inflammatory is going to be even more so when stored in a refrigerator,” says Dr. King. And if you want to up the ante, look for soothing, gel-based formulas, These have a higher content of water than their cream counterparts and innately feel cooler and more refreshing, especially when they’re kept in the fridge.