Does Skincare Expire? How to Read Dates, Opening Symbols, and Product Changes

In the United States, ordinary cosmetics aren't required to carry an expiration date, so any date on your skincare is worth reading closely.¹ Skincare's shelf life is the time it's expected to stay safe and work as intended, and how long that lasts depends on the formula, how it's used and how it's stored.¹ A printed date, an opening symbol and a change in smell each tell you something different, so read them together with what you know about a product's history to decide what to keep, replace or ask about.

Three products, three different questions

Imagine finding these on your shelf:

• An unopened moisturizer still within its printed best-before date, stored according to its instructions.
• A half-used serum with a small open-jar symbol marked 12M, opened sometime you can't remember.
• A cream that smells different after spending several days in a hot car.

The moisturizer's date and known storage support keeping it. The serum needs a closer look at its opening history. The cream's changed smell is a reason to discard it.^{1, 4}

What the date and open-jar symbol mean

Manufacturers are responsible for determining shelf life and ensuring their products are safe.¹ When a date is printed, read the wording beside it, because it may give the date the product was made, its best-before date or its expiration date.

On European cosmetic labels, a minimum durability date identifies how long the product remains safe under appropriate storage conditions. The period after opening, or PAO, identifies how long the opened product is considered fit for use.²

The small open jar shows the period after opening. 12M means twelve months after first opening for use, not twelve months after purchase.³ The clock starts when you open it, a bit like a carton of milk. For example, a hypothetical 12M serum first opened on October 1, 2026 would reach the end of its opening period on October 1, 2027.

For the unopened moisturizer, start with its best-before date and storage instructions, because being sealed doesn't give it an unlimited life. If a product carries both a date and an opening period, check how the maker says they apply together. Opening it doesn't automatically extend its printed date.

If there's no readable date or opening guidance, ask the maker how long the product lasts unopened and how long to use it after opening. Include the batch code so the maker can identify the product you have.

What if you can't remember when you opened it?

You may not need to remember the exact opening date.

Suppose you bought the 12M serum new and sealed two months ago. It has been open for at most two months, so it's still within its opening period. The maker's storage guidance and any other printed date still apply.

If you bought it much longer ago, a receipt alone may leave the question unresolved. Look for an opening note, a photo or another reliable record. A normal appearance and familiar smell don't establish that it's still suitable to use. If the history remains unclear and the maker can't advise whether to keep using it, replacing it is a reasonable precaution.

Storage and product changes matter too

Fingers can introduce microbes, moisture can encourage their growth, and heat can shorten the life of preservatives. Temperature changes, sunlight and air can also affect color, texture and smell.¹ So storage matters for the unopened moisturizer as well as the half-used serum. Tell the maker about unusual storage when you ask whether its guidance still applies.

For the cream left in the hot car, FDA advises throwing away cosmetics that change color or smell.⁴ Discard it even if a printed date is still ahead.

For an unexpected texture change, such as a smooth cream turning grainy or liquid separating out, set the product aside. Tell the maker when the texture changed and how you've stored it, and ask whether the change is expected for the formula.

Oils reacting with oxygen and microbes growing in a product are separate preservation concerns, explained in What Does "Preservative-Free" Mean in Skincare?

Sunscreen has its own expiration guidance

In the United States, sunscreen is regulated as a drug, including moisturizers and makeup with SPF.¹ So for an SPF moisturizer, use the sunscreen guidance:

• If it has an expiration date, discard it once that date has passed.
• If it has no expiration date, FDA says to consider it expired three years after purchase. Manufacturers can omit the date when stability testing supports at least three years.
• If you don't know how old it is, FDA says to discard it.⁵

The three-year purchase rule applies to undated sunscreen. Protect sunscreen from excessive heat and direct sun, as its labeling instructs.⁵

Decide what to keep, replace, or ask about

1. Read the label. Identify the date or opening period and whether the product is also a drug, such as sunscreen.
2. Add reliable history. Include a known opening date or maximum time since opening, storage conditions and any changes.
3. Choose the next step. Keep the unopened moisturizer when its date, storage and condition support doing so. Check the serum's timing or ask for guidance. Discard the cream with the changed smell.

When you contact the maker, send the product name, a photo of the label and the batch or lot code, which identifies a production batch.³ Add the purchase or opening information you know, storage history and any change you noticed.

If you know you bought the serum more than a year ago but can't remember opening it, you could ask: "I bought this serum more than a year ago and don't know when I opened it. It says 12M, has been stored in a drawer, and looks unchanged. Is there enough information to advise continued use, or should I replace it?"

Make the next decision easier

The next time you open a product, a few small habits save you from reconstructing its history later:

• Keep the date wording and storage instructions with the product.
• Record the opening date when you start using it. FDA suggests marking the container to help track age.⁴
• Discard products with changed color or smell.⁴ Ask about unexplained texture changes.

Sources

1. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Shelf Life and Expiration Dating of Cosmetics.
2. Health Products Regulatory Authority, Ireland. Cosmetic products labelling.
3. UK Office for Product Safety and Standards. Regulation 1223/2009 and the Cosmetic Products Enforcement Regulations 2013: Great Britain.
4. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Using Cosmetics Safely.
5. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Sunscreen: How to Help Protect Your Skin from the Sun.