Period After Opening (PAO)

How long after passing the PAO can a product be used?

I haven't managed to finish my L'Occitane bottle of Immortelle Overnight Reset Serum from a couple or so years ago, same with my Judith Williams Royal Collagen Night Cream.

Should I bin them even though the consistency and smell is no different or can I use them on my feet?

It says on each item how long they can be used after opening. But to be honest, if it looks and smells ok just try it.

I go by texture and smell. And my days of stockpiling too much is over. I did have a face mask split when I opened it. A mix of cream and oily liquid. I had got it cheap, and then it was over a year before I opened to use. No, it was not Elemis but Emma Hardie.

I'm on my third year of some Ultrasun 30 and I still get protection. There's enough for a fourth year so I'll test it carefully next year but this year has been fine and I haven't burned once. How long do they say you can use it opened? Two years?

I found a bottle of Elemis body wash that had gone a funny shade of yellow. I thought it would smell off and was going to chuck it but although it's a weird colour it smells OK and foams up so I'm using it as hand wash. I hate waste. Wouldn't use face products I thought were dodgy though. Some JW things I'd had for ages went in the bin as they smelled a bit of fried eggs.

CC

I would do a skin test on my arm or behind the ear before applying to my face but if there’s no reaction, should be OK. I don’t remember to check use by dates on skincare so unless it smells off or looks peculiar, I wouldn’t know anyway.

I'm still using some sbc gels from 2016! they are absolutely fine and haven't changed in any way.

The companies have to put the PAO information on the products by law, but that doesn't mean that the product goes bad the day after the PAO is over. The product can't read! And as long as it looks and smells o.k., there is no reason to throw it into the bin.

@ MercuryAT: You can continue to use the products on your face. At least I would do so.

I've had a large bottle of the Lancome Advance Genefique serum on the go since I bought it in a Black Friday offer two years ago. I swear it's a bottomless bottle. I use it daily as part of my morning routine, and I still get the same full applicator each time. It's still doing it's trick but I'm beyond bored with it now and want to move on to something else in my stash.

MercuryAT said:

How long after passing the PAO can a product be used?

I haven't managed to finish my L'Occitane bottle of Immortelle Overnight Reset Serum from a couple or so years ago, same with my Judith Williams Royal Collagen Night Cream.

Should I bin them even though the consistency and smell is no different or can I use them on my feet?

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Use them on your face, please.

Ani said:

The companies have to put the PAO information on the products by law, but that doesn't mean that the product goes bad the day after the PAO is over. The product can't read! And as long as it looks and smells o.k., there is no reason to throw it into the bin.

@ MercuryAT: You can continue to use the products on your face. At least I would do so.

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I'd never even thought of looking at dates until I came on here. Sun cream I would tend to throw out after a couple of years when I found it tucked away, but I often found forgotten bottles of things and try them. Quite often things I didn't really like when I got them so put them away - instead of throwing them out like normal people - I try again and think why didn't I use this. I have stuff that must go back decades and as long as it hasn't deteriorated I'm quite happy to try it again. Maybe I should check dates but I doubt I'm going to start now.

Sun Screen is the one I would be most careful of.

I do remember when the companies were made to put use by on their products. It was an EU ruling and the company I was told fought against it, Chanel.

Thank you all for taking the time to respond.

I'm a tad wary of putting the serum on my face but I will use the night cream for its intended body part.

MercuryAT said:

Thank you all for taking the time to respond.

I'm a tad wary of putting the serum on my face but I will use the night cream for its intended body part.

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Try the serum on the backs of your hands.

Regarding sunscreen for the body: The filters decrease in the course of time when you open an spf, use it and then store it away for next year. That is, the protection also decreases (there are studies about this). Every year, I buy new sunscreen to have the full protection I need as I have very fair, freckled and sensitive skin. However, on my face I use sunscreen daily.

ClaireKelly said:

Try the serum on the backs of your hands.

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That is an excellent idea, thank you.

By the way, has anyone tried the Altruist sunscreens? They seem to be very good value.

There was a piece on BBC Breakfast news this morning. A cancer group asking the government to drop VAT on high protection sun creams. They are saying skin cancer has risen by 25% and with the cost of living people cannot afford the high protection and just buying lower cheap ones.

But that's exactly the thing with Altruist: https://altruistsun.com/

donna255 said:

There was a piece on BBC Breakfast news this morning. A cancer group asking the government to drop VAT on high protection sun creams. They are saying skin cancer has risen by 25% and with the cost of living people cannot afford the high protection and just buying lower cheap ones.

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But a lot of the cheap ones are coming out best in surveys! It’s all very confusing…