Your Makeup Bag is Filled With Harmful Bacteria – Here’s What You’re Doing Wrong

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New research is showing that there is much more hidden in our makeup bags than that mascara we’ve been digging for. Yup: harmful bacteria is brewing and here’s what you’re doing wrong.

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Truth: Your Makeup Bag Is a Nesting Ground For Harmful Bacteria

It’s not something that we want to hear, of course, but there’s much more hiding in our makeup bags than we have bargained for. In fact, the growth of this icky bacteria has gotten so out of control, that new studies are being done to really figure it all out. Nine out of 10 in-use makeup products tested positive for bacteria such as E. coli and Staphylococcus. Yup, you can go ahead and pick your jaw up off from the floor now.

And taking the gross level up a notch: beauty blender sponges were almost all contaminated, too.

The new research done was a microbiological study of used cosmetic products – so basically everything currently in your makeup bag. The study was published recently in the Journal of Applied Microbiology, and was conducted by Dr. Amreen Bashir and Professor Peter Lambert of Aston University’s School of Life and Health Sciences. For this particular study, they specifically looked at lipstick, lip gloss, eyeliners, mascaras and beauty blenders.

Spoiler: bacteria and fungi were found on everything.

The study was done by testing used products that were donated.

Here’s What You’re Doing Wrong (And How to Fix It)

“Consumers’ poor hygiene practices when it comes to using makeup, especially beauty blenders, is very worrying when you consider that we found bacteria such as E. coli — which is linked with fecal contamination — breeding on the products we tested,” said Bashir. “More needs to be done to help educate consumers and the makeup industry as a whole about the need to wash beauty blenders regularly and dry them thoroughly, as well as the risks of using make-up beyond its expiry date.”

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My takeaway from this study is that we need to focus on a few key things whenever it comes to our beauty bags:

Make sure you are paying attention to the expiration dates on your beauty products, and actually abide by them.
Washing our makeup brushes regularly is a MUST (as in at least every other week).
Beauty blenders need to be included in the washing, too.
If something falls on the floor, just throw it away.
Always wash your hands before you apply your makeup.

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Moral of the story: make sure that you are putting the time and effort into keeping your makeup products just as clean as you would your face. After all, we often wonder where unwanted breakouts, etc, come from and all the bacteria lingering in your makeup bags could most definitely be a culprit.

XOXO,

Allison