Skincare Expiry Checker
Enter the date you opened a product and the number from the open-jar symbol on its pack. The checker gives the date to use it by and how many days are left, with the signs that mean you should throw it out sooner.
Free, no sign-up. What you enter stays in your browser: it is not saved or sent to HerFound. Reviewed .
Printed on the pack as 6M, 12M, 24M and so on. For 12M, enter 12.
Enter the date you opened the product and the number from the open-jar symbol on the pack.
This is general information, not medical advice. It cannot take your own health history into account. For anything that worries you, speak to a doctor, midwife or pharmacist.
How it works
The calculation is: use-by date = the date you opened it + the period after opening, in calendar months. The period after opening is the number in the open-jar symbol on the pack, such as 6M, 12M or 24M. If the month it lands in is shorter, the last day of that month is used, so 31 January plus 1 month is 28 February.
The symbol comes from the EU and UK cosmetics rules. A product that keeps for 30 months or less must carry a best-before date instead. A product that keeps for more than 30 months must show the open-jar symbol with the number of months it stays safe to use once opened.
If you leave the number empty, the checker only fills one in where we found a figure in an official source. For mascara it uses 3 months, because the FDA says manufacturers usually recommend discarding mascara two to four months after purchase. For other product types we found no sourced typical figure, so the checker asks for the number on your pack.
Sunscreen is handled differently. The FDA requires sunscreens to keep their original strength for at least three years, so with no open-jar number the checker counts three years from the date you enter. A printed expiry date on the bottle always comes first.
What it cannot tell you
- The date is a guide, not a guarantee. Heat, sunlight, damp and fingers in the jar all shorten a product's life, and the checker cannot know how yours was stored.
- A printed best-before or expiry date overrides this result. Use whichever date comes first.
- A product can go off before its date. Throw it out if the smell, colour or texture changes, or if it separates.
- It cannot tell you whether a product is safe for your skin. If you get an eye infection, stop using eye-area products and see a doctor or pharmacist. See one too for a rash or reaction to any product.
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Common questions
12M on skincare means the product should be used within 12 months of first opening it. The number sits inside or beside a small drawing of an open jar, called the period-after-opening symbol. 6M means six months and 24M means two years.
Skincare lasts as long after opening as the open-jar symbol on its pack says, for example 12M for twelve months. There is no single figure that fits all products. Eye-area products tend to have shorter lives, and the FDA notes mascara is usually discarded two to four months after purchase.
A skincare product has probably gone bad if its smell, colour or texture has changed, or if it has separated into layers. The FDA says heat, sunlight and air can cause these changes, and that fingers and applicators add bacteria each time you use a product. Throw it out even if the date has not passed.
Yes, sunscreen expires. The FDA requires sunscreens to keep their original strength for at least three years, and the American Academy of Dermatology says to throw a sunscreen out once its printed expiry date has passed. If your bottle has no date, write the date you bought it on the bottle.
Throw out mascara about two to four months after you bought it, which is what the FDA says manufacturers usually recommend. Discard it sooner if it dries out, and never add water or saliva to it. If you get an eye infection, throw away the eye products you were using.