This viral hack tells you exactly how long your beauty products have been sitting on the shelf

Jampacked with high-end dupes and cheapie hidden gems, chemist makeup aisles are any beauty lover’s kryptonite. What was once a mundane in-and-out job has now become a much anticipated (sometimes hours long) shopping trip which typically ends covered in glitter swatches and half of our paychecks out the window. And that’s before we even reach the bargain bins.

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Overflowing with lipsticks and other beauty steals that have had their prices slashed for being ‘on the way out’, these pots of discounted gold are where makeup bargain hunters do some of their finest work. 

But according to a video gone viral on TikTok, there’s a quick and simple way to ensure these products are actually just ‘on the way out’ and not well past their use by date. 

By entering in the characters typically found on the bottom of any cosmetics product, otherwise known as the ‘batch code’ into the website Cosmetics Calculator, you will be given the time and location the product was made, as well as its exact shelf life. 

Using this hack in his TikTok video, Cannon Rider discovers a moisturiser that was given a 36-month shelf life was still on sale almost a decade later: “This product is almost 10 years old and they’re trying to sell it to you, don’t get scammed,” he said. 

So to avoid purchasing expired products, which not only lose their efficacy but can also lead to skin irritation and congestion, spend a few seconds examining their batch code. Because nobody needs to be taking home skin care as old as them.

Main image credit: @roseinc