When is it time to throw out old lipstick etc?

I know that some say that make-up should be binned after a couple of months because of bacteria and so on, but on that basis I would have none at all, as I wear it so rarely.

Personally, if it hasn't dried out, and your brushes/applicators are clean, I would keep it as long as you are likely to use it - I suspect that the figure of 2 months is one bandied about by the manufacturers .

all these things do harbour germs.
but i can see that if rarely used, it would be impractical/expensive to ditch after few months.
re those that use brushes, dabbers etc, it would be good idea to frequently discard those applicators.
you can buy bags of new ones cheaply in poundland etc.

When the case scrapes on my lip

When they go claggy.

Me too, BlueBelle. Or when they start to smell.

I wash my brushes and applicators.

A lot of make up is marked so that you can see it’s use by date. I always mean to mark the date I bought it, but so far have achieved a big fat zero. Anyone tempted to melt down lipstick stubs to make a pot full, please take care - I burnt myself badly doing this, and still didn’t use the resulting pot. The only system I use is “would I be embarrassed if this fell out of my bag in a smart restaurant?” In conjunction with “whatever possessed me to buy this, it must have been the strange lights in the shop”.

Bluebelle ??

BlueBelle

When the case scrapes on my lip

Use a Q tip or similar, Bluebelle
You'll find loads left!

BlueBelle

When the case scrapes on my lip

No BlueBelle - that’s when you dig deeper with a lip brush.
??

Actually I gathered all my lipsticks from various bags, coat pockets etc and put them all in one box recently. I have 19 in total (who even knew that?). No way am I binning any of them, even though they’ve not been worn in months (what’s the point under a mask?). They are all coming out once lockdown ends that’s for sure!
? ?

I have so many lipsticks that dry up and get thrown away, the reason being that I hardly ever wear them. My lips seem to be too red for a lipstick to show up on no matter what shade I try. Obviously doing something wrong.

Callistemon
A woman after my own heart. I use a lip brush to get the last of the lipstick out of the case. I was brought up to waste not, want not.

Mascara will last 2/3 months before needs binning, which seems quite soon, lipsticks 12/18 months, water based foundations will last 1 year, oil based foundations up to 18 months, I know this as worked as beauty consultant