Do you need a beauty fridge for skincare products ?
Do your beauty products keep going bad?
Use your fridge to help them last longer

Shahnaz Husain *

Most of us keep our skincare products close to hand in our bathrooms. While room-temp skin-care products are still doing your complexion plenty of good, there are some items in particular that benefit from being refrigerated.

Keeping your products in cool, dry places and out of direct sunlight actually helps them to last longer after opening.

As a rule of thumb, always remember that skin care products shouldn’t be kept in hot, steamy bathroom as it may be exposed to the sun, left open or cross contaminated.

Fluctuating temperatures in your bathroom and direct sunlight can cause certain ingredients to break down, oxidize, curdle, melt or change the potency which can also affect the look, feel, smell, and effectiveness of products. The long-term exposure to heat or direct sunlight can cause changes in texture or separation which will impact a products efficacy.

Natural products are more sensitive to light and heat compared to products that contain more preservatives. Storing natural cosmetics and skincare products without the use of chemical preservatives in a fridge helps preserve the integrity of active ingredients and might actually boost their efficacy.

When it comes to making cosmetics last longer, lower temperature is generally better.

LIPSTICK

Do you experience melting and breaking down of lipsticks often, especially during summer months ? This is due to heat. Sunlight and environmental heat can cause the formula to become thick and sometimes alter the color.

The intense heat can cause the chemicals in your lipstick to break down over time and this can alter the shade. Heat can cause its natural oils to go bad leaving you with a shade that doesn't look like the one you purchased.

Storing your lipstick in the chilled environment of a fridge will help them last longer, prevent the lipsticks’ chemicals from decomposing which will help the lipstick to maintain its shape. Lipsticks are prone to oxidation reactions that can turn certain oils rancid and keeping your sticks in the ‘fridge can slow down that process.’

NAIL POLISH

Just like other beauty products, nail polish requires a specific storage method to ensure longevity. High temperatures activate the solvents within the nail polish which gives your polish that thick and melted consistency. Keeping nail polish in a fridge slows down the normal possible discoloration and solvent evaporation of the polish, which happens as the polish gets older.

Keeping your polish in the fridge helps the paint stay thin so it goes on evenly while also preserving its true color. If you wish to use your favourite shade of nail paint for a longer time, make sure you don’t put it in the deep freezer or the vegetable shelf.

Place it besides the egg tray or next to your chocolate box in an upright position. When you want to use it, remove from the fridge and let it come to room temperature to get a smooth and even application. You can even roll the bottle in between your palms to warm it.

PERFUME

Perfumes are sensitive to heat. If your perfume is lying on the dressing table or on the bathroom shelves and it's exposed to too much light and heat then it can go molecule changes due to chemical breakdowns that can alter their scent.

This ultraviolet light can damage the delicate structure of the liquid, changing the smells, or even destroying them. The bathroom, otherwise known as the ‘perfume graveyard’, is the worst place to keep perfume as heat and humidity will quickly break down the structure of the perfume.

The best way to keep your expensive perfumes fresh is to keep inside the fridge to maintain fragrance and retain chemical compounds with you until the last drop. In this way the real fragrance also stay longer and the cool spray lift your mood up.

Aloe vera gel

Aloe Vera helps to calm your skin, avoid inflammation and also hydrates your skin the right way and keeps it cool. One of the most common uses for aloe is healing sunburns and treating acne and inflammations due to pollutions, heat and humidity in the environment.

Applying cold aloe to sunburns helps reduce itching and terrible burning and speeding healing. Storing freshly extracted aloe vera gel in your refrigerator should keep it fresh for a few days. The cooling effect of the gel can moisturize drying skin or sunburn.

When you have more aloe gel than you'll use within a week, freeze it. To freeze the gel, transfer the gel in ice trays and place them inside the freezer. To make things even simpler, use a flexible silicone tray so you can easily pop out the cubes. These gel cubes can be used anytime and are quite effective when used on sunburns and dry skin.