How do I know how long my specific product lasts after opening?

Look for the PAO symbol on the packaging: a small open-jar icon with a number inside, such as 6M, 12M or 24M, meaning that many months after first opening. If the product instead carries only a printed expiry date, that date applies whether or not it is opened. The lifespans in this guide are typical ranges for when the symbol is missing or the box is long gone.

Can I use skincare after its PAO has passed?

The PAO is a manufacturer's guidance for full potency and preservative protection, not a switch that flips at midnight. Past it, actives degrade (so results fade first) and preservative systems weaken (so contamination risk rises, especially in jars and droppers). Rule of thumb: anything that touches the eye area, anything water-based in a jar, and SPF deserve strictness; a pump-bottle cleanser a month over is a smaller worry. If smell, colour or texture has changed, stop regardless of dates.

Does unopened skincare expire?

Yes, more slowly. Sealed products still age: many carry a printed expiry date, and unstable actives such as vitamin C degrade even unopened. As a working rule, use sealed products within two to three years of purchase, sooner for actives and SPF, and rotate the oldest sealed backups to the front of the queue.

How long does skincare last after opening?

Last updated: 25 July 2026

Guidance only, not expert advice. We make a skincare tracker, not skincare; the ranges below are general reference points collected from manufacturer PAO labelling conventions, not laboratory data, and they can't account for your product's specific formula. Your product's own PAO symbol or printed expiry date always wins over this page, the manufacturer's guidance wins over both, and if a product looks, smells or feels wrong, that wins over everything. For medical concerns or reactions, ask a pharmacist or dermatologist. Published by Hadakeo, a skincare tracker, which is relevant only in the last section.

The one rule: the clock starts at opening

Most skincare doesn't spoil on a printed date the way milk does. The working lifespan is the PAO (period after opening): the open-jar symbol on the packaging with a number inside, 6M, 12M, 24M, meaning that many months from the day it was first opened. Exposure to air, fingers, light and bathroom humidity is what ages a formula, so the countdown begins at first use, not at purchase.

Typical lifespans by category

Product	After opening, typically	Worth knowing
Cleanser (gel, foam, oil)	12 months	Rinse-off formulas are forgiving; oil cleansers can go rancid sooner if kept warm.
Toner / essence	6–12 months	Water-rich and often lightly preserved; decant-pour bottles last better than open-mouth ones.
Serum (general)	6–12 months	Droppers ferry air and skin bacteria back into the bottle; pumps last longer.
Vitamin C (L-ascorbic acid)	3–6 months	The shortest-lived staple. Darkening to amber or brown means it is oxidising; results fade before it turns.
Retinol / retinoids	6–9 months	Light- and air-sensitive; aluminium tubes and airless pumps meaningfully outlast jars.
Moisturiser (pump or tube)	6–12 months	The packaging is the variable, see the jar row.
Moisturiser (open jar)	6 months, sometimes less	Fingers plus air plus a wide mouth: the shortest practical life of any format. A spatula helps.
Sunscreen	6–12 months	Degraded SPF fails silently: it looks and feels fine while protecting less. Be strict here.
Eye cream	6 months	Short window because the stakes (the eye area) are higher, not because the formula differs much.
Face oil	6–12 months	Goes rancid rather than "off": trust your nose. Store cool and dark.
Clay / wash-off mask	6–12 months	Jars again; water added in the bathroom (wet fingers) shortens it.
Sheet masks	Single use; sealed, until the printed date	No PAO, they carry a hard expiry date. The essence degrades even sealed.
Lip balm	12 months	Direct-from-tube application is surprisingly resilient; pots less so.
Spot treatments / acids	6–12 months	Strong acids and BPO are inherently hostile to microbes but the actives themselves weaken.

What shortens (or extends) these numbers

Packaging beats formula. The same cream lasts noticeably longer in an airless pump than in a jar you dip fingers into. When choosing between formats, the boring pump is the better buy.
The bathroom is the worst room. Heat and steam accelerate everything. Actives, oils and backups do better in a cool, dark drawer elsewhere.
Water-based beats anhydrous for microbes, loses for actives. Balms and oils rarely grow things but do go rancid; watery formulas grow things but keep their (fewer) actives longer.
Sealed isn't paused, it's slowed. Unopened products age too; many carry printed expiry dates, and vitamin C degrades in the sealed bottle. Two to three years from purchase is the working limit, sooner for actives and SPF.

The signs that overrule every date

Separation that shaking doesn't fix, a smell that has changed, a colour shift (especially vitamin C turning amber), texture going grainy or slimy, or any new stinging on application: any one of these retires the product immediately, whatever the PAO says.

The hard part is remembering the opening date

Every number above counts from a date almost nobody records. Six months later, "when did I open this?" has no answer, and the honest fallback becomes "if I have to ask, it's too old", which wastes good product as surely as it protects you from bad.

Any system that records opening dates fixes this: a marker on the bottle, a maintained spreadsheet, or a tracker that does the arithmetic for you. Hadakeo, which publishes this guide, is one such tracker: it runs in the browser on any device, imports a whole haul from a photo of the receipt, and counts down each product's PAO from the day you mark it open, with a reminder before it turns. The first 15 products are free. The full comparison of tracking methods and rival apps is in the expiry-tracking guide.