WARNING: Don't use out of date makeup!

It's been a bit quiet here on Elegant Destinies for the past few days - the reason being that I haven't been very well...

Late Monday night/Tuesday morning I thought I'd have a look around my makeup collection and just play with some of my less used products. I picked up my beloved Estée Lauder Double Wear foundation, I used to love wearing this and it just got lost under the all newcomers over the years (note word years...). Trying to be a loyal makeup lover - I popped it all over my face and for the next few hours I tinkered with my makeup and created all kinds of crazy looks. When I came to taking it all off though, I noticed lots of small bumps all over my skin. Now,  I don't mean to sound like I'm bragging but my skin is usually pretty smooth so these bumps worried me a little. I decided the best course of action would be to cleanse my skin with my Bioderma and leave it to calm down over night. When I woke up the bumps were still there but they hadn't got any worse so I was slightly relieved -  I left my skin bare all day as a precaution and thought that as it hadn't got any worse, that I didn't need to worry. I didn't really look in the mirror all day but when my boyfriend said he was coming over I thought that I'd make some effort to look presentable so I sat down at my little makeup area and looked in the mirror... I was shocked to see that my whole face was bright red and covered in small red bumps.

*Now lets take a moment to appreciate my sheer stupidity*

What did I do next? Yep, you've guessed it. In my desperation, silly old me tried to cover my entire scarlet face with the same foundation I'd used in the first place. This was a very bad move. The foundation refused to blend, it just dragged my face as I tried to buff it in. Suddenly it started burning and I fled to the bathroom to frantically wash it off leaving my boyfriend looking confused and shocked standing in the hallway. After removing the foundation, I started to feel incredibly itchy and sore, I had to try my hardest not to claw my face off. I then began feeling nauseous and experienced sparkly vision - It was scary to say the least. Before I went to bed my Mum tentatively applied Savlon to my raw face, it soothed it a little and I started to feel a bit better. Things were going to be fine... right?

I awoke to see my Mum peering at me from the end of my bed with a worried face - "brilliant" I thought "I'm still red and bumpy". I sat up cautiously and gaped at my reflection in the mirror opposite my bed. OH MY GOSH. The redness has gone down but my entire face had swollen and I could barely recognise myself.

Please excuse the mugshots!

I ended up going to the Dr's and was told that I'd had a serious allergic contact reaction and he gave me steroid cream. I'm still a bit puffy now and can't wear any makeup for two weeks but I'm so relieved that it wasn't anymore serious! On reflection, I realised that the foundation I used was over TWO YEARS old - Bad Jess!!

The moral of the story is... Throw out your old makeup!

(unless you want to end up looking like the Face of Boe)

Admit it, you have some out of date products lurking in the bottom of your makeup bag, don't you? ;)

This reaction I suffered is no reflection on the product or Estée Lauder as a company, it is merely my fault as a consumer for using out of date makeup. I do not wish to discourage people from buying this foundation as I really enjoyed using it when it was at its prime. I will be purchasing a new bottle in the future.