What is the Production Date, Expiration Date & Period After Opening (PAO)?

Production date (or manufacture date): It is the date when the product was manufactured. More precisely, it is the date when the batch (or lot) of cosmetics was produced.

Expiration date: It is the date when the cosmetic product expires and should not be used. It is usually printed directly on the product package in the form month/year or day/month/year, for example: Exp. 09/15 means that makeup can be used only till September, 2015; Exp. 20/06/2015 means that makeup can be used only till 20 of June, 2015.

Period after opening (PAO): For products that do not have expiry date on the package , look for an “open jar” sign with a number followed by the letter M. This number indicates how many months the product can be safely used for after opening. For instance, 6M means that the product can be used for six months after it’s opened and 12M means that the product can be used for twelve months after it is opened.