No matter if you are the first in the store or the last customer of the day, makeup testers are full of bacteria. You may think that employees clean or replace the testers. But due to more pressing matters, this often doesn’t happen. While we also like to think the best of our peers, telling ourselves that they won’t double dip, that they’ll always use a disposable spoolie, and that most people avoid touching the product with their fingers — you can never be too careful.
“Most commonly seen is E. coli from people who do not wash their hands after using the bathroom,” chemist Ginger King tells Allure. According to Mayo Clinic, an E. coli infection can cause stomach cramps, bloody diarrhea, and vomiting. It can also be described as the “stomach virus on steroids,” and it’s an infection you’d want to avoid at all costs. E. coli is not the only danger of makeup testers, though. Almost any virus can be transmitted through these testers as people cough and sneeze on them. Other common infections (such as eye infections) can be transmitted from mascara testers.
