Friends don't let friends use old lipgloss

Technology and I have not always had an easy relationship. (Our Facebook status would most definitely read, “It’s complicated.”) Sure, I’m grateful for modern medicine and air travel, but what about the night my laptop crashed mere hours before my essay on women in 19th century British poetry was due? I knew then that we were entering a rough patch.

But technology has won me back, yet again, with a foray into the wonderful world of cosmetics.

You probably know that makeup doesn’t last forever. But who among us is actually organized enough to keep track of how long that pot of shimmery eyeshadow and that waterproof mascara have been sitting in the bottom of our makeup bags? Thankfully, someone finally found a way to remedy this problem.

Cargo has added their new Timestrip Technology to their Classic and Blu_ray glosses (from $22, cargocosmetics.com). When you open your new tube of peach-y “Whistler” or strawberry-hued “Cyprus,” you insert a strip into the cap, which will slowly turn red as the product ages. Once the meter is completely crimson (which should take nine months) you know it’s time to throw that gloss in the trash and try a new shade.