Here's What Happens To Your Skin When You Fall Asleep With Your Make-Up On

We're all guilty of doing this.

It's been a long night and the last thing you want to do is spend half an hour painstakingly removing the remnants of your day's make-up, so you leave it on - because really how much harm can it do?

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Well it turns out it would have been worth spending those 30 minutes on your skincare routine, as the effects of leaving your make-up on overnight can be quite negative indeed.

According to Attn, collagen renewal stops, irritation can incur and worst of all, your crusty mascara can cause painful eye infections.

Collagen is needed to keep up looking fresh and youthful but this is halted by the presence of ‘free radicals’ on the skin.

Free radicals is basically another term for your make-up latching onto your skin and refusing to let it breath.

“When free radicals sit on our skin at night, this can cause problems with cellular turnover since they break down collagen production in our skin,”medical aesthetician, Lauren Bound said.

“It’s important we give our skin a good wash to get rid of them and then a chance to breathe for the night."

Spots also form from the perfumes and dyes often found in make-up products so if you're going to sleep in your full face, then make sure the make-up you're using is hypoallergenic.

“If you know you aren’t the best at washing your face at night, at least make sure what you had on during the day isn’t going to be doing any further harm. Mineral makeup is generally free of toxic, pore clogging ingredients," Lauren said.

So moral of the story is; make-up remover wipes are your friend.