It's tempting to watch your best friend pull her favorite (and perfectly shaded!) pinkish nude lipstick out of her bag and want to ask to use it when she's done. But the truth is, you just shouldn't — unless, of course, you have some alcohol-based wipes at the ready to sanitize it. And here's why: "Even though someone doesn't have a visible cold sore, they can still carry herpes simplex virus 1 [HSV-1] and pass it off to you in one makeup application," explains Dendy Engelman, MD, a New York City cosmetic dermatologist."That's why it's so important to reduce the risk of communicating these types of viruses and different types of bacteria to one another by using your own makeup."
