London, Feb 25 (IANS) Cosmetics owned by many women in Britain could be up to four years out of date, a research revealed and it warned that 'reluctance to throw away old products' was risky.

Research showed that eye shadow, blusher, lipstick, lip gloss, eyebrow pencils and perfume were often well past their use-by date, putting women's health at risk, Daily Express reported Thursday.

Sara Stern, cosmetics' director at Debenhams that -carried out the study, said: 'Reluctance to throw away old -products is a risky business.'

'We wouldn't hesitate to chuck out mouldy or bacteria-ridden food and the same standards should apply to lotions and potions.

'Hopefully this call to action will encourage women to have a ruthless spring clean of their cosmetics collections,' she was quoted as saying.

-European guidelines clearly state the shelf life of the product. But the study found that 89 percent of women were -unaware the information existed, didn't understand what the symbol meant or were unable to read the -often-tiny writing.

The chances of infection were multiplied as 68 percent of the women only replaced make-up and skincare when they ran out and 60 percent shared make-up.