Any MuA have a special way or use a particular product to sanitize lipsticks?

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Use isopropyl alcohol/propan-2-ol (I believe this is sold in the USA as isopropyl rubbing alcohol) at above 70% concentration, 99% is better. Dip the lipstick into the alcohol and hold upside down while it dries.

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Sarah W - Flying M·A·Caholic

When dipping, do I quickly dip it into the alcohol or is there a certain time limit?

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“The best thing is to look natural, but it takes makeup to look natural” - Calvin Klein

Feeling heartcore? Me too. Let's talk make-up! AIM: MACaholicMAE

I'd hold it in for a few seconds and let it dry naturally. Strictly speaking, some bugs are only killed by contact with alcohol for as long as two minutes. That's why it's better to let the product dry naturally rather than to wipe the alcohol off.

Viruses need a high concentration of alcohol to kill them (>95%) and I'd suggest that viruses, particularly herpes simplex which causes cold sores, are a greater problem for lip products than bacteria.

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Sarah W - Flying M·A·Caholic

What I do is lightly cut the tip and melt the lipstick with a lighter.I light the tip gently this restores the lipstick and ofcourse the heat kills the germs.Do not use to much heat or you will completely melt the lipstick.

The other methods listed are just as good.

The cigarette lighter approach is much less likely to be consistent as you cannot guarantee to heat all of the surface of the product to a high enough temperature.

There are also some bacteria and viruses which have quite a high resistance to heat. It's not a technique that's recommended professionally.

Cigarette lighters, whether gas (usually butane) or liquid fuelled burn with a yellow flame which means there is plenty of unburnt carbon (soot) in the flame which can be deposited into the product. When flame sanitizing glassware and innoculation loops in microbiology laboratories, a blue clean flame is used which burns much hotter and leaves no deposit. With a liquid fuelled lighter such as a Zippo there's also a danger that unburnt hydrocarbons will end up being deposited onto the lipstick.

From a scientific standpoint I'd strongly advise against using a cigarette lighter to sanitize cosmetics.

You must also remember that alcohol is highly flammable so avoid smoking or working anywhere near naked flames when using isopropyl alcohol to sanitize your cosmetics.

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Sarah W - Flying M·A·Caholic

I wipe down the entire outside of the lippy w/ alchol and then just cut the top of the lipstick off. I have 3 children, they certainly keep my immune system strong!

The heat is very equipt to kill all bacteria I'm not arguing against you its just a fact.Even from a ciggerette lighter.I dont smoke ciggerettes however I have my DH lighter handy.
I noted that this is my method and it works for me.I feel more secure and again I cut the tip thats used off or card it off with a clean notecard.
Has anyone ever wondered why lipsticks are put out for testers? and there is no sanatizing method,MAC wipes off the lipstick lightly.Chances of catching something with a used lipstick are very small in the first place.The ingredients contained in a lipstick naturally provent the spread of bacteria even the beeswax itself which contains monohydric alcohol.This kills endospores and other microorganisms.So wiping the lipstick is more of a procaution and I think there is a different way everyone likes to sanatize the lipstick

A big no no is to flame the lipstick if you dipped it in alcohol.

I shared this incase someone else who knows what they are doing with a lighter may want to try it.Ive been doing this for years and have not caught any germs. Its a neater way for me to sanatize.

Please dont mistake this for an arguement.

If you decide to palette your lipsticks and use a microwave for a short time setting in order to have the lipsticks settle better, Would that kill alot/most of the bacteria?

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Are you able to supply microbiological evidence to support that (using actual tests done on lipstick as opposed to saying "heating bacteria in a flame kills it") or any cosmetics industry reference for the method?

You might find it useful to learn about different types of sterilization before making unsupported claims - see here. Please note that boiling in water for 15 minutes does not kill all microbes. It's exceedingly unlikely that putting a lipstick in a flame for a few seconds and removing it before it melts will achieve sustained temperatures above 100ºC given that lipstick melts well below this temerature. When flaming microbiological apparatus, it's heated to very much above 100ºC (loops glow red hot and glassware will reach a couple of hundred degrees very fast). You cannot do this with lipstick.

Consider a little experiment. Paper burns easily when exposed to a cigarette lighter flame, doesn't it? Not always. Make a water bomb and fill it with water. Place it over a flame and it doesn't ignite no matter how hard you try. In fact, because the water absorbs the heat very effectively, the surface of the paper never gets significantly hotter than the water contained within. You can actually boil water in a water bomb although you have to be pretty careful otherwise you can easily scald yourself.

In the same way, the surface of a lipstick isn't going to achieve a very high temperature until the lipstick deeper has heated up. You're not achieving the high temperatures needed to kill microorganisms that you think you are.

What may "work" for you may not in fact kill bacteria and viruses adequately and would certainly not be used by qualified professional makeup artists.

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Sarah W - Flying M·A·Caholic

The temperature probably won't (see my previous answer) be sufficient to sterilize the product.

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Sarah W - Flying M·A·Caholic

Strictly speaking... that's true. The lab next to ours working on vibrio cholerae works on the bench as opposed to fumehood because the presence of a burning bunsen burner is sufficient enought o provide a sterile environment for microbial work. Their bacterial innoculations don't suffer from as contaminations as mine, and my experiments require level 2 bioharzard safety regulations. So, even though it seems crude, its fairly effective. Although spores and some heat resistant bacteria are not harmed against it, its rather difficult, anyhow, to secure a completely sterile environment in one's home.

There is a reason 70% ethanol is ubiqutiously used in labs, not just for economical reasons, but it's most effective at dehydrating gram negative bacterial cell walls. 70% ethanol is effective against both HSV-1 and 2.

Flames will only sterilize if the substrate they are being applied to reaches a sufficient temperature. A bunsen burner used in a microbiology lab is used to heat glassware and innoculation loops to far higher temperatures than will ever be achieved using a cigarette lighter on a lipstick surface.

If you're talking about keeping the air around the bench clean then that will partly be due to the venturi effect that draws air into the bunsen burner mixing it with the gas. There will also be a significant convection effect as hot air rises. Particulates carried in the air will be burnt in the flame. That's not something that has any relevance to sanitizing lipstick.

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Sarah W - Flying M·A·Caholic