Exploded! Yes, exploded. One summer day, a bottle of hot pink nail polish exploded in my car. The smell hit my nose before I saw it. I’d been away from the car for a matter of minutes and returned to pink carnage. It looked like the Pink Panther had thrown up in my car. There was pink — and glass — everywhere: on the ceiling, the leather seats, the door, the gear stick. It was a mess. My cute lime green Volkswagen Beetle had a new interior and not for the better.

Cars get hot — anywhere, not just in Vegas. When we leave our gym bags, spa totes, purses, and even newly purchased cosmetics in our vehicles, they may be altered and damaged by the heat. Just the other day I got a bottle of tinted serum from Nordstrom in the mail. I didn’t make it to the mailbox for two days, and realized that I may have inadvertently damaged my new product by letting it get too hot (probably did, but I’m using in anyway). They don’t ship wine in this heat, maybe they shouldn’t ship makeup!

A 1995 study conducted on a 93° partially cloudy day, with humidity of 53%,  showed that a car with the windows rolled up reached 125° within 20 minutes and 140°in 40 minutes. That is way too hot for children, pets, makeup, and phones and computers.

In that kind of heat lipsticks turns to liquid, oils separate in moisturizers and lotions, powders degrade, and chemical changes can occur in all products. Using products that have “turned” may mean that you’re not be getting the expected benefits and you may even be damaging your skin. Shortly after moving to Vegas, I made it a habit to carry my gym bag into work and to be careful about leaving anything in the car. I’ve even been known to take a cooler, not for my lunch, but for my makeup if I knew it would have to stay in the car for some reason. I carry my computer into restaurants if I have it with me, and try (but don’t always) remember to grab my phone.

Here are some other things that don’t do well in hot cars that you may want to consider:

You get the idea…

NOTE: Yes, a perfectly fine bottle of nail polish was fatally injured in the making of this post as was a tube of lipstick.

Another funny heat-related VW Bug story — one day sailing down the highway, the driver side window vanished into the door never to be seen again. I took it straight to the dealership where the service man just looked at me in disgust. He said he could take care of it and the other window as well. I looked at him quizically and he said, “It hit a critical temperature and a plastic support failed — we’ve had 150 vehicles in here today with this problem. It may take awhile to get to yours!” Imagine 300 Beetle windows vanishing all over the valley!

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Ryan Cabrera