how long do paints keep?

Some of my paint is going on 6 years old. I have some unopened or never used paints as well..how long will it keep?

if it's not moldy and doesn't smell, it's fine. face paints have anti-microbial ingredients (often parabens) to resist/prevent spoilage.

the other issue would be if the texture has changed, but just try using it and see how it goes. if it's really dried out, try adding water and letting it soak in to resuscitate it.

Check the bottom of the container. there's a symbol that indicates how long after first use they are guaranteed to keep...
The number is how many months...

I think paint is similar to food:

Masses of food wasted—‘use by’ dates mislead
Carolyn Lochhead, San Francisco Chronicle, September 19, 2013
Washington—Americans throw away 40 percent of the food they buy, often because of misleading expiration dates that have nothing to do with safety, said a study released Wednesday by Harvard University Law School and the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group.
"The date labeling system is not a system at all," said NRDC staff scientist Dana Gunders, co-author of the report, the first to assess date labeling laws nationwide.
The report said 90 percent of Americans toss good food into the garbage because they mistakenly think that “sell by,” “best before,” “use by” or “packed on” dates on food containers indicate safety. One-fifth of consumers, the report said, “always” throw away food based on package dates.
In fact, “sell by” dates are used by retailers for inventory control. “Best before” or “use by” dates usually reflect manufacturer estimates of peak quality. While some labels are intended to indicate freshness, none of them reflects edibility or safety, said Ted Labuza, a food science professor at the University of Minnesota who collaborated with the authors.
"If food looks rotten and smells bad, throw it away, but just because it reaches a certain date does not mean the food is unsafe," Labuza said. "I don’t know of any food poisoning outbreak that came from people eating food that was past its shelf-life date."
The report estimated the value of food tossed away at $165 billion a year.
San Francisco collects 600 tons of food scraps each day, or about half the city’s compost waste, said Robert Reed, a spokesman for Recology, the San Francisco company that runs the city’s composting and recycling operation. (The rest is from yard trimmings.)
Labuza said 80 percent of labels that indicate freshness “are guesses from consumer questionnaires” or are based on competitor practices.
Microbes, which cause food to taste, smell or feel bad, often show up before pathogens, he said, which means food is likely to become unappetizing before it makes a person sick. Food poisoning comes from pathogens that can enter the food chain at any point, from field to kitchen counter, Labuza said. Careless handling by consumers or businesses who leave food sitting in a hot car or loading dock are often culprits.

Does that help at all?

i can verify that yogurt is still edible a month after it's "sell by" date

Snazaroo says 18 months, but I think is after you use the first time, I repot my paints, even the white and balck, so my stored paints are always unused clean paint.

yes, the symbol of the months indicates 'after first use'