Lipstick Ingredients: What Really Goes into Cosmetics

Anyone who has seen how sausage is made will most likely never eat sausage again. Similarly, almost any woman who knows the ingredients of her red lipstick will more than likely think twice before putting it on her mouth. Shockingly, the FDA has only reviewed the safety of 11% of the 10,500 ingredients that go into cosmetics– a statistic that begs for action from consumers.

The most common brands of lipstick, like Maybelline, Cover Girl, and Revlon, are produced using ingredients that are questionable at best and horrifying at worst. Natural makeup companies offer safer, healthier varieties of lipstick, but they are harder to come by and often more expensive. If your makeup bag contains a tube of conventional red lipstick, here’s what you’re unknowingly ingesting.

Lipstick Ingredients: Carmine

The beautiful, rich shade of crimson most often associated with lipstick almost invariably comes from carmine, a natural food coloring that has been in production for centuries. While this may not sound bad at all, it has a serious gross-out factor: carmine is produced through the boiling of highly pigmented beetles. It has been known to cause irritation and allergic reactions in people who are sensitive to it.

Lipstick Ingredients: Coal-Tar Derived FD&C; Coloring

Red lipstick pigments, including the popular Red #40, are derived from coal tar, a sludgy and toxic mixture that, given enough processing, produces a thin dye generally considered to be safe. However, Red 40 and other artificial colors have been associated with attention deficit, headaches, nausea, and skin irritation– the dyes are certainly not something that you want sitting on your lips all day.

Lipstick Ingredients: Phthalates

Perhaps the most alarming of common lipstick ingredients, phthalates go completely unlisted on all cosmetics, even though they may be present in very hazardous levels. One study found that three-quarters of lipstick brands used phthalates as traceable ingredients, but none were required to list them on their ingredients. Phthalates are a serious health hazard linked to birth defects, cancer, hormone problems, and nervous system disorders.

Lipstick Ingredients: Fragrance

Many artificial fragrances have been strongly linked to headaches and nausea, and may also cause chronic conditions, including cancer. In all but natural lipstick, powerful fragrance is often a key ingredient. Dermatitis and chapped lips are also often caused by irritation from artifiical fragrances and dyes, and are an annoying, unattractive, and burdensome problem for many lipstick wearers.

Lipstick Ingredients: Hazardous “Lake” Colors

Many of the “Lake” artificial colors found in lipstick are derived from carcinogenic sources. Several different “lake” dyes and pigments used in lipstick are known or suspected of causing cancer, and Red #3– a cherry-pink dye used in red and pink lipsticks– has been banned in many countries since it is believed to be highly toxic. They may also cause irritation and allergic reactions, accelerating the aging and drying of the lips.

While many women may opt to surrender their red lipstick entirely to avoid the chemicals found in it, others might choose to instead try natural cosmetics from sustainable businesses. Consumers who prefer safer, natural lifestyles may want to think twice before buying a tube of Revlon.

Sources: Not Too Pretty: Phthalates, Beauty Products and the FDA, (2002), Environmental Working Group, Health Care Without Harm and Coming Clean; Skin Deep, Environmental Working Group DNA damage induced by red food dyes orally administered to pregnant and male mice. Tsuda S, et al, Toxicol Sci 2001, May;61(1):92-9; Estrogenic and DNA-damaging activity of Red No. 3 in human breast cancer cells. Dees C, et al, Environ Health Perspect 1997 Apr;105 Suppl 3:625-32