Good Looks
The most toxic cosmetic? Traditional lip glosses, finds study
"Unintentional" ingredients found in lip glosses include lead—at 10 times the amount the FDA allows. (Photo: THE GAZETTE/Allen McInnis)
You won’t see heavy metals like arsenic, lead, and mercury listed on your beauty product labels. But that doesn’t mean your skin care and makeup is free of them. In fact, your best-selling Sephora lip gloss looks to be loaded with arsenic and other known toxins.
A Canadian environmental group recently had 49 popular beauty products tested for heavy metals, and was surprised to find just how many traditional beauty products (ie: chemically formulated ones) contained these “unintentional” ingredients.
Lead was detected in 96 percent of the products, arsenic in 20 percent, and cadmium in 51 percent, according to the Montreal Gazette, which published the report findings.
If these concentrations were found in milk, there would be a nationwide uproar if not a product recall. So why are these toxins tolerated in skin care?
Traditional beauty brands like to say that these ingredients appear in amounts so small they don’t warrant mention on product labels (the FDA agrees), nor do they cause much harm. (Although no traditional beauty brand or the FDA has tested this claim.)
But this small study finds that there are considerably more heavy metals in products than companies have let on. In fact, in the case of Benefit Benetint Pocket Pal Gloss, it sounds out of control.
The popular makeup-bag staple contained the highest lead concentration, “more than 10 times the limit set out in Health Canada’s draft guidelines for contaminants (10 parts per million). Even this limit is nearly 10 times higher than what the US FDA has proved to be technically avoidable, at 1.07 ppm,” says the Gazette.
Considering that lip products are so easily ingested—and that beauty companies have no incentive to test for or declare the presence of these dangerous ingredients in their products—it’s definitely time to treat yourself to a few fastidiously natural lip glosses. And we’re more than happy to recommend some… —Melisse Gelula
For more information about the Canadian Environmental Defence study, visit Environmentaldefence.ca or read the Gazette article here.
Got an all-natural or organic lip gloss you love? Tell us in Comments area, below!
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Take a look at Arbonne products! Holistic & botanically-based products that are developed in Switzerland. No lead or arsenic — just essential oils and vitamins.
[...] Keep reading at Well+Good [...]
In lieu of lip products from many companies containing arsenic, lead, or other toxic contaminants, I opt for organic or all natural glosses which, in addition to being non-toxic, also offer better moisturizing and conditioning properties. There are even some natural plumping glosses and treatments containing cinnamon, capsicum (found in chilies or chili powder), or pawpaw. You may find these ingredients in oils, powders, creams, or their natural forms in natural health food and herb stores. However, there are an increasing number of lip gloss and lipstick options from natural and organic cosmetic companies. My current favorites are those from Tarte and Korres (both at Sephora) and Alba TerraGloss sold at Whole Foods. If you’re not ready to go all organic when it comes to your cosmetic products, start with gloss. Think about it: you wind up ingesting most whatever is on your lips.
I love Tarte and Korres too! They really do feel better on my lips, and I don’t have to worry too much about ingesting them…
Where can we see a list of what they tested and what we shouldn’t be using other than the 1 gloss? It’s not helpful unless we know which ones to avoid most.
For a complete list of products (which include Clinique, L’Oreal, and more), download “Heavy Metal Hazard: The Health Risks of Hidden Heavy Metals in Face Makeup” on EnvironmentalDefence.ca Here is the direct link: http://bit.ly/k2PTyk
RMS Beauty is by far, the safest brand I have come across & the products are amazing (lovely lip stuff too!) I thought Tarte was pretty green, but I’m having second thoughts. xxoo
I’m all for safe, natural and well-preserved products, but please don’t ever forget this maxim: Just because it’s all-natural, doesn’t mean it’s safe.
Find a middle ground you feel comfortable resting in. You’ll want some level of preservation (I’ll take a drop of preservative over a potentially life-scarring microbe any day of the week), and you’ll want to ensure that the ingredients used have scientific research to back them up (some essential oils/plant extracts have sensitization effects…very dangerous!).
This isn’t a time to toss out science. In the end, it’s truly up to you to do your own research.
[...] –Glossed lips sink ships: how toxic is your lip gloss? (Well + Good NYC) [...]
My favorites come from Living Nature, Tarte, Real Purity, Peacekeeper, and Logona.
check out http://www.cosmeticdatabase.com and rid your collection of everything toxic!
Arbonne? Are you serious?!
They very scrupulously avoid listing their ingredients on their website, and if you believe the information that they do reveal, their list of “What’s not in our products” – then I have a bridge to sell you…..Without further ado, I will cut to the bottom line and reveal, courtesy of the blogger: feelgoodstyle.com/ Arbonne’s “pure, safe and natural ingredients” – in descending order, “let’s take a look, shall we?”:
Ingredients for Arbonne’s Line Defiance Liquid Foundation SPF15: Water, Octinoxate, Cyclopentasiloxane, Isododecane, Butylene Glycol, Peg/ppg-18/18 Dimethicone, Dimethicone, Polysilicone-11, Hexyl Laurate, Polyglyceryl-4 Isostearate, Dimethylacrylamide/acrylic Acid, Polystyrene Ethyl Methacrylate Copolymer Disteardimonium Hectorite, Cetyl Peg/ppg-10/1 Dimethicone, Caprylyl Glycol, Camellia Oleifera Leaf Extract, Panax Ginseng Root Extract, Portulaca Oleracea Extract, Lycium Barbarum Fruit Extract, Lecithin, Coco-caprylate/caprate, Dimethicone/divinyldimethicone, Silsesquioxane Crosspolymer, Magnesium Aluminum Silicate, Stearoxymethicone/dimethicone Copolymer, Peg-10 Dimethicone, Propylene Carbonate, Propylene Glycol Stearate, Propylene Glycol Laurate, Ethoxydiglycol, Dimethyl Isosorbide, Polysorbate 20, Sorbitan Laurate, Tocopheryl Acetate, Oligopeptide-10, Aminobutyric Acid, Barium Sulfate, Glycerin, Steareth-20, Hydroxypinacolone Retinoate, Chrysin, N-hydroxysuccinimide, Palmitoyl Hexapeptide-14, Palmitoyl Oligopeptide, Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-7, Sodium Chloride, Stearic Acid, Sodium Dehydroacetate, Phenoxyethanol, Alumina, Titanium Dioxide (Ci 77891), Mica (77019), Iron Oxides (Ci 77491, Ci 77492, Ci 77499).
I love W3LL people clean cosmetics! I just got a tint gloss from them that is similar to Benefits tint but all natural, pure, pure pure goodness! I am actually doing a giveaway with it on my site now.
http://yourjoyologist.com/inspiration/w3ll-people-clean-cosmetics-for-divas-hippies
*IMPORTANT* The Cosmetic Database is NOT run by scientists and includes huge DATA GAPS that render the site essentially USELESS. Please, don’t support the scare-mongering there. Please.
Did you see the follow-up in the Gazette? More of the dose makes the poison bs…all “you’d have to eat pounds of it for it to be harmful” blah blah. Umm, I just don’t want to eat ANY lead for crappy lipgloss, ok? Can we all just start using organic skincare (like mine!!) and be done with it already? mmk thanks.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/life/study+misleading+cosmetics+group+says/4793196/story.html
UBERimportant article and discussion. What ever you do everyday is the most important to be careful about – and eating lip gloss is just what happens. PASS ON TO ALL THE TEENAGERS YOU KNOW! take care Hope
[...] –Lip gloss is the most toxic cosmetic, study says. (Well + Good NYC) [...]
[...] –Lip gloss is the most toxic cosmetic, study says. (Well + Good NYC) [...]
[...] least in my beauty world.) But many vibrant-hued lipsticks are packed with lip-drying chemicals, “accidental ingredients” like lead, and mineral-oil bases meant to lubricate bike chains not your lips. I get that pigments are still [...]
[...] lip gloss is popping. Lip gloss may be the scariest product in your beauty bag, but fear no more: Intelligent Nutrients (created by Horst Rechelbacher, Aveda’s original [...]
[...] more: http://www.WellandGoodNYC.com. Tags: arsenic, cadmium, cosmetics, health, heavy metals, lead, lip gloss, lipstick, makeup, [...]
I agree with Skin Queen…my god, Arbonne is terrible with so many man made chemicals yet claim a doctor is involved with development….check out website EWG.org which tests thousands and thousands of products for women, men, and children, Grades products, lists what chemical cause cancer, possible cancer causing chemicals, and every molecule that makes up each and every product for skin, hair, nails, and more.
I love Couleur Caramel lip gloss – bio certified & non-drying.
[...] recent article on Well+Good NYC tells of a recent study of many popular non-natural or chemically formulated [...]
I support Coaliton for Safe & Healthy CT and am looking for clean non toxic cosmetics for the community.
Fruit pigmented products by 100% Pure Cosmetics – http://www.100percentpure.com/?gclid=CNWwjIeppa0CFYPc4AodSjynlg
Also Jane Iredale is a good brand: http://janeiredale.com/lips.html
I have been addicted to SPROUT’s products for over a year, and they are the most natural products I’ve ever seen.
http://www.sproutskincare.com
Lip Balms and Cream are my hands-down favorite. Also love the Scrub… gotta give props to an exfoliant that’s so natural I could EAT it.
I’m a big fan of RMS Beauty and 100% Pure. I even make my own lip balms with my toddler daughter. We posted a couple homemade glosses on my blog the other day that are actually edible: http://rawdorable.blogspot.com/2012/01/rawifying-haydens-cupcake-lip-glosses.html
[...] The line quickly became a cult favorite, even outside natural circles. That’s great news considering the toxic lineage of lip products. [...]
I have been using Cleure Lipstick and lip gloss and love it. It’s all natural.
Cleure is a signer with EWG’s Skin Deep. They have lipstick, lipgloss and lip balm that is all natural with shea butter. I can’t use anything else. Love their products.
[...] Toxins In Traditional Lip Gloss, Well and Good NYC http://www.wellandgoodnyc.com/2011/05/17/the-most-toxic-cosmetic-traditional-lip-glosses-finds-study… [...]
[...] plant oils and extracts as they disperse really rad color. That’s a two-for-one benefit that traditional lip glosses don’t have, and something to seriously smile [...]
[...] plant oils and extracts as they disperse really rad color. That’s a two-for-one benefit that traditional lip glosses don’t have, and something to seriously smile [...]