Lets talk lip products.
Did you know that on average we eat 1 pound of lipstick PER YEAR?
So what exactly are we eating here…
Lipsticks are almost always given scents and flavourings to taste better and smell better. Natural products typically don’t have a bad smell to begin with but ones made with mostly synthetic lab made chemicals often have a strange smell and must be masked with some sort of fragrance – even those labelled “fragrance free”.Most of the naturally based brands will use essential oils. I know Beautycounter uses ethically sourced Vanilla extract from Madagascar and peppermint essential oil, Elate Cosmetics uses vanilla absolute oil and peppermint essential oil, Sappho glosses have lemongrass sweetened with stevia, Lippygirl uses citrus essential oils. Each one of these lip products look good, feel good and are good for you!
Synthetic flavour or fragrance
An engineered scent or flavoring agent that may contain any combination of 3,000-plus stock chemical ingredients, including hormone disruptors and allergens. Fragrance formulas are protected under federal law’s classification of trade secrets and therefore can remain undisclosed. Found in: all types of cosmetics.
That’s right, companies don’t need to disclose all those ingredients hiding in the word “fragrance” or “parfum”.
Safety Requirements
Fragrance ingredients in cosmetics must meet the same requirement for safety as other cosmetic ingredients. The law does not require FDA approval before they go on the market, but they must be safe for consumers when they are used according to labeled directions, or as people customarily use them. Companies and individuals who manufacture or market cosmetics have a legal responsibility for ensuring that their products are safe and properly labeled.
Did you read that bit? Companies are not required to receive approval and therefore can put out any product they want.
Resources:
https://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/cosmetic-ingredients/fragrances-cosmetics
http://www.safecosmetics.org/get-the-facts/chemicals-of-concern/fragrance/
https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/ingredients/702512-fragrance/
So if there’s 1 ingredient you can avoid to skip out on hundreds to thousands of potentially toxic chemicals, it’s this one!
Recommended lip products:
*Some of the links in this post are affiliate links and I make commission from purchases.*