Lipstick, one of the most used accessories by women who, while sporting an almost absent make-up, immediately want to give a strong personality to their look: matt, liquid, opaque, glossy, nude or fire red, le rouge à lèvres is almost never missing in the beauty case, and can really help to enhance not only the lips, but the whole face.
As with any other cosmetic, however, even when choosing the lipstick we must pay attention to some characteristics of the product, in order not to run into some hidden pitfalls. Let us remember that we are still talking about something that we put in direct contact with the mouth, and that can be ingested, not to mention that it is generally applied several times within a day.
For this Other consumption has analyzed the ingredients of 14 lipstick brands in the laboratory, with surprising results that, of course, must make us think. From the survey, published in February’s Altroconsumo InSalute, it emerged that almost a third of the lipsticks analyzed, or five out of fourteen, contain Mosh and Moah, ingredients potentially hazardous to health.
If you want to know what they are and how the search was carried out, browse the gallery.
The brands found to be dangerous
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Altroconsumo analyzed fourteen lipsticks, almost a third (five) were to be avoided. They are the lipsticks of single-brand stores Kiko, Mac and Nyx, Too Faced, sold by Sephora, e Avril, a brand of ecological cosmetics.
The elements analyzed
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Altroconsumo first of all verified the presence of heavy metals, such as lead, cadmium, arsenic, mercury, the presence of which is prohibited by law, if not in trace amounts.
All the lipsticks analyzed comply with the maximum limits identified by Altroconsumo on the basis of a recommendation from the German government agency for consumer protection and food safety (BVL).
In the survey, the presence of mineral oils, deriving from petroleum refining and present in most of the analyzed products, “hidden” in the labels by the words such as paraffinum liquidum, paraffin, microcrystalline wax, petrolatum.
A little more about mineral oils
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As indicated by law (EC Reg. 1223/2009) they can be used only if properly treated, in order to deprive them of dangerous residues and carcinogenic substances.
If mineral oils are not purified correctly, in fact, they can contain residues of potentially carcinogenic and dangerous substances if ingested, such as Mosh (Mineral oil saturated hydrocarbon – Saturated hydrocarbons of mineral oils) and Moah (Mineral oil aromatic hydrocarbon – Aromatic hydrocarbons of oils minerals). Especially the latter can accumulate in the tissues and cause microgranulomas in the spleen, liver and lymph nodes.
Beware of Moshs and Moahs
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Therefore, it is not the mineral oils themselves that are not recommended. From the analysis of Altroconsumo, for example, it emerged that mineral oils are present in lipsticks Dior and Chanel, however, the results lacked Mosh and Moah, while Avril lipstick, while not containing mineral oils, contained Moah.
What should we check when buying a lip product
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It is certainly advisable to check that there are some ingredients on the label that could contain residues at risk to health if ingested: Microcrystalline Wax or Microcrystalline Wax, Ceresin, Hydrogenated Microcrystalline Wax, Hydrogenated Polyisobutene, Ozokerite, Paraffin, Paraffinum Liquidum, Petrolatum, Polybutene, Polyethylene, Polyisobutene, Synthetic Wax.
The summary table of Altroconsumo
Source: Altroconsumo
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As you can see, the lipsticks of the aforementioned brands are, in the global judgment, “to be avoided”. In specific:
- AVRIL Le rouge Hollywood lipstick n598
- KIKO Kikoid Velvet Passion Matte Lipstick 318
- MAC Matte Lipstick 707 Ruby Woo
- NYX Matte Lipstick lounge Tenue Alabama 07
- TOO FACED Peach Kiss moisture matte
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