Bandana asks…Since I’ve been trying to get pregnant over the last year, I’ve become more concerned about toxicity. I probably eat a sizeable amount of lipstick. I am not your usual “organic” type, but I was surprised to see the list of ingredients for my favorite lipstick, Avon’s Beyond Color Plumping Lipstick. Are organic lipsticks worth the hype?? I’ve seen that Bare Minerals has a natural lipstick, but I’m not feeling $25 per tube. I’m more of a drugstore type girl. I’m not loaded with money and don’t want to be more paranoid than I should be.
The Right Brain responds:
“Regular” lipstick like the Avon example you gave costs $8.00 ($3.99 on sale!) where as the Bare Minerals “100% natural” lipstick is $25. It’s really impossible for us to make the value judgment for you, but we can help by telling you if there are any significant technical differences between the two. (One point of clarification: although you asked about Bare Minerals “organic” lipstick, the company does not make the claim the this product is organic. They only state that it is “100% organic.)
Ingredient comparison
It looks like the Bare Minerals formula is quite different from a typical lipstick because a) it only uses iron oxide pigments as colorants and b) it does not contain any of the petroleum-derived emollients typically found in lipsticks. (For the sake of thoroughness, the complete ingredient listing for each product is included below.)
Natural vs synthetic
As you’re probably aware, the debate over the safety of natural versus synthetic ingredients is not as simple as “all natural is good and all synthetic is bad.” For example, synthetic dyes like those used used in the Avon product are accused of containing carcinogens. And natural lavender extract, like the oil used in the Bare Minerals lipstick, is said to cause headaches and irritate skin. Whether or not you believe any of these specific accusations is beside the point but it’s important to recognize that these ingredients are ALL chemicals and depending on the dose, chemicals may have undesirable side effects. So rather than make this a debate about toxicology, we’ll try to answer your question by making a couple of quick assumptions to simply the argument about whether an an ingredient “natural” or not. This is no trivial point since currently there is no standard definition “natural” as it relates to beauty products. But for the sake of this discussion, rate each product on a based on four basic factors as described in the table below:
As is typically the case with natural products, tradeoffs must be made: if you want to avoid “synthetic” chemicals you’ll have to accept a limited number of color choices. (That’s because iron oxides, the mineral pigments used to provide color, are only available in a few reddish-brownish-yellowish shades.) You’ll also have to give up long lasting color because these iron oxides don’t stain the lips like synthetic dyes do. Are these good trade-offs to make? Maybe, but we can’t make that value judgement for you. We can only try to frame the question and provide a few helpful facts.
The Beauty Brains bottom line
Unfortunately there is no easy, one-size-fits-all answer to your question. Whether or not so-called natural lipstick is a good value depends on what’s most important to you. If you want to limit potential intake of “chemicals” (even though the best science available doesn’t indicate that this is a significant risk) AND if you don’t mind a limited number of “earth-tone” colors, then a “100% Natural” product may be a good choice for you. But, you’ll need to spend more for those benefits.
What do YOU think? Are you willing to spend more for products that say they are natural? Leave a comment and share your thoughts with the rest of the Beauty Brains community.
Image credit: farm1.static.flickr.com
References:
Avon website
Bare Minerals website
Avon
OCTINOXATE, DIISOSTEARYL FUMARATE, SQUALANE, POLYBUTENE, BARIUM SULFATE, OZOKERITE, MICROCRYSTALLINE WAX/CIRE, MICROCRISTALLINE, DI-C12-15 ALKYL FUMARATE, POLYETHYLENE, ZEA MAYS (CORN) STARCH, CETYL ALCOHOL, PETROLATUM, CALCIUM, SODIUM BOROSILICATE, SILICA, ALLANTOIN, BEESWAX/CIRE D’ABEILLE, TOCOPHERYL ACETATE, CHOLESTERYL/BEHENYL/OCTYLDODECYL LAUROYL GLUTAMATE, CAPRYLYL GLYCOL, GLYCERIN, HYDROGENATED CASTOR OIL, BEHENYL ERUCATE, LAUROYL LYSINE, ALOE BARBADENSIS EXTRACT, ALLYL METHACRYLATES CROSSPOLYMER, LECITHIN, ACRYLATES COPOLYMER, PARFUM/FRAGRANCE, PHENYL TRIMETHICONE, GLYCINE SOJA (SOYBEAN) OIL, HYDROGENATED STARCH HYDROLYSATE, RETINOL, PEG-80 SORBITAN LAURATE, ACRYLATES/CARBAMATE COPOLYMER, SACCHAROMYCES LYSATE EXTRACT. C12-15 ALKYL BENZOATE, COLLAGEN, ETHYLHEXYL PALMITATE, HYALURONIC ACID, TRIBEHENIN, RETINYL PALMITATE, NIACINAMIDE POLYPEPTIDE, PANTOTHENIC ACID POLYPEPTIDE, SORBITAN ISOSTEARATE, RIBOFLAVIN POLYPEPTIDE, BIOTIN POLYPEPTIDE, PYRIDOXINE POLYPEPTIDE, THIAMINE POLYPEPTIDE. ASCORBYL PALMITATE, FOLIC ACID POLYPEPTIDE, CYANOCOBALAMIN POLYPEPTIDE, BETA-CAROTENE. PALMITOYL OLIGOPEPTIDE, MICA, IRON OXIDES, RED 7 LAKE, TITANIUM DIOXIDE, RED 6 LAKE, BISMUTH OXYCHLORIDE, RED 33 LAKE, YELLOW 5 LAKE, YELLOW 6 LAKE, BLUE 1 LAKE, RED 27 LAKE, CARMINE, YELLOW 10 LAKE, ORANGE 5 LAKE, RED 21 LAKE, RED 40 LAKE, RED 30 LAKE
Bare Minerals
Ricinus Communis (Castor) Seed Oil, Barium Sulfate, Euphorbia Cerifera (Candelilla) Wax, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Copernicia Cerifera (Carnauba) Wax, Theobroma Grandiflorum Seed Butter, Sesamum Indicum (Sesame) Seed Oil, Gardenia Tahitensis Flower Extract, Oryza Sativa (Rice) Bran Wax, Tocopheryl Acetate, Punica Granatum Seed Oil, Beeswax (Cera Alba), Silica, Echium Plantagineum Seed Oil, Hordeum Vulgare Seed Extract, Tocopherol, Macadamia Ternifolia Seed Oil, Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender) Oil, Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Mica, Iron Oxides (CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499), Carmine (CI 75470)
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Interesting comparison. I’d love to give the natural lipstick a shot. I clicked your link and noticed that it’s actually just $15, which is a much better price!
@Megan: They must be having a sale!
Hi,
I purchase chemical free lipsticks from this site; http://www.realpurity.com
I also use the Gabriel color lipsticks which I find are very moisturizing and long wearing
Bare Minerals lipsticks are regularly priced at $15 and you can score them for even less during sales. They are available in 28 shades, which range from hot pink to red to mauve, among other colors. The shades are not limited to “earth tones.” And they wear very well, too. If I wear the lipstick on it’s own, I can get a good eight hours of wear. If I top it with one of their glosses, I can get a good four hours of wear. I highly recommend these lipsticks for those looking for natural cosmetics.
You know, I would spend more for a lipstick that actually is natural, but my price point would be $15, so I would have to get the Bare Minerals one on sale. I am lucky in that the iron oxide colors are my favorite ones anyway. But, the lasting power would have to be reasonable, because I don’t have time to be re-applying every hour.
Anyway, good for B.E. for putting another natural lipstick alternative on the market. Maybe they can put some money into improving the colors and wearability of it.
@Michelle: Thanks for the update on their pricing. I’m intrigued by your comment about their colors not being limited to earth tones. If they’re only using iron oxide pigments, I don’t know how they could achieve a wide spectrum of colors. Do you happen to have an example of a “non-earth tone” color in mind? If you do I’ll try to find the ingredient list for it. Thanks!
An interesting information (well, for me it’s interesting LOL) is Bare Escentuals/Minerals was bought by Shiseido recently. And Shiseido is doing big changes in the formulas from BE.
Very interesting article, and well done. Ecco Bella lipsticks are very clean with a lot of Vegan colors and vibrant ones too. They sell for 17.95 and have Pharmacy Favorites for 5.99 on the website. Ecco Bella’s ingredients are Castor oil, isopropyl palmitate (from palm oil), candelilla wax, 100iu Vitamin E, organic calendula oil, organic chamomile oil, organic jojoba oil, flower wax coated iron oxides. May contain carmine.
Interesting article. It’s hard to know what is healthy for you these days when companies are so good at marketing their product.
@Darlene: Ecco Bella seems to have taken a similar approach to BM – using only iron oxide colorants.
@Michelle: I just realized that the carmine (which comes from crushed insect bodies) used in this formula will give a bright red “non-earth” tone color. (My bad!) But I stand by my earlier statement that overall a “naturals” lipstick product line can’t match the same color spectrum as those that use FD&C dyes.
They are coming out with new natural pigments all the time, plant pigments. Fd&C dyes from Coal Tar are known carcinagens, there are synthetic FD&C dyes not derived from coal tars called lakes, they are said to be non carcinagens. A lot of natural companies use them.
If I were going to be pregnant, I think that I would probably spring for natural and safe and simple cosmetics and personal care items. If you use them carefully they will last longer; if you minimize the number of products that you use, and the number of colors that you need you can probably get by with fewer than you might expect. You have to decide what your piece of mind is worth? At this time, it’s worth a lot.
Also the potential father should be watching what chemicals he’s being exposed to, and heat levels.
You are going to want to save a lot of time and energy and do things very efficiently and simply once you are pregnant, and the last thing that you need to worry about during pregnancy is exposure. If something does happen to the child you will know that you did everything possible to keep the baby healthy.
Once the baby arrives you still have to watch exposures if you breast feed. I know if I delivered a defective baby, I would anguish over whatever it was I might have done — knowing I did all I knew to do would be some consolation. Also, be sure to do everything else you can — stop smoking, drinking, all that dangerous stuff you might have previously been doing — save money to spend on what will be most important. Diet is extremely important too,
You do need to sit down and make a personal care plan and have it reviewed by your doctor.
I’m too cynical to pay more for something because it is labeled “natural”. If you think about it, everything is natural. Matter can’t be created or destroyed. So even synthetic products are natural. Arsenic and lead and natural and minerals and lethal.