I was a little behind in my RSS articles but I stumbled upon a report about Halloween makeup to which the Beauty Brains had to weigh in.

The fear mongering folks at the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics are at it again. According to their latest report, Halloween face paint is contaminated with lead, nickel, chromium and cobalt. They say this is because of the lack of regulation by the FDA and warn that exposure to these toxic (naturally occurring) chemicals “can lead to hyperactivity, impulsive behavior, IQ deficits, reduced school performance, aggression and delinquent behavior.”

Finally, they recommend that parents “avoid using face paints on children until safety standards are put in place.” They further suggest that you “make your own face paint with food-grade ingredients.”

Not surprisingly, the PCPC (cosmetic industry trade group) responded by saying that the “the trace levels of naturally occurring heavy metals reportedly found in the products are well below the allowable levels set by FDA for approved colors as not presenting a safety concern.”

So, who should you believe?

Lead in Facepaint

No one is disagreeing with the finding that lead was found in the Halloween face paint. With all the lead found naturally in our environment it is understandable and should be expected that products like this will contain some lead. The recent study found 0.05 to 0.65 ppm.

Safe lead levels?

But is the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics claim that “Experts say there is no safe level of lead exposure for children” true?

This idea of “no safe level of lead” comes from an international study which showed even low levels currently considered safe could affect IQ scores. However, the study doesn’t show “no safe level of lead”. What it shows is that the current standards may need to be reduced.

In reality, it is impossible to create a standard of zero. Scientists create better and better measurement devices so the idea of “undetectable” gets smaller and smaller. Soon, we’ll be able to find some level of lead in everything. Regulations must always be based on some “safe level”. The only debate should be about what is that safe level.

Regulation of lead

According to the FDA, they do not directly regulate the amount of lead in cosmetics but they do regulate the lead in cosmetic colorants at 20 ppm. This is the “safe level” according to studies done by the FDA. They also conclude that there is no need to be concerned about the level of lead found in cosmetics. The levels found in the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics study were within safe levels.

Should you make your own?

One recommendation made was that people should make their own face paint. But if there is “no safe level of lead exposure” how can they possibly make this recommendation?

Food and water all contain lead. Currently, the EPA allows 15 ppb of lead in your drinking water. If you are using water to make the face paint as suggested, you are exposing your child to lead. If you use natural colorants to make the face paint, you are also exposing your child to lead.

Why would advocates of safe cosmetics tell people to use lead-containing ingredients to make face paint?

Could it be that they think there is a safe level of lead?  If so, what is it?

Beauty Brains bottom line

There is no evidence that the amount of lead found in Halloween face paint, lipsticks or other cosmetics is harmful to children or adults. But if you are scared to use it, don’t use anything. Everything has lead in it.

If you want more information based on science, see what the FDA has to say about Halloween face paint.

Mary Jane asks…Have you published your report on mineral makeup and I just missed it? If so, how do I find it? If it is still in the works, when can we all learn more about this revolution in face products? Really looking forward to this one!

The Right Brain responds:

No, Mary Jane, you didn’t miss anything. We’ve been promising you a report on Mineral Makeup for over a year! All the research is done and we assigned our intern, Mid Brain, to turn the info into a PDF that we could email to our readers. Unfortunately, Mid Brain was not really up to the task, so all that research has just been sitting on the shelf. Until now. (By the way, don’t think Mid Brain is getting off the hook for letting us all down on this assignment. Stay tuned for more on Mid Brain’s punishment).

Rather than waiting until we can figure out the best way to publish the entire report, we decided that today we would just blog about one of the top rated brands in our study. But first, we’ll tell you about our rating scale.

Mineral makeup research

We surveyed 75 of the top mineral makeup and rated them on the following criteria:

Mineral Purity

Do they truly contain minerals only or are they diluted with other materials? We ranked all the brands on an A, B, C scale with A being the purest mineral quality.

Talc and Bismuth Free

While technically talc and bismuth are safe materials, many women are concerned about these chemicals and would prefer minerals cosmetics that are talc and bismuth free. To make the top of the top, mineral makeup brands had to be formulated without these ingredients.

Price

We found that brands claiming to contain pure minerals that ranged in price from about $0.30 per gram to over $8.00 per gram. That means you could be paying more than 25 times the price that you should be! Our top rated brands had to have high quality as well as affordability.

Which Mineral Makeup Brand is best?

In our research, a few rose to the top.  And today we’re featuring Mineral Hygenics as one of the best of the best. Here are our ratings:

Mineral Hygienics Mineral Makeup

(Score based on their Foundation)

Mineral Purity: A

Talc and Bismuth Free: Yes

Price: $1.60 per gram

The Beauty Brains bottom line

If you’re looking for a mineral makeup, this is a brand that we recommend based on our technical assessment. You can find it by clicking on any of the links in today’s post.

Has anyone tried Mineral Hygenics? Leave a comment for the rest of the Beauty Brains community and let us know, or just tell us about YOUR favorite brand.

Mid Brain reports:

Beautypress.com has an interesting article about trends in lipstick over the last 9 decades.  Apparently there’s a connection between socioeconomic conditions and the color and shape of women’s lips. The author tracks these trends starting with the 1920s and shows how lipsticks have been influenced by social conditions of the times. Very interesting stuff and it got us thinking how lipstick chemistry has changed over time.

Pigments of the past

Earliest references to lip color can be traced back about 5000 years to ancient Babylon. At that time women crushed semi-precious stones and smeared them on as lipstick. Ancient Egyptian women used iodine and bromine to give their lips a purple-red color. Cleopatra supposedly mixed crushed carmine beetles and ant’s eggs to create her lip look. Henna and fish scales (for shimmer) were other common ingredients were added over the centuries. In the 1500’s lipsticks made of beeswax and plant oils became popular in England. This basic concoction of natural waxes and plant oils remained the lipstick base of choice for the next several hundred years.

Current colors

The “modern” era of lipstick really began with the invention of the pushup stick 1915. Then, in the late 1940s, long lasting lip color was pioneered by Hazel Bishop. While today’s lipsticks still employ natural waxes (like beeswax and candellila) and natural oils (like castor oil), cosmetic chemists have a much wider range of ingredients to formulate with. New emollients, thickeners and pigments have resulted in lipsticks that are vastly superior in texture, spreadability, and color longevity compared to those from even a few decades ago.  With the addition of moisturizers and sunscreens lipsticks can not only color your lips but actually keep them soft, moist, and protected from the elements. And of course lets not forget advances in packaging which have helped create different product forms like lip glosses.  What’s the best lipstick of all time? The kind that you can buy right now!

(Despite these advances, no product is perfect and you’ll still find that lipstick traces left on a glass or other places. Here’s a lipstick fun fact: According to a 1996 survey by Shisedo Cosmetics, Tokyo, 87% of American women admit to having left traces of lipstick in unwanted places!)

The Beauty Brains bottom line

Leave a comment and let the Beauty Brains community know if you’ve ever left a trace of lipstick in an “unwanted place.” (Trust me, your answer can’t be as embarrassing as Sarah Bellum’s!)

Sources:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/524929/lipstick_the_evolution_history_of_this.html?cat=69

http://pubs.acs.org/cen/whatstuff/stuff/7728scit2.html

Sarah Bellum says:

It’s MY turn to play one of Mid Brain’s favorite games: Actual Cosmetic Ads from the Past!

It’s a Beauty Brains feature we haven’t done in a while: We find actual ads for beauty care products and post them for your amusement. I found this ad for Mary Quant Cosmetics, a line of products from the ’70s that’s gotta be dead by now. (You just don’t see much Quant these days.) Anyway, this particular ad is apparently a reference to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

In Quant’s version, however, there’s no snake in the garden. Just an obscene amount of mascara, eyeliner, blush, lipstick, and nail polish. And that’s just what Adam is wearing! We’re not sure how turning the “original man” into a tacky cross-dresser with bad fashion sense would make us want to buy Mary Quant’s products, but hey, it was the ’70s. Just make sure your nail polish matches your fruit and you’re good to go.

It’s time for another Beauty Science poll and this time we have a theme: Know Your Nails. (I was inspired by the Right Brain’s post last week on coconut oil and nails.) Three of these statements about nail science are true; one is a clever forgery. Can you guess which one is the fake? Scroll down on the right sidebar to cast your vote.

Which statement is FALSE?

1. Toe nails grow about 50% slower than finger nails.

2. Finger nails grow faster on longer fingers.

3. If you’re right handed, nails  grow faster on your right hand.

4. Thicker finger nails grow more slowly.

If you aren’t sure or think you know, leave a comment and get hints from the Beauty Brains community.