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Organic Colour Choices for Lip Gloss and Lip Stick
Hi everyone,
We are a start up company investigating the feasibility of offering certified organic Lip Gloss, Lip Stick and Mascara. Our questions are as follows:
1. Does anyone have experience with organic colorants that can replace Carmine, Yellow 5, Red 7, CI-77492, etc.?
2. Does anyone have experience with the ‘Annatto’ yellow dye in colour cosmetics?
Thank you.
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9 Replies
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1. Does anyone have experience with organic colorants that can replace Carmine, Yellow 5, Red 7, CI-77492, etc.? Aveda tried this. I don’t know how successful they were, or how legal their products were according to the FDA. Carmine is already a natural color - it is incredibly expensive (over $400/lb at times) - if there were a possible replacement for it, it would have been found already. You will have an extremely limited color palette to work with, as the US FDA requires cosmetic grade iron oxides to be synthetic.
2. Does anyone have experience with the ‘Annatto’ yellow dye in colour cosmetics? Yes. Not light stable. -
Hi bob, why does the iron oxides need to be synthetic? Are there known risks to using natural ones?
Thanks
Netta -
In the US, the FDA strictly regulates colorants in cosmetics. That’s why only synthetic iron oxides are allowed. It’s an FDA requirement. I’m not sure if there is any real risk to using natural ones except they might be contaminated with higher levels of heavy metals. Synthetic colorants are actually more pure than natural ones.
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there might well be a microbial risk too - materials obtained by mining are usually crawling with bacteria and need to be irradiated to meet cosmetic manufacturing standards (see also talc, clays)
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use Biocolors … they are 100 % natural… they have oil and water soluble..
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Biocolors are not FDA approved for use in cosmetics:
Biocolors are not FDA approved for use in cosmetics:Color Additives Approved for Use in CosmeticsPart 73, Subpart C: Color additives exempt from batch certification21 CFR: Straight Color Approved Uses and Restrictions§73.2030 Annatto Cosmetics generally(5) including eye area use.§73.2085 Caramel Cosmetics generally(5) including eye area use.§73.2087 Carmine Cosmetics generally(5) including eye area use.§73.2095 ß-Carotene Cosmetics generally(5) including eye area use.§73.2110 Bismuth citrate(3) Cosmetics intended for coloring hair on the scalp only§73.2120 Disodium EDTA-copper Coloring of shampoos that are cosmetics.§73.2125 Potassium sodium copper chlorophyllin(chlorophyllin copper-complex) Coloring dentifrices that are cosmetics§73.2150 Dihydroxyacetone Externally applied cosmetics(6) intended solely or in part to impart color to the human body.§73.2162 Bismuth oxychloride Cosmetics generally(5) including eye area use.§73.2180 Guaiazulene Externally applied cosmetics(6).§73.2190 Henna Coloring hair but not eyelashes, eyebrows, or eye area.§73.2250 Iron oxides Cosmetics generally(5) including eye area use.§73.2298 Ferric ammoniumferrocyanide Externally applied cosmetics(6) including eye area use.§73.2299 Ferric ferrocyanide Externally applied cosmetics(6) including eye area use.§73.2326 Chromium hydroxide green Externally applied cosmetics(6) including eye area use.§73.2327 Chromium oxide greens Externally applied cosmetics(6) including eye area use.§73.2329 Guanine Cosmetics generally(5) including eye area use.Annatto, Caramel, Carmine, and ß-Carotene are the only approved natural colorants. -
@Bobzchemist aren’t they all botanical extracts?
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Yes, and some people have gotten around the FDA’s ultra-strict color regulations by claiming that the botanical extracts are for some different function other than color.
But…if you do that, you are gambling, betting that the FDA won’t declare your product misbranded for using unapproved colorants and possibly force a recall or even shut you down completely.The risk of that happening is much lower if color is incidental to the performance of the product. Using a botanical extract in a face toner can be explained away, even if it does give the toner a pretty blue tint.But in makeup that has coloring skin as its primary function? That would be a different story. The original question was for organically certified products. That would mean no synthetic colors allowed at all. How could you possibly justify to the FDA that you were selling color-imparting products with no approved colorants in them? I wouldn’t want to take that risk. -
I personally think that it ought to be OK to say “Our base is 100% organically certified” or “Makeup base is made with organically certified ingredients”and then say “All colorants used are certified by the FDA for use in color cosmetics”, but apparently the organic certifiers won’t allow that.
So, at this point, anyone claiming to sell organically certified makeup in the US is either lying about the certification or is a criminal for selling products that use unapproved colorants.
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