Facial Make-up & Foundations

Due to popular demand…

Facial Make-up and Foundations: what to watch out for

According to Steinman & Epstein’s consumer guide to nontoxic household products, cosmetics and food “The Safe Shopper’s Bible”, make-up including foundations is the third most frequent cause of contact dermatitis among its users. The many problem ingredients include:

- 2-bromo-2-nitropropane-1,3-diol (formaldehyde releaser)
- quaternium 15 (formaldehyde releaser)
- fragrances/perfumes (potential allergens)
- propylene glycol (petroleum-based skin irritant and penetration enhancer)
- TEA/DEA triethanolamine/diethanolamine (irritant; can form carcinogenic nitrosamines)
- lanolin (possible allergen for sensitive skin due to contamination with pesticides)
- padimate-O (often used as a sunscreen; can form carcinogenic nitrosamines)
- parabens (preservatives that can mimic oestrogen)

Please refer to “Overview of Unsafe and Suspect Cosmetic Ingredients” for further details on all of the above.

Foundation is also the frequent cause of a condition called “cosmetic acne” (small and intermittently occuring spots and blemishes), which affects about one third of all women at some point in their life. Cosmetic acne has nothing to do with puberty-related acne from which many teenagers suffer. It is, in fact, caused by certain so-called acnegenic ingredients used in facial make-up, as listed below:

Ingredient/Cosmetic Acne Potential:

Butyl stearate/moderate to strong
Cocoa butter/strong
Corn oil/weak to moderate
Isopropyl myristate/weak
Lauryl alcohol/weak
Linseed oil/strong
Margarine/weak
Methyl oleate/weak to moderate
Mineral oil/weak to moderate
Oleic acid/strong
Olive oil/moderate to strong
Peanut oil/moderate to strong
Petrolatum/weak to strong
Safflower oil/weak
Sesame oil/moderate to strong
Stearic acid/weak

So if your face shows unsightly pimples, have a look at what your foundation is made up of. Foundations may also contain silica or talc, which are, however, said to represent a minimal risk as long as they are part of a cream or liquid and not in powder form that could be inhaled.

Alternative recommendations:
Steinman & Epstein consider foundation by Dr. Hauschka and Logona as relatively safe (see “Suppliers of Natural & Organic Cosmetics”). Logona make-up fluid was also rated as “very good” by the German consumer magazine “Öko-Test”, which evaluates a range of consumer products every month (it is similar to the American publication “Consumer Reports”). But it's worth checking out other manufacturers’ products that are available in the UK – you can either do that online as almost all manufacturers of natural products list ingredients on their websites or by visiting your local health food store.

Steinman & Epstein’s health advisory ratings for many conventional foundations, including products by Avon, Chanel, Clarion, Clinique, Cover Girl, Estee Lauder, Max Factor, Maybelline and Revlon, ranged from “minimal risk” to “caution”.

© Manuela Hübner, 2007