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Lipsticks

What To Look For

Lengthy ingredients lists and misleading labels can make it difficult to find healthier makeup. Here are a few criteria to use when shopping:

Dirty-Dozen Free

If nothing else, avoid cosmetics that contain ingredients included in The Green Guide's "Dirty Dozen." Of those twelve, the most commonly found in cosmetics are antibacterials, coal-tar dyes, 1,4-dioxane (a contaminant of "PEG," sodium lauryl/laureth sulfate and other -eth ingredients), formaldehyde, fragrance, mercury, nanoparticles, parabens and petroleum distillates. For more detail on why these should be avoided, click here and download our Smart Shopper's Dirty Dozen Card to take with you to the store.

Third Party Certification

Third-party certification of cosmetics is rare, and doesn't necessarily ensure a "Dirty-Dozen Free" product, but the certifications below provide additional guarantees for animal welfare and ingredient purity.

The Biological Farmers of Australia (BFA) certifies cosmetics as Australian Certified Organic if they contain 95 percent certified organic ingredients (excluding water and salt). The remaining 5 percent may not include any genetically engineered or irradiated but may contain minerals or naturally occurring, non-agricultural substances. Any products that contain 70 percent organic ingredients, with the remaining 30 percent being free of other ingredients prohibited in certified organic products, bear the BFA-registered label.

BDIH and Ecocert are two of the more common European certifications, the latter being more stringent and more widely used.

Ecocert, based in France, offers two levels of certification. The "Eco" label requires that 95 percent of a product's ingredients are natural or from natural origin, that a minimum of 50 percent of the vegetable ingredients are certified organic and that at least 5 percent of the ingredients in the finished product are certified organic. The more rigorous "Bio" Label requires the same 95 percent of ingredients to be natural or from natural origin, that 95 percent of the vegetable ingredients are certified organic and that at least 10 percent of the ingredients in the finished product are certified organic. Both labels disallow mineral oils, silicone, parabens or animal products, and the agency also analyzes a producer's manufacturing process, from the transportation and storage of ingredients and products to energy use and waste disposal.

BDIH, a German certification, doesn't specify certain percentages for organic or plant-based ingredients. However, they do require the use of plant-based ingredients whenever possible (preferably those that are organically grown or "wild-harvested" in an unobtrusive manner), and they ban animal testing, by-products from vertebrate animals, synthetic dyes and fragrances, petroleum-based ingredients, parabens and other preservatives that might pose a health risk, and radioactive sterilization of ingredients or products. While not required, the guidelines encourage sourcing ingredients from fair-trade projects and avoiding any ingredients that have been genetically modified.

In August 2005 the USDA broadened the scope of their organic food regulations, allowing cosmetics and personal care products to bear the "USDA Certified Organic" seal. Products with 100 percent organic ingredients, excluding water and salt, can be labeled "100% Organic." Those made with 95 percent or more organic ingredients can be labeled "Organic." Products with 70 percent or more may be labeled "Made With Organic Ingredients." Unfortunately, organic cosmetics are not as rigorously regulated as organic food products. For example, manufacturers commonly include hydrosols, or floral water left over from the essential-oil distillation process, when weighing the percentage of organic ingredients in their product. Eco Labels, the Consumers Union Guide to Environmental Labels, notes that the USDA Organic label is not as meaningful for cosmetics and personal care products as it is for food. Furthermore, the certification does not preclude the use of the term "organic" on the label or a product's claims that it's "made with organic ingredients," both of which can lead to confusion.

The Leaping Bunny label indicates products made by companies that follow the Corporate Standard of Compassion for Animals. This standard was developed by the Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics, a coalition of eight animal protection groups, including the American Humane Association and The Humane Society of the United States. Companies with this logo pledge not to conduct or commission animal testing on either their products or the ingredients used in those products. For a complete list of certified companies, see www.leapingbunny.org. Always look for the seal pictured above; terms such as "cruelty free" and "no animal testing" are undefined, meaningless and don't always mean that a product's ingredients haven't been tested on animals.

Compact for Safe Cosmetics

Companies that have signed the Compact for Safe Cosmetics agree to six criteria set forth by the consumer advocacy group, The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, which tracks compliance with annual questionnaires and random checks. The first requirement is that signatories remove any ingredient listed in the European Union's Cosmetics Directive, a law mandatory for all European cosmetics manufacturers. The directive prohibits the use of more than 1,000 ingredients, some of which have been deemed "safe for use" by U.S.-based cosmetic trade groups, that the Union considers carcinogenic, mutagenic or reproductive toxins. That list includes diethylhexyl phthalate (a hormone-disrupting component of fragrances commonly used in the U.S.), petroleum- and coal-based paraffin waxes and lead.

In addition, the Compact requires companies to substantiate all ingredients and potential impurities for safety, find substitutes for those that pose health risks, register all their ingredients with the Environmental Working Group's "Skin Deep" database and make all product ingredient lists publicly available.

Vegan?

Cosmetics can utilize some ingredients derived from animals or animal byproducts, such as beeswax or carmine (a dye made from ground-up beetles). The products listed above as "vegan" contain no such ingredients.

Ingredients Available Online

In order for consumers to properly research the products they buy, manufacturers must make product information readily available. Products with "X*" marked in this box only make ingredients available through Environmental Working Group's Cosmetics Database.

Packaging

Whenever possible, buy cosmetics in packaging that can either be recycled or composted or is made of recycled materials. We've included packaging types for each product where available.