Beauty Without Cruelty (BWC) Moisturizing Lipstick in Caramel Cream

Jeremy Brooks photo

'Search keywords' is a section in my Google stats. It shows me the word or phrase people entered into their search engines that linked them to my site. Today I saw someone had entered, "are bwc moisturizing lipsticks safe?" The question really caught my attention. I decided to find out the answer.

The BWC website very admirably gives a full list of the ingredients in their products- although several of the spellings and ingredients are not recognized by the Skin Deep's database. Maybe that's a holdover from when BWC was a British company. I googled the ingredients in question and got synonyms.

I choose to investigate the first lipstick I found in the BWC list, Caramel Cream.
Here's what Skin Deep's database had to say...

BWC Moisturizing Lipstick Caramel Cream 

Score:

	Data: Limited
Health Concern	HIGH
Product Type	lipstick
Made by	Beauty Without Cruelty by Lotus Brands, Inc.
Data last updated	July 2011
how to read the score

Ingredients:

ricinus communis (castor bean oil), oleyl oleate, candelilla cera (plant wax) synthetic beeswax (blend of plant fatty acids/esters &  alcohols), caprylic/capri triglyceride, ozokerite, glycerylhydroxystearate, carnauba (plant wax) octylmethoxycinnamate, isodecyl neopentanoate, prunus armeniaca (apricot kernel oil) tocopherol (vitamin E), benzophenone-3, propylene glycol, bha propyl gallate, citric acid, [+/-(may contain) ci 15850, ci 15985, ci 16035, ci 17200, ci 19140, ci 42090, ci 45370, ci 45380, ci 45410, ci 47005, ci 73360, ci 77007, ci 77491, ci 77492, ci 77499, (iron oxide), ci 77510, ci77742, ci 77891 (titanium dioxide tin oxide, mica (crystallized minerals)].

Health Concerns of Ingredients: 

About the ratings
Overall Hazard
Cancer
Developmental & reproductive toxicity
Allergies & immunotoxicity
Use restrictions
Other HIGH concerns: Neurotoxicity, Endocrine disruption, Persistence and bioaccumulation, Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), Multiple, additive exposure sources, Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs), Occupational hazards, Biochemical or cellular level changes
Other MODERATE concerns: Contamination concerns
Other LOW concerns: Ecotoxicology, Data gaps, Enhanced skin absorption

BWC photo

Final Thoughts:   

BWC photo

Having never seen a hazard rating of 10 before I was
impressed. I'm still finding it pretty hard to accept that it's accurate. I even reread the ingredients and ran them into the database a second time. But the results were the same. Maybe it has something to do with the different spellings and the synonyms I found. There was one ingredient, capri triglyceride for which the database could not find a match so I had to leave it out...

Please remember this is just a preliminary report.
Here is the Skin Deep disclaimer:

"PRELIMINARY REPORT: The information on this page was entered by a Skin Deep user and has not been verified by EWG."

Maybe one of you would like to copy the ingredients, follow the Skin Deep instructions and see what you can find. If you do please let me know. I'd love to update this post with better news.

Emotion Drives Cosmetic Purchases More Than Utility Of Product: New Study

Landsbókasafn Islands photo

Researchers* at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) report emotional responses are the primary reason for cosmetics use.

Cosmetics Trends' reviewed the study and here's a quote: 

"Consumer satisfaction is greatest when the cosmetics brand helps to strengthen positive emotions through the perception of 'caring for oneself' and removing feelings of worry and guilt about not taking care of one's appearance".

But here's the real kicker folks,

"This raises concerns as it suggests that in order for the brand to provide this positive emotional experience, it must first cause consumers to have negative feelings about themselves, such as concern about and dissatisfaction with their appearance."


Anyone surprised to hear this? I'm sure you'd like know more.

Here are a few options for reading a review:

Cosmetics Design

Science Daily

PsyPost

Thanks to The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics for bringing this study to my attention.

And below is the information on the study and the scientists involved...

*Apaolaza-Ibañez, Vanessa; Hartmann, Patrick; Diehl, Sandra; Terlutter, Ralf. "Women satisfaction with cosmetic brands: The role of dissatisfaction and hedonic brand benefits". African Journal of Business Management 5(3): 792-802, 2011.

Campaign for Safe Cosmetics : Clearing Up Misinformation About the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2011

CoolHairCare photo

There's a lot of misinformation about the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2011.
Here are the facts: Campaign for Safe Cosmetics : Clearing Up Misinformation About the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2011

Safer Chemicals Healthy Families

Not all chemicals create problems. Want to learn more about the ones that do?

Click on the link under the cartoon to read about them and watch the video.