Non-toxic Lipsticks (Probably) Don't Exist, At Least I Found Some (Least Toxic) Alternatives

It was a painful experience indeed when it came to looking for non-toxic products in the beauty market, especially picking a lipstick.

When you are spoiled with so many colorful choices, it certainly doesn't matter which one you pick, because the difference between most of these products is very subtle in terms of formulation, it's often just a marketing game that beauty companies play against each other.

I was in the same boat for sure. Although I have been familiar with the beauty industry for years, I still struggle to recognize many ingredients, therefore I can surely imagine how painful this kind of experience would be for a general customer.

Only Use It When You Absolutely Need It

So are we just living in a world where non-toxic lipsticks don't exist? Well, the answer is probably yes, if I couldn't find one, I can hardly imagine someone else could. My best advice would always be to not use lipstick at all.

Although I should say there is a possibility that some alternatives are way less toxic than others, you should still only use them on occasions that you feel necessary. (We can learn from ladies from the 19th century! Only people with certain jobs were using it.)

Organic Matters, But There Are Some Caveats

Let's face it, 100% non-toxic lipsticks would never exist, that's just simply not an option if a business wants to stay competitive in the capitalized market nowadays, I believe I made this point clear in my previous article:

I Stopped Using Lipstick Because Most Are Toxic

I wish I’d done it long ago

Fourth WaveEcorational

Although organic products certified by organizations like Ecocert/Cosmos can approve mineral pigments with high purity (free from heavy metal contaminants), there is still NO guarantee to say these options are 100% toxins-free.

Be sure to always check each brand company profile carefully because sometimes there are flaws, here's one of my recent market research example explaining what I'm referring to:

#1. This is the KW Red Lipstick from a U.S. beauty brand called Kjaer Weis.

#2 It was one of those brands that claim their products as organic, however, I found it to be suspicious you will later see why.

#3 From here you see they claim they're using certified organic ingredients but proceed to use synthetic color pigments that are derived from coal tarts like Red 6/7.

#4 It becomes obvious when I checked their website ingredient glossary page, they only explain the inorganic color pigments (Ci 77000 series) and dodge the potential toxic ones entirely.

#5 These dodgy moves brought me more concerns so I started to fact-check the company on COSMOS organic database. And turned out my suspicion was right, as the database show ONLY the Im-Possible Mascara Black from the company that is certified as organic, where the rest of their product weren't certified.

#6 So I went to the Mascara product page to double check, and I could clearly see at the end of the ingredient list it stated certified by ECOCERT. Though this is the only time I saw this certification statement and I couldn't find any certifications from the rest of their products.

Overall, it is clear to see many companies within the industry are trying to play this kind of dodgy marketing game, and this is just one example of them.

In case of some special occasions like you are about to attend a wedding or perhaps you are going to have a meeting with an important client.

Then I did find 2 least non-toxic organic options that might be worth considering. However, do keep in mind to only use them occasionally.

Disclaimer: I'm NOT SPONSORED, these are just my personal choices.