Neon Eye Products and Other FDA VIOLATIONS!

Your Vision Depends on Being Informed!

I'm writing this post in response to a lot of bad press lately for some cosmetic sellers that are selling eye makeup products that include unsafe ingredients.

The FDA regulates the cosmetic industry, and manufacturers are required to comply with the regulations, and why not? It's for everyone's safety! However, it seems there is a TON of confusion and misinterpretation of products, ingredients, and the FDA regs.

1. Neon eye shadows are very popular, believe it or not. Yet there are NO FDA approved neon (black light responsive) ingredients. The ingredients required to glow in the dark are not eye safe, and can cause eye irritation, swelling and loss of vision. Dyes are responsible for this effect. There is only 1 dye per color group that is FDA approved for eye use: FD&C Blue No. 1, FD&C Red No. 40, FD&C Yellow No. 5, D&C Black No. 2 & 3 (subject to limitations). Please refer to this handy FDA chart. Mineral colorants are not considered dyes. They are in a separate section of the chart.
   
2. Multi Minerals or Pigments sold by very popular HUGE companies are often used for the eye area although not approved for the eye area. People assume that these pigments are eye safe and a great deal. Read the ingredients and READ THE INSERT! It is not very well displayed and often overlooked.
3. If the company you are buying makeup from does not declare the ingredients for each shade of every product they carry....BUYER BEWARE! The FDA requires ingredient declarations either on the product, the outer container, beside the product on the display, or displayed online or by request via the mail.
4. Per FDA regs, a company can use the "may contain" clause for similar products whose main ingredients are the same, and the colorants vary. I'm sure you've all seen products labeled with that clause. There are a few reasons manufacturers do that: it protects their formulas from being duped, it reduces the cost of labeling in some cases. However, as a manufacturer, we choose NOT to do this. Why? Well were not that worried about our shades being duped, and haven't found a savings in the label since the color name changes. The biggest reason? WE WANT YOU TO KNOW EXACTLY WHAT IS IN THE PRODUCT! If you happen to be allergic to XYZ ingredient, why would we want you to wonder if it's in all of our products if its' only actually in a few?
   

It's not just small companies that violate the labeling laws on a daily basis. Take a walk through your local drug store and pick up a few eye pencils or lip products. Chances are there are no ingredients listed or displayed. So you are virtually trusting the company for your safety and compliance with the law. You should be able to trust. But unfortunately there are many companies out to just make money and don't really care about the customer.

At L.A. Minerals we declare every products ingredients in the "details and enlarge" link beside every product. The only exception is our sample page, where the customer is referred to the main product page for that info.

Stay safe. Stay informed. Stay Beautiful :)

~Lorraine
Founder & CEO
L.A. Minerals