As consumers demand bigger and brighter eyeshadow palettes, brands are stopping at nothing to deliver — even if it means bending the rules.
In 2016, it was muted monochromatic makeup. The next year ushered in a spectrum of sunset reds and dusty pinks, and 2018 was the year of technicolor highlighter. With bold beauty trends on the rise, it’s no surprise that 2019 has been declared the year of neon. Pinterest reports that searches for “neon eyeshadow” jumped a whopping 842% over the past few months. For fans, especially Gen Zers, the look is a celebration of fun, commitment-free expression: Daydream, create, wash it off, and repeat. But what happens when experimenting with the latest beauty trends could put your health at risk?
Numerous headlines from the past few weeks, coupled with posts on Estee Laundry, Temptalia, and Musings Of A Muse, called into question the safety of the colors used in many of the cosmetic industry’s most popular neon palettes. It turns out, numerous beauty brands have been routinely adding colorants to pressed powder palettes that have not been approved for use around the eye area by the FDA, the government agency that regulates cosmetics. What’s more, the products are still being openly sold by top beauty retailers thanks to clever marketing and labeling practices.
PHOTOGRAPHED BY SAVANA OGBURN.
Pinterest reports that searches for “neon eyeshadow” jumped a whopping 842% over the past year.
Cosmetics safety is serious, but the products in question aren’t counterfeits made by fly-by-night manufacturers, which are notorious for causing nasty reactions and infections from unhygienic conditions and toxic ingredients. Instead, we’re talking about trusted products from billion-dollar companies with a lot to lose. So why and how would these ingredients ever legally make their way into a product that consumers are using on their eyes? And are we really in danger from these products, or is this all being blown out of proportion?
We took our questions to the FDA, a trial lawyer who monitors legislation and litigation affecting the personal care industry, a cosmetic chemist, and an optometrist for answers — and what they had to say might surprise you..
Contraband... Color?
The FDA regulates color additives that go into things like food, medicine, and makeup under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938, or the FD&C Act as it’s better known. Each color on the FDA’s approved cosmetics list — which have science-y names like D&C Red No. 21 — can be used on the face, but only some are approved for the eyes and lips.
“We want consumers to be aware that if color additives are not approved by the FDA for use in the area of the eyes, they should not be used for that purpose and cosmetics containing those color additives may not be marketed for that use,” a representative from the FDA told Refinery29. “Since the eyelids are delicate, an allergic reaction, irritation, or other injury in the eye area can be particularly troublesome.”
According to the FDA, this is one reason why imported products can be delayed or detained in customs and never make their way into the U.S., since regulations vary by country and many brands export globally. In 2017, U.S. customs rejected entry for the Lip Contour Duo lipsticks from Huda Beauty (one of the companies in the crossfire of the current neon controversy) for containing unapproved color additives. It’s just one example on a laundry list of products impacted by these laws.
According to cosmetic chemist Susan Raffy, who has been working in R&D for cosmetics brands for over 25 years, it’s been historically unusual to go against the FDA’s regulation over colors. “Most brands use only FDA-approved colors for all products including eye products,” she says. So why are some brands bending the rules today? One guess is that “you can not necessarily obtain some shades with just the approved colors,” Raffy says.
Enter: The neon dilemma. A trending rainbow of vivid, electric shades has taken social media by storm, but require so-bright-they’re-banned neon colors to really pop. For years, celebrity makeup artists have incorporated theater makeup — pots of creamy, ultra-pigmented face paint (not eyeshadow) — into on-set looks to get the daring shades the mainstream cosmetics companies just don’t make. But now, social media has created such a demand that makeup brands are racing to crank out consumer-friendly options.
FDA regulation blocks many neon shades from being used on the eyes; the government agency even has its own regulatory category for fluorescent colors, which are seen as an elevated health danger. But here’s where things get confusing: Many of the color additives currently on the FDA’s no-no list are allowed in the European Union, which is typically known for having stricter cosmetics regulations. You may have heard that the E.U. has banned around 1,400 chemicals for use in cosmetics while the U.S. has restricted or banned about 30. And yes, the color Huda Beauty got flagged for back in 2017 is allowed in the E.U. — even on the eyes. For global brands, that discrepancy either means reformulating for the U.S. market or seeking FDA approval to sell in the U.S.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF MUSINGS OF A MUSE.
Huda Beauty's Neon Obsessions Palette has been in the crossfire of the current neon controversy.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF MUSINGS OF A MUSE.
When you peel off the back label, the palette includes a disclaimer that says "not intended for the eye area."
So why are they considered safe for eyes in the E.U. but not here? It means that the “FDA has not received, evaluated, and approved information supporting the safety of these color additives when used in this way,” an FDA representative told R29. A color additive might be deemed safe by the E.U. but not by the U.S. FDA simply because it has not gone through the proper approval process to prove its safety. A brand dead-set on using a banned color in an eye palette may submit a color additive petition to the FDA to seek approval, which, according to the FDA, could include the brand’s own studies around safety to support the request. However, most brands opt for a different route.
The most popular alternative? Using colors that have only been approved for the face and adding a disclaimer near the ingredient list that says the product isn’t intended for the eyes — which is the approach Huda Beauty chose to take on its most recent Neon Obsessions palette, which passed customs with the same color that was rejected in 2017 because it’s labeled as a “pressed pigment palette” and not an “eyeshadow palette.” Many other popular brands, including Colourpop and Anastasia Beverly Hills, feature similar verbiage on their packaging, with some even calling out specific shades within the palettes as unsafe for the eyes.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF CHRISTINE MIELKE/TEMPTALIA.
Beauty blogger Musings of a Muse claimed that the shades not approved for the eyes in Anastasia Beverly Hills' new Riviera palette temporarily stained her eyelids.
That’s the reason there are so many neon products today that look like eyeshadows, feel like eyeshadows, and are modeled all over IG as eyeshadows, but have vague names, like “pressed powder” or “pressed pigment.” The word “eye” is purposefully left out of marketing materials and labels, despite photos that show the color swept across lids and waterline.
As for the brands that feature a disclaimer not to use on eyes, and then turn around and show models wearing the product on their eyes, Kelly Bonner, associate attorney at Duane Morris LLP in Philadelphia, had this to say: “All labelling must be truthful, not misleading, and contain all required information in a prominent and conspicuous place. Determining whether a label is misleading requires considering whether it contains deceptive representations, or leaves out material facts or consequences resulting from the intended use of the product.”
These mixed messages from brands are becoming more common. For example, Anastasia Beverly Hills has three shades in its Riviera Palette that feature a disclaimer (“not intended for use around the immediate eye area”) yet the brand's official video tutorials show it being used on eyes. These videos can be seen on the brand’s official Youtube page as well as on its e-commerce product page. The disclaimer about safety, however, can only be found on the back of the package, which begs the question: Is a consumer more likely to watch a Youtube video or read the fine print under the ingredient label after purchasing the palette?
PHOTO: COURTESY OF CHRISTINE MIELKE/TEMPTALIA.
The last line of fine print on the back of Anastasia Beverly Hills' Riviera palette reads: "Warning: Bahamas, Palm, and Cannes are not intended for use around the immediate eye area."
Furthermore, would a jury consider modeling the products on eyes as an example of misbranding? Bonner says there’s a lack of precedent, so it’s anyone’s guess, but to even get there, a plaintiff would have to prove that they were injured from the product. The FDA’s public database of complaints shows reports of alleged adverse reactions to neon face paint and nail polish from various brands, but none from the palettes currently in question at time of publication.