Because the same type of lipstick may come in many different shades, it would be expensive for manufacturers to use different labels for each of the shades. Therefore, on a lipstick label, manufacturers only have to provide a list of the colors that may be in the product. This does not mean that all of those listed are included in every shade.
The situation with colors that are considered safe for cosmetic usage is changing. And companies are removing colors that have been in use for years. Consequently formulas are in transition. Some of the companies I found marketing products that listed colors no longer allowed may well have been in the process of removing them as this article was being written. For this reason, we have left the color portion out of the ingredient panels for the products we covered. This does not mean that I consider this unimportant. Quite the contrary, I think health and safety is the first consideration, but we didn’t want to give incorrect information.
Please look over the following list when you buy lipstick. These are the certified colors that are currently allowed in lipsticks. You will notice that there is also a provisional list. These are the colors that are still being examined and have yet to receive permanent status.
