Makeup and coconut allergy: lipstick, foundation, mascara and powder

Makeup is pigment plus something to carry it. The mineral pigments are much the same in a lipstick, an eyeshadow and a foundation, and they have nothing to do with coconut. The carrier changes with every product, and that is the part to read.

One product matters more than the rest. Whatever is in a lipstick, some of it is swallowed: the FDA, writing about lead, notes that exposure from lipstick is "mainly by swallowing" [1]. For a food allergy, lips are the place where makeup stops being only a skin question.

The colour

These are the mineral colours you will see at the end of nearly every list, and what US regulations say they are [2]:

On the label	What it is
Mica (CI 77019)	A mineral, obtained from muscovite mica
Iron oxides (CI 77491, 77492, 77499)	Synthetically prepared iron oxides
Titanium dioxide (CI 77891)	Synthetically prepared
Bismuth oxychloride (CI 77163)	A synthetically prepared powder
Zinc oxide (CI 77947)	Manufactured from zinc

None is made from a plant. "Mineral makeup" is a statement about this part of the formula, and this part was never the problem. A mineral foundation still needs something to make the powder cling or the liquid flow.

What carries it

On the label	Where it comes from
Cocos nucifera oil, hydrogenated coconut oil	Coconut oil, from the dried flesh [3]
Caprylic/capric triglyceride	Made from coconut oil [4]. The commonest of all in lip products.
Coco-caprylate/caprate	Esters of coconut alcohol [5]
Lauroyl lysine	Lysine joined to lauric acid [6]. Lauric acid is commonly isolated from coconut oil [7]; its best-known maker describes the lauric acid as "abundant in palm trees and other plants" [8]. The label doesn't say which.
Isopropyl myristate	Myristic acid comes from coconut or palm kernel oil [5, 7]
Isopropyl palmitate, ethylhexyl palmitate	Palmitic acid comes from palm oil, tallow or coconut oil [7]
Octyldodecanol	Made by joining two molecules of decyl alcohol [9]; where that alcohol comes from, the review doesn't say
Caprylyl glycol	Commonly made synthetically [10]; a plant-based grade is made from palm kernel oil [17]
Cetyl ethylhexanoate	Most of this family is produced synthetically [11]

The first three count as coconut on this site. The rest are "can't be verified": possible, not provable from the pack.

Lauroyl lysine is the one specific to makeup. It is a powder ingredient, not an oil, so it turns up where you wouldn't think to look: in the registry, in a pressed blush and in a matte liquid lipstick.

What we found, product by product

These are from the makeup in our registry, each one read from the pack.

Lipstick, gloss and lip liner. The worst category. Most of the ones we have read list caprylic/capric triglyceride, and some add coconut oil itself:

• A sheer-shine lipstick: caprylic/capric triglyceride third on the list, and Cocos nucifera oil further down
• A hydrating lipstick: hydrogenated coconut oil and caprylic/capric triglyceride. (The "Coco" in its name is the founder's nickname. The coconut is a coincidence.)
• An unbranded lip liner set: Cocos nucifera oil is the second ingredient

Long-wear liquid lipstick. A different recipe. These are built on silicones and a solvent called isododecane instead of oils, and the two we read list no coconut by name. What holds them at "can't be verified" is lauroyl lysine in one and isopropyl myristate in the other.

Cream and balm products. Blush balms, eyeshadow sticks and primers are oils and waxes, like lipstick. A blush balm lists caprylic/capric triglyceride second; an eyeshadow stick and a face primer list coco-caprylate/caprate.

Powder. A pressed blush: mica, silica, pigments, and lauroyl lysine.

Concealer and foundation. The only makeup product in the registry so far with no coconut listed and nothing uncertain enough to hold it back is a water-and-silicone concealer.

The pattern across all of them: the creamier, glossier and more "nourishing" the product, the more likely the oil in it is from coconut. The silicone-based, long-wear formulas are the ones that come out cleanest.

The list may not be on the product

This is the practical difficulty with makeup. The thing is too small to print on.

In the United States, the ingredient list must be in descending order, except that anything at 1% or less can go in any order [12]. For a small package, the letters may be as small as 1/32 of an inch. And when the package has less than 12 square inches of surface, the list is allowed to be off the product entirely: on padded sheets or leaflets attached to the display in the shop [12].

In the European Union and the UK, the list goes on the container or the packaging, and ingredients under 1% may also be listed in any order [13].

So look on the outer box, on a sticker under the base, and for a peel-back label.

• Keep the box, or photograph it before you throw it away.
• In a shop, photograph the list before buying. If there is no box and no leaflet, ask, or look the product up on the brand's own site.
• Check the shade. See below.

"May contain" and "+/-" mean colours

On food, "may contain" is a warning about allergens. On makeup it means something else entirely.

When a product comes in several shades, both US and EU rules let the maker print one ingredient list for the whole range and put all the colours used in any shade at the end, after the words "may contain" or the symbol "+/-" [12, 13]. It is a list of pigments, not a cross-contamination warning.

The base formula can still differ between shades and between editions. Several of our registry entries are recorded by shade, one is a limited edition and one is marked "current formula" for that reason. A reformulated lipstick keeps its name.

If makeup is giving you a reaction

Coconut is one candidate among several, and not the likeliest. DermNet's summary is that the ingredients that most often cause reactions to cosmetics are fragrances, preservatives and the hair-dye chemical PPD [14]. Its longer list of other culprits does include a coconut derivative, coconut diethanolamide, along with lanolin and propolis [14].

Eyelids are a special case with their own list of causes, including nickel from eyelash curlers and tweezers [15].

Working out which ingredient is responsible is what patch testing is for. The two kinds of coconut allergy explains the test and what a result for a coconut derivative does and doesn't mean.

What to do

• Start with the lips. That is the makeup you eat. Read lipstick, gloss, liner and balm first. Lip balm is covered here.
• Look for caprylic/capric triglyceride, coco-caprylate, Cocos nucifera and hydrogenated coconut oil.
• Expect oils in anything creamy, and fewer in silicone-based long-wear formulas.
• Don't be reassured by "mineral", "vegan", "clean" or "hypoallergenic". None is about coconut, and the FDA says the last one means whatever a company wants it to mean [16].
• Read the remover too. The wipes and micellar water in our registry list coconut-derived cleansers. Skincare without coconut has them.
• Photograph the list and the checker marks every name on this page.

Related

Skincare without coconut · Toothpaste, mouthwash and lip balm · Coconut in perfume · Coconut's many names · The complete guide

Sources

1. US FDA. “Limiting lead in lipstick and other cosmetics.” fda.gov
2. US 21 CFR Part 73, listing of colour additives: mica · iron oxides · titanium dioxide · bismuth oxychloride · zinc oxide
3. Cosmetic Ingredient Review. “Amended Safety Assessment of Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil…”, 2008. PDF
4. Cosmetic Ingredient Review. “Amended Safety Assessment of Triglycerides as Used in Cosmetics”, 2018. PDF
5. Cosmetic Ingredient Review. Safety assessment of alkyl esters, 2012. PDF
6. Cosmetic Ingredient Review. Safety assessment of amino acid alkyl amides, 2013. PDF
7. Cosmetic Ingredient Review. Safety assessment of fatty acids and fatty acid salts, 2019. PDF
8. Ajinomoto. Article on its amino-acid-based powders. ajinomoto.com
9. Cosmetic Ingredient Review. Safety assessment of stearyl alcohol, octyl dodecanol and related alcohols, 1985. PDF
10. Cosmetic Ingredient Review. Safety assessment of 1,2-glycols. PDF
11. Cosmetic Ingredient Review. Safety assessment of alkyl ethylhexanoates, 2012. PDF
12. US 21 CFR 701.3, designation of ingredients. law.cornell.edu
13. Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 on cosmetic products, Article 19. legislation.gov.uk
14. DermNet. “Contact reactions to cosmetics.” dermnetnz.org
15. DermNet. “Eyelid contact dermatitis.” dermnetnz.org
16. US FDA. “‘Hypoallergenic’ cosmetics.” fda.gov
17. Personal Care Insights. Report on Symrise's bio-based caprylyl glycol, April 2022. personalcareinsights.com

Educational only, not medical advice. Always confirm with your allergist.