A Cocktail of Industrial Chemicals in Lipstick and Nail Polish: Profiles and Health Implications

Beauty products contain various industrial chemicals to increase their functionality and appearance. The frequent use of beauty products may increase human exposure to industrial chemicals, but to date, their chemical components remain poorly characterized. Our work characterized the chemical components in lipstick and nail polish by screening for a total of 231 chemicals from seven categories, including organophosphate esters (OPEs), phthalate esters (PAEs), non-PAE plasticizers, bisphenol analogues, parabens, ultraviolet (UV) stabilizers, and antioxidants. Their total concentrations ranged from 38.9 to 3810 μg/g (median of 193 μg/g) and from 18.6 to 1910 μg/g (307 μg/g) in lipstick (n = 34) and nail polish (n = 15), respectively. The chemical compositions differed between lipstick and nail polish, but non-PAE plasticizers generally dominated over other groups of chemicals. A number of emerging plasticizers, OPEs, and UV stabilizers have rarely been reported in personal care products or environmental samples but were found at very high levels in beauty products, raising concern about their environmental release and human exposure risk. Although the employment of a hazard quotient approach suggested low health risks for exposure to industrial chemicals from the use of beauty products, potential mixture effects from the chemical cocktail and occupational exposure to beauty products should not be overlooked