While we all love to wear lipstick to make our lips look appealing, most of us are clueless about what lipsticks are made from. A lipstick is typically made from three basic ingredients: wax, pigment, and oil. Wax gives it the shape, pigment adds color and oil like lanolin, petrolatum, jojoba, mineral, and castor adds moisture. Oil changes the intensity of the formula as more oil gives a sheer look while less oil gives a richer pigment.
What are the ingredients you should look for in your lipstick?
Lipstick ingredients will differ from one manufacturing brand to another. However, there are some elements in common. All lipstick manufacturers want to come up with products that will look great and are good to use. But, at the same time, regardless of how well a product has been marketed and packaged, unless it helps keep your lips moisturized, you should not buy it.
Checking for ingredients is the right way to buy a lipstick. This is because there are many brands which use harmful chemicals, and these can not only do harm to your lips; they may even turn out to be allergic. You need to look out for substances like retinyl palmitate, tocopheryl acetate, and parabens when you buy lipsticks.
Depending on the type of look you want, manufacturers will tweak the ingredient ratios. For example, to make a matte lipstick they will not add any fats or oil, but to make a glossy one, they will use a high degree of oil. You need to be careful of non-organic castor seed oils which may have agricultural residue and are not good for your lips. Even preservatives can be tricky; while they may keep the product fresh, they can cause irritation and allergies. Usually, most lipsticks have very less water and zero preservatives. You must ensure there are no terpenes, parabens, benzyl benzoate, BHT, and phenoxyethanol.