ABC NEWS lipstick? It could be full of beetle juice! （share）

你的唇膏里有甲壳虫汁吗
Do you love your bright, red lipstick? It could be full of beetle juice! After being boiled, dried out and crushed, cochineal beetles produce an enzyme that creates a beautiful crimson color that can be used as a powder or liquid called carmine to add to lipstick. Beetle juice can be found in more than 300 lipstick products, including lip liners, lipsticks and mascaras. Pictured here is a Dogbane leaf beetle。

The following are colours which are recommended to avoid: CI 45425, Brilliant Blue FD&C (CI 42090), Acid Yellow 23 (CI 19140) and Sunset Yellow (CI 15985). However, there are so many questions hanging over synthetic and coal tar colours that it is certainly not exhaustive.


The most common brands of lipstick, like Maybelline, Cover Girl, and Revlon, are produced using ingredients that are questionable at best and horrifying at worst. Natural makeup companies offer safer, healthier varieties of lipstick, but they are harder to come by and often more expensive. If your makeup bag contains a tube of conventional red lipstick, here's what you're unknowingly ingesting.