Many people avoid artificial colours in their foods, but don't check
out the colours in cosmetics and personal care products. It is only in
recent years that cosmetics have started to carry a full list of
ingredients on their packaging.

Making sense of the ingredients can be difficult for the lay person.
This is particularly true for colourings, which often go under the
guise of numbers rather than names.

In many countries colours in cosmetics are listed as colour index
numbers. C.I. numbers are allocated by the Society of Dyers and
Colourists. The scheme covers colours used in food, personal care
products, cosmetics, household products and fabric dyeing. So, for
example you will not normally see 'tartrazine' listed in your lipstick
ingredients, but it may be there listed as C.I. 19140. Erythrosine
will be listed as C.I. 45430, and so on.

The USA uses a different system: the FD & C colors have been
categorised by the American Food & Drink Administration for use in
foods, drugs and cosmetics. So in this system tartrazine is FD & C
yellow 5, and amaranth is FD & C red 2.

The 'E Number' system is used by the European Community (EC). This is
a system of giving code numbers to food additives, some of which are
also used in cosmetics and personal care products. This system is also
used in some other countries but without the E prefix, so E102 becomes
simply colour '102'.

All this confusion for the average consumer would not be important,
but for the fact that some of these colours are known to cause
problems in susceptible individuals. For example, tartrazine (also
known as FD & C Yellow 5, CI 1914 and EI02) can cause migraines,
itching, rhinitis and agitation in susceptible individuals. Many
individuals avoid its use in food, but do not realise how extensively
it is used in cosmetics, such as lipstick, and personal care products.

The big worries in terms of colours in cosmetics and personal care
products are lipstick, coloured lip balms, lip gloss and lip pencils,
because anyone who uses these regularly

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