These are indeed used to enhance or alter our appearances, but little do we know that these are generally mixtures of chemical compounds; some being derived from natural sources, and some being synthetics.
Our daily application of lipsticks, mascaras, eye shadows, foundations and rouge simply do not accentuate our features or contour the corners of our face, but actually run deep into our skin and if found hazardous, can cause grave danger to our faces.
Mehrbano Sethi, the force behind Luscious Cosmetics, gave an insight about the importance of using laboratory tested beauty products and how integral such tests and examinations can be to rid your make of hazardous substances. Providing safe and harm free cosmetics to people who are paying a good price for them is a great responsibility at the hands of the manufacturer and Mehrbano Sethi, tells me she ensures that with Luscious, all these things are taken care of.
“In Pakistan, there are no laws and rules to have your beauty product tested before it reaches the market, which is a very dangerous thing. We need to have regulations for this. If a brand’s product is faulty, and they try to export it, their cosmetics would be tested and sent back before they hit the foreign market. So such brands can only operate in Pakistan, where there are no hard and fast rules for these,” Sethi tells me.
With contrast to zero Pakistani laws about ensuring safe cosmetics and beauty products in the market, in the west, there are stricter laws where it has been declared that parabens can cause skin irritation and contact dermatitis in individuals with paraben allergies, a small percentage of the general population. Animal experiments have shown that parabens have a weak estrogenic activity, acting as xenoestrogens.
“Considering what a huge responsibility it is to provide customers with safe and secure cosmetics, in order to make them trust you and your brand, I take this very seriously and ensure that with my products, there is no amount of hazardous material or ingredients involved, they are laboratory tested and it is with these precautions that I am able to sell my products overseas as well,” Sethi says.
Cosmetic testing on animals is particularly controversial. Such tests involve general toxicity, eye and skin irritancy, phototoxicity and mutagenicity.
“Another thing to be noted is that I have ensured my products are not tested on animals and do not contain ingredients involving such practises,” Sethi says.
Cosmetic testing is banned in the Netherlands, Belgium, and the UK, and the European Union has passed such a law that phases in a near-total ban on the sale of animal-tested cosmetics throughout the EU, and they have also banned all cosmetics-related animal testing.
It is high time women realise what they are using and applying on their faces and ensure that the products are safe and free from hazardous chemicals and reactions.
I am excited for Sethi’s fragrance free matte lipsticks to hit the market soon.
Published in Daily Times, October 30th 2017.