Makeup ingredient lists explained: lipstick, mascara, eyeshadow, powder

Four products, four kinds of list

Each kind of makeup has a different backbone, and it shows in the first names on the list. The table sums up what published sources describe; the sections below give the detail. Foundation has its own guide: how to read foundation ingredients.

Lipstick: waxes, oils and colour

Lipsticks have been wax-and-oil products enriched with pigments and pearlescent pigments since their earliest versions, and newer formulas add polymers, silicones and fillers.¹ So expect waxes and oils among the first names.

On an EU label, beeswax is Cera Alba. Two plant waxes you may see are Copernicia Cerifera Cera, a wax from the leaves of the Copernicia cerifera palm, and Euphorbia Cerifera Cera, from candelilla. The EU's ingredient database records all three as film forming.⁷⁸⁹ Beeswax is commonly used in lipstick, which is why a vegan lipstick needs something in its place.¹⁰

Castor oil is labelled Ricinus Communis Seed Oil. The US Cosmetic Ingredient Review's 2007 report recorded its highest reported use concentration, 81%, in a lipstick.² The colours come at the end as CI numbers; CI numbers in makeup explains them, including carmine and lakes.

Mascara: an emulsion with wax and pigment

A mascara can be an emulsion. One published formula was built as an oil-in-water emulsion to which wax and pigment were added, and it was tested with mineral oil and with beeswax.³

For black, the EU's list of permitted colourants includes CI 77499, iron oxide black (Annex IV, entry 137), and CI 77266, carbon black (entry 126). Carbon black's nano form, CI 77266 (nano), has its own entry: at most 10%, and not in applications that may lead to exposure of the user's lungs by inhalation (entry 126a).⁶

The FDA's advice on mascara turns on its preservative. It advises against adding water or saliva to dried-up mascara, because water dilutes the preservative meant to protect against microbial growth, and notes that manufacturers usually recommend discarding mascara two to four months after purchase.¹¹

Eyeshadow and powder: fillers first

A 2021 analysis of 94 eyeshadows describes them as typically containing talc, mica, titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, calcium or magnesium carbonate, magnesium or zinc stearate, rice powder, kaolin and pigments. In that account, titanium dioxide gives an opaque effect, while bismuth oxychloride and micas give a pearlescent one.⁴

A powder can be almost all filler: the US Cosmetic Ingredient Review notes that some cosmetic products are entirely composed of talc.⁵ The FDA says talc may be used to absorb moisture, prevent caking, make facial makeup opaque or improve a product's feel.¹² Mica is a family of silicate minerals that split into very thin sheets¹³, and Silica is silicon dioxide.¹⁴ A pressed powder may also list a binder: the EU database defines binding as providing adhesive properties during and after compression in cosmetic tablets or cakes.¹⁵

Talc has an EU entry of its own, Annex III entry 59. It sets no maximum concentration, but powdery products intended for children under three must carry the warning "Keep powder away from children's nose and mouth".⁶ In the US, the FDA notes that talc and asbestos can occur close together in the earth, and says it is important to choose talc mining sites carefully and test the ore. In November 2025 it withdrew a proposed rule on standard asbestos testing methods for talc-containing cosmetics, to consider the comments further.¹² The CIR panel, which concluded that talc is safe for use in cosmetics in the present practices of use and concentration, relied only on studies of talc that did not contain asbestos.⁵ A label cannot show how the talc in a product was tested.

Colourants and the eye area

Not every permitted colourant is permitted everywhere. In the EU's consolidated text of May 2026, four entries in Annex IV, the list of permitted colourants, say "not to be used in eye products", 19 say "not to be used in products applied on mucous membranes", and 36 limit a colourant to rinse-off products. The regulation defines an eye product as one intended to be applied in the vicinity of the eyes, and counts products applied on the rim of the eyes as applied on mucous membranes (Preamble to Annexes II to VI).⁶ Some examples:

• CI 15510, an orange, and CI 74260, a green: not to be used in eye products (Annex IV, entries 21 and 107).⁶
• CI 60730, a violet: not to be used in products applied on mucous membranes (entry 90).⁶
• Silver powder, CI 77820: listed for lip products and eye shadow, at up to 0.2% (entry 142).⁶

US rules also single out the eye area: the FDA says a number of colour additives approved for cosmetics in general are not approved for use in the area of the eye, and that kohl is not approved for cosmetic use in the US.¹¹ A palette or lipstick range sold in many shades can print one list for the whole range, with every shade's colourants after "may contain" or "+/-".⁶ CI numbers in makeup explains what that list does and does not tell you.

What to look for on the label

• The first few names: the backbone, such as waxes and oils in a lipstick or fillers in a powder.
• Cera Alba, Copernicia Cerifera Cera, Euphorbia Cerifera Cera: beeswax and two plant waxes.⁷⁸⁹
• Talc, Mica, Silica: fillers, all three listed as bulking in the EU database.¹⁶¹³¹⁴ Talc's EU warning applies only to powdery products for children under three.⁶
• CI numbers in an eye product: check them against the eye-area rules above.
• After "may contain" or "+/-": the colourants of a whole shade range, not necessarily of yours.⁶

A list gives no amounts, so it cannot tell you how a product will wear or how your skin or eyes will respond. To see what each name does and match each CI number to its EU entry, paste the list into the makeup ingredient checker.