What's in Your Makeup Bag?

Beauty is a booming business in North America, with its success based entirely on our constant dissatisfaction with the way we look. To tap into our desire to look more beautiful, younger and sexier, advertisements and cosmetics counters lure us with seductively packaged, colourful palettes of purples, corals, reds and pinks. But what’s really in this stuff?

Beauty products are loaded with irritants, carcinogens and hormone disruptors, says Kim Erickson, author of Drop-Dead Gorgeous (McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 2002). Every day, consumers expose themselves to about 200 chemicals in beauty and personal care products. These ingredients may be hiding in your cosmetics.