IGCSE

Global Perspective
Research Paper
Tradition, Culture and Identity
How is makeup made? Why is makeup important to women
nowdays?

Singapore International School@ Da Nang

VN 227
Nguyen Phuong Thuy Ly
0006

Cosmetics are products people use to cleanse or change the look of the face or body, this is also
known as make-up. Lipstick is the most important cosmetic for women. Women have worn lipstick
for many years as a beauty tool. It was first known to be used around 5000 years ago in ancient
Mesopotamia involving colouring the lips by crushing semi-precious jewels. Nowadays, makeup is
an important part of womens daily life and makeup industries still make a large amount of money
off of womens pocketbooks despite what ingredients manufacturers put in the makeup products that
can cause users harm to their health.

Part 1:

Makeup is substances (such as lipstick or powder) used to make someone's face look more
attractive. There are many makeup products and the most popular product is lipstick. Mostly, people
use lipstick to lip-gloss or maybe highlight and contour. On the other hand, lipstick can cause
allergies, arthritis, low fertility or even worse can cause bad health. Beside that, cleanser is also a
part of makeup product for women. Cleanser is what women put everywhere on the face to clean the
makeup products. There are three types of cleanser such as normal skin, dry skin and oily skin but
mostly women prefer normal skin. Another type of makeup that women rarely use is eyebrow pencil.
An eyebrow pencil is a coloured pencil women can use to give their eyebrows a tint.
(http://www.enotes.com/, 2014)

The various ancient civilizations used artificial means of improving their bodies look up to 12
thousand years ago. Manmade lipsticks that were not created directly from natural sources (fruit or
plant juices) were created five thousand years ago in Mesopotamia (current day Iraq). There, women
grinded precious and semi-precious gems into dust that was carefully applied to their lips and
eyelids. Later on, the use of the lip colour was famous by the Sumerians, Egyptians, Syrians,

Babylonians, Persians and Greeks. After that, Elizabeth I and the ladies of her court coloured their
lips and skin with red mercuric sulphide. Red mercuric sulphide cinnabar, mercuric sulfide, and
mercury sulfide, is an chemical compound. It does not affect peoples health and it is used as an
ingredient to make medicine in China. For years, the rouge was used to colour both the lips and the
cheeks. Rouge is any various red cosmetic for colouring the cheeks or lips. Now, many brands make
many colours of lipsticks and rouges with different shades. The most popular colour that most
women decided to use is red. (http://www.encyclopedia.com/).

Lipstick is not used for only shading the colour of the lips. There are many uses for lipstick but
there are three common uses of lipstick other than the lips. First, women usually use lipstick as a
blush, they swipe the lipstick a few small lines across the cheeks and blend with their fingers. Beside
that, they also used lipstick as a contour, the women apply a few lipstick swipes on the back for the
hand and swirl a synthetic stippling brush around in the mixture, then swipe along the cheekbones,
jaw, and temples. The third and also the last common use is lipstick as eyeliner, they just need to use
an eyeliner brush and bury it into the lipstick then make a shape that they want for their eyes.
Overall, women use lipstick in many ways so they can save money and they can put different colours
on their eyes, cheeks and face. (Chloe Mackey, www.bustle.com, 2015)

In most makeup products, they have at least one type of chemical. For example, in eyeliner and
mascara, they contain carbon but lead is the most popular chemical in makeup products especially in
lipstick. Every day millions of women apply makeup without a second thought. What many don't
know is that makeup may contain lead, the notorious metal that can cause language and behavioural
problems. Lead is a neurotoxin and can be dangerous even at small doses. No makeup lists lead as an
ingredient. The amounts are small, but the presence of lead in lipstick, which is ingested and
absorbed through the skin, raises concerns about the safety of a cosmetic product that is wildly

popular among women. The problem is when women who wear lipstick apply from two to fourteen
times a day, according to the University of California study (Rasanayagram, 2014). The result is that
they are ingesting and absorbing these chemicals through their lips, as much as 87 milligrams of
product a day. Lead exposure is a concern for adults, even though they have finished growing. Since
an adult's body is much larger than a child's body, more lead is needed to cause injury but the harm
lead can do to an adult is very serious. It causes digestive issues, high blood pressure or memory and
concentration problems. Luckily, the level of lead contained in makeup, it does not cause anything
badly but people should not use makeup products regularly. (Public Health,
http://www.kingcounty.gov/)

As the paragraph before has mentioned, the carbon black is also a dangerous chemical in
makeup products. It founds in Eyeliner, mascara, nail polish, eye shadow, brush-on-brow, lipstick,
blushers, rouge, makeup, and foundation. Carbon black is a dark black powder used as a pigment in
cosmetics such as eyeliner, mascara and lipstick. It is produced by incomplete combustion of carbonbased products such as coal tar and has been linked to increased incidence of cancer and negative
effects on organs. After all, carbon black is a dangerous chemical and women should read products
label so they can avoid it. (http://www.safecosmetics.org/)

The Environmental Health Perspectives, a government-funded journal, found detectable levels

of lead, cadmium, chromium, aluminium and five other metals in the lipstick. Lead is a naturally
occurring toxic metal found in the Earths crust. It is a cumulative toxicant that affects multiple body
systems and is particularly harmful to young children. Teenagers are particularly susceptible to get
injured by the toxic effects and can suffer profound and permanent adverse health effects, particularly
affecting the development of the brain and nervous system. It also causes long-term harm in adults,

including increased risk of high blood pressure and kidney damage. Exposure of pregnant women to
high levels can cause huge damages to the baby. (www.who.int, August 2015)

Nowadays, people create a perfect makeup with a lot of ingredients include also chemicals.
Caster oil is the common ingredient in the makeup products. Castor oil is a colourless to pale yellow,
viscid liquid, usually obtained from the castor bean by a pressing process. If someone is allergic or
sensitive to castor oil, using it on the skin may be dangerous. However, castor oil also contains a
substance known as ricin, which is a potent protein toxin. Many people did not know that little as one
milligram of ricin can be fatal if ingested, inhaled, or injected. That means eating just 5-10 castor
seeds can kill you. (castor-oil.com/, 2015) The use of castor oil on the skin may hasten the absorption
of other chemicals, according to the International Journal of Toxicology. (www.livestrong.com/,
2013) If you use cosmetic products that contain castor oil, your skin may absorb the other chemicals
in the product more quickly than it normally would. Beside that, there are three chemicals that mostly
contained in the makeup products. These are Parabens, DEA and the last one is mineral oil. Many of
the ingredients in personal care and beauty products arent so pretty. U.S. researchers have found that
one in eight of the 82,000 ingredients used in cosmetic and personal care products has hazardous
industrial chemicals. This means that 10,500 industrial chemicals are used as cosmetic ingredients.
For example, foundations are used on the face to mask blemishes and to make the face appear
smooth in texture and colour and it contains 75% are parabens and it is very dangerous because
women apply it every single day. After all, apply lots of makeup products can be bad for peoples
health. (Beaty, www.diyncrafts.com, 2014).

Paraben is a kind of chemical that is used in makeup, moisturizers, shampoos and more. It may
impede with hormone function and is related with breast cancer. Parabens are the most widely used
preservative in cosmetics. They are also used as fragrance ingredients, but consumers wont find that

listed on the label. Parabens is a fragrance chemical is considered trade secret so many industries are
not required to put it in the list of ingredient and each makeup product contains an estimated 75 to
90% of Parabens. Parabens easily penetrate the skin and are suspected of interfering with hormone
function. Also, Parabens were detected in human breast cancer tissues, raising questions about a
possible association between parabens in cosmetics and cancer. In the end, Parabens are the common
chemicals that usually bad for the skin the most. (Clark, 2002).

DEA (also known as diethanolamine) is a chemical in creamy and foaming products and it can
react to form cancer-causing nitrosamines. Cocamide and Lauramide DEA are found in soaps,
cleansers, and shampoos and it also found in moisturizers and sunscreens, while. EA and its
compounds cause mild to moderate skin and eye irritation. In laboratory experiments, exposure to
high doses of these chemicals has been shown to cause liver cancers and precancerous changes in
skin and thyroid. Overall, the DEA is a chemical that cancer-causing and it is not really good for
peoples health. (http://www.collective-evolution.com/, 2012)

Mineral oil contains in many products such as makeup products. Mineral oil is a petroleum byproduct which the pores and interferes with the skins ability to eliminate toxins, promoting acne and
other disorders. Mineral oil is used on skin supplements, foundations, and makeups that are intended
for use on dry skin. It is very cheap and therefore very popular among personal care companies.
(http://www.collective-evolution.com/, 2012) Mineral oil acts as a thin plastic layer on the skin. It is
difficult to absorb and clogs the pores, which slows the skins ability to eliminate toxins. The skin is
the bodys largest organ and plays an important role in maintaining overall health.

The makeup products are made by lots of ingredients but mostly chemicals. The chemicals in
the makeup products are bad for peoples health. Women are usually using the products without

reading the label and they are not really known that in the products have chemicals. Even thought,
the products are containing lots of chemical but many industries are still making lots of money.
Beside that, the industries did not labelling all the products and also where does it make. After all, the
makeup products contained many chemicals but women are still using it because makeup products
give them more confident.

Global Perspective:
Around the world cosmetic products are manufactured by multinational organizations. In the
early 20th century many businesses were founded. The business of makeup products started to
expand globally. Some of the biggest makeup productions companies include LOreal, Unilever and
Shiseido. LOreal alone brought in almost 30 billion US dollars in 2014. (http://www.statista.com/,
2014) Makeup products worldwide play a role in the world economy. Overall,
In 2005, the market volume of the cosmetics industry in the US, Europe, and Japan was about
EUR 70B/y. In the United States, the cosmetic industry's size was US$42.8 billion in 2008. In
Germany, the cosmetic industry generated 12.6 billion of retail sales in 2008, which makes the
German cosmetic industry the third largest in the world, after Japan and the United States. German
exports of cosmetics reached 5.8 billion in 2008, whereas imports of cosmetics total 3 billion.
Looking at the entire worldwide cosmetic industry; sales reach about $170 Billion dollars a year. Its
distributed pretty uniformly around the world with $40 billion in the Americas, $60 billion in Europe,
$60 billion in Australia & Asia, and another $10 billion in Africa. (Perry Romanowski,
http://chemistscorner.com/). Even though the products are contained many kinds of chemicals but the
industries are still making lots of money because the women did not know what are the ingredients
that contain in the makeup products and they are still using the products.
In Australia, there is a labelling law. Every product that is exported or made in Australia has to
be labelled all the ingredients that are used to make makeup products so consumers can check to see

that they do not have allergens or some ingredients that they may react to. If the product is sold
without labelling in the product, the seller can be prosecuted. This is the same in the United Kingdom
but in United Kingdom, they have to put the name of people or organisation that endorse the product
in the label and how, where and when it was made. (https://www.gov.uk/, 2015). If the shop is the
retailer, they must display the price of the products include VAT and metric measures (like kilograms,
centimetres or litres) for unit pricing. After all, labelling is a most important step that an industry or a
retailer should put in the products.

National Perspective:
The USA is the country that owns many famous makeup brands and its citizens to spend lots of
money on those brands. Around the world, USA is the country that spends the most money on
shopping especially on makeup products. In 2007, women in the USA spent $38.698 billion per
quarter on a variety of products and beauty products accounted for $27.638 billon of that total
number. Overall, the average woman spends $262.80 per year on makeup products. In 2013, the
average women in the USA spent an estimate of $550.00 on beauty products. Compared with 2007,
the number of money has slightly decreased. After all, the amount of money that women spend on the
makeup products decrease and increase in different years. (Golembewski, 2013)
There are the top five things that women want to spend their money on and beauty products is
number two. Of all the items women can spend money on beauty products is the second choice after
clothes. For women, shopping is an adventure for the senses and a great way to indulge them
especially when they have a coupon or discounts. They will spend lots of money to buy the products
while its on sales. Women spend lots of money on makeup products because looking good makes
people feel good. Also, factor in all the places on a womans body that might be seen in public such
as hair, face and nails, it should look good so they can get more confident to work or ready to be seen
in public.

The USA is a country, which the most makeup brands are produced. The USA owns many
famous makeup brands such as MAC, Este Lauder and Clinique. MAC was founded in Toronto but
now is a part of the Este Lauder Company, which is owned by an American who lives in New York
City. (Irma Elezovic, 2011). Another one is Clinique, Clinique was a part of Clinique Laboratories,
which is an American manufacturer of skincare, cosmetics, toiletries and fragrances, usually sold in
high end department stores and now is a part of Este Lauder Companies. Overall, there are many
famous brands.
In the USA, the industries are also using many ingredients to make makeup products. There are
twelve kinds of ingredients that banned in the EU but they are the hiding ingredients in the US
beauty products. The twelve ingredients are Selenium Sulfide, Hydroquinone, P- Phenylenediamine,
Salicylic acid, Formaldehyde, Quaternium-15, Talc, Titanium dioxide, Triclosan, Butylparaben, Zinc
Stearate, and Lead acetate. Those are the chemicals that the beauty company do label but many
people do not know much about them. For example, Salicylic acid is known to treat pimples and best
known as acne treatment, salicylic acid is also a preservative. However, this is could potentially lead
to salicylate poisoning and it causes salicylate poisoning and Reyes syndrome in children and young
adults. Nowadays, they are still using it although its bad for peoples health and the government did
not ban those chemicals. (http://www.buzzfeed.com/, 2014). Even thought its in makeup but people
are still buying it because they do not know about the ingredients and also the effect of using those
chemicals.

Personal Perspective: (Lauren Kay)

In London, Lauren Kay is known as a hair and makeup artist. She works for advertising,
editorial, celebrity, television and fashion. Several years ago, Lauren started her career from her
background in art. Lauren is a perfect woman fit in the Novel Being team, which is team about
beauty. She promotes herself as a service of Pretty Raw, she only focuses on makeup and skin

products that are all natural. She built a trust with her consumers that her products are clean and
green. She champions these brands by repeatedly showing that these clean & green products can
hold their own among the swathes of high-end beauty and personal care products on the market
today.

Part 2: Future Scenarios

The future of makeup products will hopefully be safer. Current standards do not require
companies to put labels on makeup. In the future companies should be required to list the ingredients
in their products. Currently, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics found seven chemicals linked to
cancer in LOreal products including benzophenone-1, titanium dioxide, and four formaldehydereleasing preservatives. Additionally, the Campaign also found four more ingredients in makeup
products that were possibly cancer-causing chemicals. These are PFOA, acrylamide and asbestiform
fibers. Kids products also have chemicals that cause cancer. For example, the Campaign found a
chemical called DMDM hydantoin in LOreal Kids 2-in-1 shampoos. In the future, hopefully
chemicals in the products will be changed to safer ingredients.
Makeup products do not need to be labelled or get an approval of the FDA. The FDA is the
Food and Drug Association. Makeup industries do not need to be approved by the FDA because
based on the FDAs legal authority; cosmetics are not FDAs authority. According to the law,
cosmetic products and ingredients do not need FDA premarket approval but if the product has colour
additives and those ingredients that are prohibited or restricted by regulation, the manufacturers may
need to properly label the product. On the other hand, the companies and individuals who
manufacture or market the makeup products have to be responsible to make sure that the ingredients
in the products are safe. In the future, the government will use the help from the scientists to test the
product and make an association to approve only makeup product so everyone can be safe and
healthy. (http://www.fda.gov/, 2015)

Besides the FDA approval, manufacturers can apply to FDA VRFP which is Voluntary
Cosmetic Registration Program. This program is a reporting system for use by manufacturers,
packers, and distributors of cosmetic products that are in commercial distribution in the United State.
VRFP is a program that ensures the cosmetic products and ingredients are properly labelled.
Hopefully, all makeup companies will register in the VRFP in the future because it will lead to safer
products and properly labelling products. Companies that are doing well will become even more
popular in the future. In the future, hopefully women will get education about this issue.

Part 3: Solutions
The cosmetics industry uses thousands of synthetic chemicals as ingredients, even those linked
to cancer, infertility and birth. Across LOreals many brands, products like eye makeup, nail polish,
and hair products (including kids shampoo) contain cancer-causing chemicals. If LOreal makes the
decision to go carcinogen-free, it will help move the rest of the industry to do the same. This could
remove a huge source of daily exposure to cancer-causing chemicals. (http://act.credoaction.com/,
2014)
Labelling is an important thing for every single product. In some countries, they should make a
law about labelling products because many people may have an allergy to some ingredients that are
in the product. They should also put the name of the people or organisation so people can feel safe
when they use the products. Some people could spread information that for only teach about the
ingredients that is in the makeup products or learn how to make one their own makeup products.
There is also a good way to raise awareness about chemicals in the cosmetic. A group of students or
maybe an organisation can make a project to raise awareness about cosmetic chemicals for women.
Overall, there are a lot of good ways to prevent chemicals in the cosmetic.
There are lots of chemical in cosmetics that have banned in the EU but not in the USA. In the
EU, they have banned almost 1,300 ingredients in the different makeup products but the US has only

banned eleven of them. (One more sentence about how is safe to buy the product in the EU than the
USA). The industries in the USA do not label their cosmetic in the ingredients list so people dont
know that they are using these chemicals. For the safety of the consumers the government should
regulate the ingredients in the makeup products to ensure peoples safety.

Part 4: Self-awareness
Before I do this essay, I do not know anything about the chemicals in the makeup products and
my mom used at least 3-4 products a day. Specially shampoo and conditioner, we are using it
everyday and that means we are absorbing lots of chemicals into our body a day. While I do this
essay, I did lots of research to know more about the ingredients, the chemicals and especially the
industries. After this, I think if we are using too much cosmetics, it will be very dangerous especially
our health.
When Im finishing this essay, Ill spread more information about cosmetics to my relatives.
The cosmetics are really dangerous and we should be careful about it. Ill talk about this to my
friends and Ill tell them about the effects of putting all the chemicals into their body. Also, Ill tell
them that they should use less makeup products because it can cause many bad affects. Overall, I will
spread the awareness about the chemicals in the products to everyone that I know.
In Viet Nam, women are using a lots of makeup products. Women care about their beauty and
also the cover of the products, if the cover of the products are looking good, they will buy it and they
really dont care about the ingredients or its bad or good for their body. Beside that, nowadays there
is a limited selection of chemical-free products for the women. I think Viet Nam should retail or
produce more free-chemical products. And also, women should use fewer chemicals products and
they start to use chemical-free products. It will be good for your body and your health.
Overall, I think women should not use too much makeup products; it can affect the health skin
and also health problem. Makeup is necessary, it also gains confidence for the women and they can

creative and make a masterpiece just using makeup products. With the makeup industries, in my
view, they need to use fewer chemicals in the products so the women can feel safe and trust the
products.

Conclusion:
However, nowadays makeup is an important part of womens daily life despite what ingredients
manufacturers put in the makeup products that can cause users harm to their health and makeup
industries still make a large amount of money. Many cosmetic industries produced makeup products
with many cancer-causing chemical and they built people trust then gathered a big amount of money.
On the other hand, there are some solutions to prevent chemical in cosmetics and one of that is using
chemical-free products.

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