Heavy Metals Concentration in Facial Cosmetics

Overview

This open-access Natural Products Chemistry & Research study quantifies 27 elements by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (Perkin-Elmer Sciex ELAN 6100 ICP-MS) plus a separate Hg-only measurement by flow injection mercury system (Perkin Elmer FIMS-400) in 30 facial-cosmetic samples covering four product types — Base jelly, Whitener, Sheen, and Face powder — drawn from nine “most expensive” brands purchased on the Riyadh, Saudi Arabia retail market. Samples were acid-digested (HNO₃/HF/HCl, 4.5:2:0.5) in a microwave system (Milestone ETHOS 1600) following a four-step heating program; analytical accuracy was verified against IAEA-SOIL-7 certified reference material with most elements falling within the certified 95% confidence range. Concentrations are reported in ppb (µg/kg) of the as-sold finished cosmetic, separately by product type, with mean, minimum-with-RSD, and maximum-with-RSD across the brand panel for each element. The authors do not report per-brand or per-sample tabulations beyond an anonymized sample code (e.g., C1, C46, C71). Headline panel-level findings (the source’s own summary, p. 8): Face powder carries the highest mean concentration for sixteen elements (B, Mg, Al, K, V, Mn, Co, Zn, As, Se, Rb, Mo, Ag, Cd, Pb, U); Whitener carries the lowest mean for fifteen elements (Li, B, Al, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Zn, Sr, Ag, Ba, Pb, Sn, Hg); Base jelly carries the highest mean for six elements (Na, Cr, Fe, Ni, Sb, Sn); Sheen carries the highest mean for six elements (Li, Ca, Cu, Sr, Ba, Hg). Evidence tier is B: peer-reviewed open-access journal (CC BY), IAEA-SOIL-7 SRM-validated ICP-MS, but n=4-9 per product type (no within-brand replication structure reported), no LOD/LOQ table, no procedural-blank values, no per-sample (per-brand) tabulation that would allow re-aggregation, and per-element RSD values reported for some sample-pairs but not all.

Key numbers

Twenty-seven elements quantified by ICP-MS plus Hg by FIMS in 30 facial-cosmetic samples (9 Base jelly + 4 Whitener + 9 Sheen + 8 Face powder), reported as panel-level mean, min, and max in ppb (µg/kg) of as-sold cosmetic. The source’s tables also report per-cell RSD% (where measured) and the anonymized sample code(s) at which the min and max were observed; the sample codes are reproduced here for traceability but are not brand identifiers.

SRM recovery (Table 2 of source, p. 3; IAEA-SOIL-7)

The IAEA-SOIL-7 certified reference material was digested and measured alongside the samples. Most elements fall within the IAEA 95% confidence interval; departures from the certified range are noted below.

Sn, Ag, B, and Mn lack certified IAEA-SOIL-7 reference values; the source’s reported “actual work” values for those elements have no formal accuracy benchmark. Co, V, Zn, and Se sit measurably outside the IAEA certified range; Se in particular runs at ~63% above the certified upper bound with 34.6% RSD, suggesting Se quantitation in this dataset should be treated with caution. The remaining 19 elements with IAEA certified values fall inside or within ~1% of the certified range.

Base jelly (9 samples, Table 5 of source, p. 4-5; ppb = µg/kg)

BDL = below detection limit. The source does not report a numeric LOD/LOQ.

Whitener (4 samples, Table 6 of source, p. 5-6; ppb)

The whitener panel-mean for B is suppressed in the source’s Table 6 (mean column blank) although the min column shows three BDL samples and one sample at 9,550,000 ppb (C25). The source does not state how the panel-mean was computed when only one of four samples is above BDL.

Sheen (9 samples, Table 7 of source, p. 6-7; ppb)

Face powder (8 samples, Table 8 of source, p. 7-8; ppb)

Panel-level highest- and lowest-mean rankings (authors’ synthesis, Results and Discussion, p. 8)

• Face powder carries the highest panel-mean concentration for sixteen elements: B, Mg, Al, K, V, Mn, Co, Zn, As, Se, Rb, Mo, Ag, Cd, Pb, U.
• Face powder carries the lowest panel-mean concentration for one element: Cu.
• Base jelly carries the highest panel-mean for six elements: Na, Cr, Fe, Ni, Sb, Sn.
• Base jelly carries the lowest panel-mean for three elements: K, Ca, Rb.
• Sheen carries the highest panel-mean for six elements: Li, Ca, Cu, Sr, Ba, Hg.
• Sheen carries the lowest panel-mean for nine elements: Na, Mg, Ni, As, Se, Mo, Cd, U, Sb.
• Whitener carries the lowest panel-mean for fifteen elements: Li, B, Al, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Zn, Sr, Ag, Ba, Pb, Sn, Hg.
• Whitener does not carry the highest mean for any element.

HMTc-relevant maxima across the 30-sample panel

Regulatory comparators cited by the source (Introduction, p. 2)

The Saudi Standards, Metrology and Quality Organization standard for rouge samples (No. 1871, year 2001) is cited as setting limits of As (as As₂O₂) ≤ 2 mg/kg, Pb ≤ 20 mg/kg, Hg ≤ 1 mg/kg. Health Canada is cited as stipulating Pb ≤ 10 ppm in lipsticks (no internationally agreed limit, per the source). EU Directive 76/768/EEC and further revisions are cited as banning the use of Cd, Co, Cr, Ni, and Pb as metallic ions or salts in cosmetic formulations. The source does not present a numeric exceedance count against any of these limits; converting the maxima above to mg/kg (22.5 mg/kg Pb in C33 Sheen; 0.16 mg/kg Cd in C24 Face powder; 0.052 mg/kg Hg in C51 Sheen; 1.24 mg/kg tAs in C26 Base jelly) shows the maximum Pb sample (22.5 mg/kg in C33 Sheen) exceeds both the Saudi rouge standard (20 mg/kg Pb) and the Health Canada lipstick limit (10 ppm Pb), and the maximum tAs sample (1.24 mg/kg) sits just below the Saudi 2 mg/kg As limit. The source itself does not perform this comparison.

Methods

Sampling. Nine “most expensive” facial-cosmetic brands were purchased from the Saudi (Riyadh) retail market and assigned anonymized per-sample codes (C1, C6, C8, C9, C14, C16, C17, C22, C24, C25, C26, C33, C35, C36, C37, C42, C44, C45, C46, C51, C53, C55, C60, C62, C63, C68, C70, C71, C76, C78). Four facial-cosmetic product types were sampled across the nine brands: Base jelly (9 samples), Whitener (4 samples), Sheen (9 samples), and Face powder (8 samples), for 30 samples total. The source does not state the criteria for “most expensive,” does not report sample collection dates or lot numbers, and does not disclose brand identities (the C-codes are not brand identifiers and the brand-to-code mapping is not provided).

Sample digestion. Each sample was weighed accurately at 0.1-0.2 g into a TEFLON microwave digestion tube (120 mL). 7.0 mL of an acid mixture (HNO₃: HF: HCl, 4.5: 2: 0.5) was added and the tube sealed. Microwave digestion used a Milestone ETHOS 1600 system with a four-step heating program (Step 1: 400 W, 15 min, 195 °C; Step 2: 0 W, 2 min, 195 °C; Step 3: 300 W, 10 min, 195 °C; Step 4: 400 W, 15 min, 195 °C; source Table 1, p. 2). After cooling, the lid was rinsed with distilled deionized water (DDW) and the mixture heated on a hotplate at 120 °C for 30 min to evaporate residual HF and HCl. The resulting digest was filtered through polypropylene flask using 1% HNO₃ and made up to 50 mL final volume. For ICP-MS measurement the clear digest was diluted 10-fold incorporating a 10 µg/L ¹⁰³Rh internal standard. Samples and standard reference materials were prepared in batches of six including a blank (HNO₃/HF/HCl) digest.

Reagents and standards. High-purity water (DDW, specific resistivity 18 MΩ·cm⁻¹) from an E-pure water purification system (Barnstead, USA). HNO₃, HF, and HCl were Suprapur® grade (Merck, Germany). A multi-element standard containing 27 elements was prepared from Perkin-Elmer single-element ICP standards (1000 or 10,000 ppm). The IAEA-SOIL-7 certified reference material (International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna) was used for accuracy validation.

ICP-MS instrumentation. A Perkin-Elmer Sciex ELAN 6100 inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer with quadrupole mass filter, cross-flow nebulizer, and Scott-type spray chamber was used for the 27 non-mercury elements (Li, B, Na, Mg, Al, K, Ca, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Rb, Sr, Mo, Ag, Cd, Ba, Pb, U, Sb, Sn). The source states 28 elements were detected but the tables report 27 ICP-MS elements + 1 FIMS element (Hg) for 28 total. ICP-MS was not used with chromatographic separation, so As is reported as total arsenic and Cr is reported as total Cr (the source refers to both as “As” and “Cr” without speciation qualifiers).

Mercury — FIMS instrumentation. A Perkin Elmer FIMS-400 flow-injection mercury system was used for Hg. The FIAS program “Mercury 2” used slit width 0.7 nm, wavelength 253.4 nm, technique FIAS-MHS, read time 15.0 s, read delay 0.0 s, BOC time 2.0 s, peak-height measurement, linear zero-intercept calibration, AA signal type (source Table 3, p. 4). The FIMS pumps program ran a pre-fill plus eight steps with Pump 1 speed 100 (steps pre-fill, 1, 2) and 0 (steps 3-8), Pump 2 speed 40 throughout, valve position switching between Fill and Inject (source Table 4, p. 4). The blank used in the Hg analysis contained 2 v/v% H₂SO₄, 2 v/v% HNO₃, and approximately 1.0 mg/L KMnO₄ in deionized water. All measuring standards and sample solutions were stabilized in the same medium. FIMS measures total mercury, reported here as tHg.

Quality assurance. Analytical accuracy was checked against IAEA-SOIL-7. The source’s Table 2 shows most elements falling within the IAEA 95% confidence interval; Co, V, Zn, and Se fall outside the certified range, with Se ~63% above the upper bound at 34.6% RSD — Se quantitation should be treated with caution. Sn, B, Ag, and Mn lack certified IAEA-SOIL-7 reference values. Per-sample RSD% is reported in Tables 5-8 for many cells but not for all.

Method-quality reporting gaps. The source does not report: numeric LODs or LOQs, procedural-blank values, spike-recovery percentages, within-run replicate count per sample, calibration ranges and curve-fit parameters per element, per-brand or per-sample tabulations (only anonymized codes), brand-to-code mapping, sample collection dates, lot numbers, or product label/ingredient compositions. RSD% is reported per cell in Tables 5-8 but is absent for some minimum and BDL cells. Counts of “elements detected” disagree between the abstract/methods (“28 elements”) and the actual table content (27 ICP-MS elements + 1 FIMS element = 28 elements measured; 20 elements explicitly described as “the concentration of twenty elements in ppb (µg/Kg) in the facial cosmetics… are reported” in the Results and Discussion narrative, p. 4, although the tables actually display 27 elements each — a paper-internal inconsistency).

Implications

Certification. The paper contributes Cat 2 Children Personal Care occurrence data for adult-use facial cosmetics on the Saudi retail market, with most of the panel comprising makeup-foundation-style products (Face powder, Sheen, Base jelly). The “Whitener” product type is a skin-lightening cosmetic (per the HMTc Cat 2 Step 0 lock, skin-lightening products are out of HMTc certification scope; per Skin Lightening Cream — RETIRED (out of HMTc scope) the slug is retired with redirect to the public advisory page). The data are best treated as contributing to per-row marginal distributions for the makeup-foundation category, with B-tier weighting reflecting n=4-9 per product type, no per-brand tabulation, no LOD/LOQ reporting, and the Se SRM-recovery caveat. The single-sample maximum Pb in C33 (Sheen, 22.5 mg/kg) exceeds both the Saudi national rouge standard (20 mg/kg Pb) and the Health Canada lipstick limit (10 ppm Pb) cited in the source’s own introduction, but the source does not perform an explicit exceedance count.

Courses. Useful as a worked example of brand-anonymous panel design (per-sample C-codes with no brand-to-code mapping) and as a teachable example of where SRM recovery should be reviewed before downstream synthesis — Se in this dataset runs systematically above the IAEA-certified range and would warrant either re-measurement or down-weighting in synthesis. The four-product-type ranking summary (which product type carries the highest mean for which element) is a clean example of cross-product-form comparative reporting within a single study.

App. Relevant for the consumer-facing app’s adult-cosmetics scoring layer for foundation, face powder, highlighter/illuminator (Sheen), and skin-lightening (Whitener) product categories on the Middle East market. Per the app must not surface brand-level rankings; consistent with that, this source reports anonymized per-sample values that cannot be tied to a specific brand and routes only into per-product-form aggregates downstream.

Microbiome. Not applicable — the study measures elemental impurities only, with no microbial component.

Related evidence

• Lead
• Cadmium
• Arsenic, Total
• Mercury, Total
• Aluminum
• Chromium
• Nickel
• Tin
• Antimony
• Uranium
• Copper
• Zinc
• Iron
• Manganese
• Cobalt
• Silver
• Barium
• Vanadium
• Molybdenum
• Lithium
• Makeup — foundation, powders, blush/rouge
• Face/neck leave-on skin care (moisturizers, serums, night creams, leave-on masks)

Update history

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