“What do you mean there is a second label?!”

During quarantine, I have had a lot of time on my hands. All my classes are now online, my job was on campus, and everything is closed thanks to the coronavirus. I have had to fill my time, and a new app caught my eye. I downloaded TikTok. The app meant for 13+ is quickly gaining steam due to the virus and everyone having lots of time on their hands. Besides the point, I was watching TikTok one day when I came across a strange video. It was of a young girl, around 16 years old, raging about the new Huda Beauty Neon Obsession Palette. She started off the video telling the watcher to “Look at my eyes!” They were stained all over, but that is not too unnatural. Multiple pink and purple shades will stain eyelids. The problem was in the hidden label.

The Food and Drug Administration, FDA, “regulates cosmetics under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act). Under this law, cosmetics must not be adulterated or misbranded. For example, they must be safe for consumers under labeled or customary conditions of use, and they must be properly labeled.”, according to the FDA website. This is not confusing: “cosmetics must not be adulterated or misbranded.” This is why there is great controversy with Huda’s new Neon Obsession Palettes. In the Tik Tok, the girl began talking about her stained eyelids and then exposed Huda to the world. She turned over the Pink Obsession Pallete and showed the secret label beneath the first. On the top label, it seemed fairly standard. Multiple ingredient names that are hard to pronounce and not noticeable, but the label underneath was not normal. In bolded letters, it stated, “NOT INTENDED FOR THE EYE AREA” which is confusing since this was marketed with models wearing the pigments as an eyeshadow or highlighter. Huda Kattan, the founder of Huda Beauty, told Allure, "You can honestly do so many cool looks with all of them… One of my favorite is a super-simple, graphic neon liner look." I was shocked to see this. I was wondering, “Why would the founder be encouraging buyers to use the product on the eye but have the packaging say specifically not safe for the eye?” According to the FDA guidelines, this falls quite perfectly under “cosmetics must not be adulterated or misbranded.” Apparently I was not the only one that was confused. According to “The FDA warns that neon makeup might not be as safe to wear as you might think” written by Insider, claimed, “Neon makeup might be trendy, but it could also be considered unsafe by the FDA.” Beauty blogger Musings of a Muse reviewed the pallette and pointed out that "One thing to take note of with these palettes is the fact they are named Huda Beauty Neon Obsessions Palette and NOT Huda Beauty Neon Obsession Eye Palette or Eye-Shadow Palette… that's because [the palettes] contain pressed pigments that are not safe for eye use within the USA by the FDA." What! They are being able to sell this because it is called a palette not and eye palette. An Instagram account called Esteelaundry, which airs out the “dirty laundry” of the makeup community, made a post about the new palette. The post asked its followers “#Laundrites, what do you all think of companies not disclosing that their neon/vivid palettes are “not safe for use” around the eyes? 👀” Followers flooded in saying comments: “I’m pretty sure I had an hourglass mascara that said it was not suitable for eyes in the fact sheet 🤔” and “It's gross how their mislabeling the palette but showing it on models eyes...I have super sensitive eyes and would never buy this brand anyway (not my style) but why lie to customers..bad business.” Why lie to costumers? I don’t understand why Huda would lie to costumers when other companies sell products like this.

In an article, “Why Is Huda Beauty Selling Palettes ‘Not Intended For Eyes’ As Eyeshadows?”, the writer clear the air a bit saying, “the gripe people have here is the lack of transparency, especially when there are plenty of other eye palettes in the market with these warnings spelled out clearly.” I was always taught honesty is the best policy, and it seems to ring true. People obviously do not mind using products like this because they are buying them. The difference is transparency. Huda is deceptively making buyers think that her products are less harmful than others, but the truth is she is simply covering her tracks. I understand that it is hard to make some shades, but lie. The controversy has fallen under headlines due to the coronavirus, but it is nonetheless shocking. It is important for people to know what is chemicals are in the products they are using on their faces. Ethics matters even in makeup. I hope that this controversy is addressed and fixed soon before something worse happens due to a lack of honesty.