The Dark Side of Beauty

A red dye made from crushed beetles commonly used in cosmetics.2

Beetles will appear on cosmetics labels as ‘carmine.’ Also called Crimson Lake, Cochineal, Natural Red 4, C.I. 75470, or E120, carmine is a red pigment produced by boiling certain types of scaly insects called cochineals. Cochineals are harvested, dried out, and ground up, producing a powdered dye, which is dark red. The extracted dye can be used to produce carmine lake or carminic acid, both of which are common in cosmetics such as lipstick. Between 22 billion and 89 billion adult female cochineals are killed per year directly to produce carmine dye.3

Used in skincare products, hyaluronic acid is a molecule used for its moisture-boosting properties. It can be made using a range of animal sources.9

There are lots of non-vegan ways hyaluronic acid can be produced. Some processes directly involve animal sources, most notably chicken combs10. And often, animal derived products are used in the fermentation process used to create the acid. For example, Streptococcus Zooepidemicus is sometimes used, which is a bacteria found in the bowels and lungs of horses. There is no reason why animals should be involved in this process, so keep your eyes peeled for acids with a plant-based or vegan bio fermentation process.

Skincare occasionally extracted from the liver of deep-sea sharks.12

Deep-sea sharks are targeted for the squalene market because they have some of the highest concentrations of the substance in their livers. Squalene has protective and moisturising properties and exists naturally in many plants. There was an international trade of 752 tonnes of shark liver oil reported to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization in 2018, which breaks down to about 1.5 million sharks. Scientists predict the real figure in shark liver trade is much higher, considering the commercial catch of sharks globally at approximately 70-100 million individuals a year.

The global Squalene market accounted for $120.16 million in 2019 and is expected to reach $244.74 million by 2027.13 This is particularly problematic because of the deep-sea shark’s long reproduction cycle, making them highly vulnerable to overfishing.