---huh?

I just thought I would see if you were actually reading anything on this web site... BUT  IT's TRUE!!! There are fish bits in lipstick.   Read a little of what Cecil Adams at the Chicago Reader had to say.

The ingredient under discussion is called pearl essence. (Some sources give this as "pearlescence.") It's the silvery stuff found in fish scales that's used in some lipsticks, nail polishes, ceramic glazes, etc., to make them shimmery. Pearl essence is obtained primarily from herring and is one of many by-products of large-scale commercial fish processing. Synthetic versions have been developed, but to what extent they've supplanted the natural variety I hesitate to say. The cosmetics companies were not forthcoming and I got contrary stories from different industry observers. Fishermen still collect the stuff, though, and one presumes it's being put to good use.

Pearl essence is just one of a long list of unsuspected animal ingredients in cosmetics. If you think fish scales in lipstick is gross, get a load of cerebrosides, used in skin-care products to create a smoother skin surface, increase moisture retention, heighten "luminosity," etc. According to the Food and Drug Administration, "the raw material for cerebrosides in cosmetics comes from cattle, oxen, or swine brain cells or other nervous-system tissues." Eww.

If you're bothered by this sort of thing you might prefer to get your cosmetics from environmentally aware companies such as Aveda. In addition to minimizing the use of synthetics and volatiles, Minneapolis-based Aveda relies on plant- rather than animal-based ingredients. "Some colors, for example, are very difficult to create without using carmine, but the company decided that crushing insects to derive the ingredient is unethical," we read. One smiles, but in the era of the rape of the rain forest it's charming to hear about a company so good-hearted that it wouldn't hurt--well, if not a fly, at least a Dactylopius coccus.

Mmmmmmmmmmmm... Take me HOME!