Food Allergens

An Absolute Champ!

They came … from Ireland; they saw … the Love Natural Love You Show, Janey Lee Grace, their fellow shortlisted candidates, and a lot more; they conquered …. the FreeFrom Skincare Awards! Many congratulations to the team from Kinvara Skincare – Fiona…
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Defending Free From … Again

‘Free From’ labelling is based on fear. So declared a cosmetics industry panel at a summit last year, as reported in Cosmetics Design Europe last month. No, we countered in response. ‘Free from’ messaging is vital to those with allergies, or…
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Where’s the real fear when it comes to ‘free from’ skincare?

‘Free-from claims are based on fear and should stop‘ reads the headline of a report from Cosmetics Design Europe, which is drawn from remarks made by an industry panel at a recent In-Cosmetics Summit meeting. Are they? I don’t read ‘free from animal derivatives’…
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Prawns, Coconut and Problem Skins …

Two of my favourite food ingredients have been in my thoughts a bit lately — but not in a culinary capacity! First came a request from one of our readers: I cannot have any coconut ingredients in any body products…
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Three ingredients, three problems …

Three interesting snippets on issues that concern us have come to our attention lately … The first concerns the preservative methylisothiazolinone (MI) — a subject we have covered extensively before. Cosmetics Design Europe recently reported that Denmark has called for…
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Whey to go?

“In Italy we used to bathe babies in this,” said my mother, carrying a large pot of watery yellow whey towards the kitchen sink. She had just made a little bowl of fresh, stiff ricotta cheese (very easy — bring a couple of…
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How much ingredients information is too much?

Cosmetic Scientist Colin of Colin’s Beauty Pages has just posted a very interesting blog about an Australian brand’s particular product label. In it, he wonders about their marketing claims and imprecise use of the word chemical, but what interested us more…
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Almond and Shea: a tale of two ‘nuts’

We recently came across this Q&A from the American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology, concerning almond oil in skincare products — and the associated risk of an allergic reaction — possibly even anaphylaxis. The perceived wisdom with regard to…
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The Lottery of Skincare

In our latest article on Skins Matter, we report on the case of a woman who developed a rash after several weeks using a body lotion containing goats’ milk — and despite ceasing using the product as soon as this…
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