Red 27 ●
TL;DR. This ingredient is a synthetic colorant used to create bright pink to red shades in lip, cheek, and complexion products. It is also used in pH-responsive formats where the visible color intensifies on contact with skin moisture.
What does Red 27 do in a cosmetic formula?
This ingredient is a synthetic colorant used to create bright pink to red shades in lip, cheek, and complexion products. It is also used in pH-responsive formats where the visible color intensifies on contact with skin moisture.
Is Red 27 clean?
Clean-beauty frameworks often flag it because it is a batch-certified synthetic dye rather than a mineral or plant-derived pigment. It is permitted in regulated cosmetic use where allowed by jurisdiction, but it carries more clean-standard friction than simple iron oxides or botanical colorants.
Is Red 27 sustainable?
This material is synthetically made from petrochemical feedstocks and has a highly halogenated structure. It is not considered readily biodegradable, so its environmental profile is less aligned with low-persistence ingredient design.
Is Red 27 COSMOS-approved?
It is not permitted under COSMOS-natural or COSMOS-organic standards because it is a synthetic organic colorant outside the allowed colorant categories. From a Green Chemistry perspective, petroleum sourcing, halogenation, and limited biodegradability make it a weak fit.
How does Red 27 work chemically?
The molecule is a halogenated xanthene dye related to fluorescein chemistry, which explains its strong pink-red chroma and fluorescence. It is typically used at low colorant levels, often well below 1%, and its color expression can shift with ionization, moisture exposure, and formulation pH.
Last updated 2026-05-13