Red 7 Lake ●
TL;DR. This ingredient is a synthetic colorant used to give makeup and personal care products a bright red pigment, especially in lip products, blush, and color cosmetics. Its it form makes it insoluble, so it disperses as a pigment rather than dissolving like a dye.
What does Red 7 Lake do in a cosmetic formula?
This ingredient is a synthetic colorant used to give makeup and personal care products a bright red pigment, especially in lip products, blush, and color cosmetics. Its it form makes it insoluble, so it disperses as a pigment rather than dissolving like a dye.
Is Red 7 Lake clean?
From a clean beauty perspective, it has friction because it is a synthetic color additive that requires regulatory batch certification and has use-area limits in some markets. It is generally considered low in skin irritation when properly purified, but many clean frameworks prefer mineral or plant-derived color systems.
Is Red 7 Lake sustainable?
This material is typically made from petrochemical feedstocks and converted into an insoluble metal-salt pigment. It is not considered readily biodegradable, and its particulate form may persist in wastewater solids or sediment.
Is Red 7 Lake COSMOS-approved?
It is not permitted under COSMOS-natural or COSMOS-organic standards because it is a synthetic colorant outside the allowed natural and nature-identical pigment categories. Its fit with Green Chemistry is limited due to petrochemical sourcing, multi-step synthesis, and poor biodegradability.
How does Red 7 Lake work chemically?
The molecule is an insoluble it pigment formed by precipitating a synthetic organic dye onto a metal salt substrate, which improves opacity, color payoff, and bleeding resistance in anhydrous and emulsion systems. Typical use levels vary by shade and product type, often well below a few percent, and formulation performance depends on dispersion quality, oil compatibility, and regulatory limits for the intended application area.
Last updated 2026-05-13