By Divya Mohanraj, POB High School Intern
I was thirteen the first time I asked to borrow someone else’s concealer before leaving the house. My skin had been breaking out for weeks, and nothing in my skincare routine was helping.
For years, my routine looked like everyone else’s on my ‘for you page’: heavily fragranced serums and toners—the kind wrapped in cute, pastel packaging marketed directly to teenagers like me. I liked how they smelled and how the tubes looked on my bathroom shelf, so when my skin started flaring up, I added more products into my routine, chasing whatever the next viral serum promised would fix it. I didn’t think twice about what was actually in them.
When none of the products worked, I began researching the ingredients on their labels, and I noticed a pattern. Almost everything irritating my skin seemed to trace back to synthetic fragrances and drying alcohols. This was the first step that led me to look more closely at what else these products contained.
As someone now studying solvation chemistry, I characterize environmentally sustainable replacements for toxic manufacturing solvents using the Abraham solvation model, published in the Journal of Chemical Thermodynamics, the Journal of Molecular Liquids, and Physics and Chemistry of Liquids. My background taught me that several chemicals used during manufacturing carry environmental and human toxicity, and this led me back to the ingredients used directly in formulation. Looking into those ingredients made me realize toxic chemicals in cosmetic products are a relevant issue for consumers to overcome now.
When I started reading about what the word “fragrance” can legally hide on a label, I began to realize the common loophole in the beauty industry. Under U.S. law, the individual components of a fragrance mixture generally do not have to be disclosed on cosmetic labels and may instead appear simply as “fragrance.”1 This is precisely how phthalates, which are chemicals that can interfere with the body’s hormones,2 and undisclosed allergens end up in a daily routine without ever appearing on a label. Some chemicals used in or associated with personal care products, including certain endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), are being studied for their potential role in breast cancer risk.3
Unfortunately, that link quickly became increasingly relevant when a close family friend was diagnosed with breast cancer. Knowing she could have been at an increased risk for developing breast cancer because her mother had it, she took very good care of her health. Watching her fight for her health has been one of the most heartbreaking, surreal experiences of my life, and far more importantly, hers. What has stayed with me even more is watching her children, who are in their teens, navigate that same uncertainty at a point in their lives when most of their peers aren’t thinking about anything like this at all.
Endocrine disruptors, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and phthalates can sound like exposures that are inevitable. Although recent federal reforms expanded FDA’s oversight, most cosmetic products and ingredients in the U.S. still do not require FDA premarket approval or mandated ingredient testing.4 Companies need only maintain safety substantiation, and enforcement depends on FDA’s resources. The science increasingly shows that these exposures are linked to increased susceptibility to breast cancer, and their influence may be greater during several windows of susceptibility, including prenatal development, puberty, pregnancy, and the menopausal transition.5 I cannot know exactly what caused our friend’s cancer since cancer rarely has one direct cause. But EDCs, phthalates, and PFAS are linked to increased risk, and reducing exposure to them is one of the few things within our control. Breast Cancer Prevention Partners (BCPP) reports that overall breast cancer incidence has risen roughly 1% per year since 2012,6 and this is important for women to know now.
This prompted me to examine the issue more systematically. Using Clearya, a free tool that checks ingredient lists against official hazard databases from the U.S., Canada, EU, Japan, and California, I analyzed five popular products for ingredients of concern on October 2, 2026.7
Findings Reported in Five Popular Cosmetic Products
| Product | Flagged Ingredients | Why It Matters |
| Maybelline Fit Me Dewy + Smooth Foundation | Octinoxate, propylparaben, butylparaben, isobutylparaben | Isobutylparaben is banned in the EU and California |
| Neutrogena Rapid Wrinkle Repair Retinol Cream | BHT, phenoxyethanol, retinol | FDA warned about possible nervous system effects in nursing infants who ingested it from a nipple cream; restricted in the EU and Japan |
| Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask | BHT, CI 15850 | Potential endocrine disruptor in a product that can be absorbed and partially ingested |
| L’Oreal Colour Riche Intense Volume Matte Lipstick | CI 45380, undisclosed fragrance allergens (vary by shade) | A dye banned in EU hair dye and allergens the label does not specify |
| Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow Dew Drops | Glycereth-26, benzyl benzoate | Ethoxylated ingredient that may contain trace 1,4-dioxane, a possible carcinogen, as a manufacturing byproduct |
A Clearya flag indicates that an ingredient has been identified by one or more authoritative sources as having a hazard, restriction, or regulatory concern; it does not by itself establish that the finished product causes harm under normal use.
The worst offender by far was Maybelline Fit Me Dewy + Smooth Foundation, a product applied directly to the face, one of the most absorptive surfaces of the skin. It contains octinoxate, an endocrine disruptor with estrogenic and thyroid activity that is linked to effects on development, the brain, and metabolism; the FDA has stated there is currently insufficient data to establish it as safe and effective in sunscreen products, and it is restricted in Japan. In addition, the foundation contains three parabens that Clearya places in its most serious category. Butylparaben and propylparaben are both identified as endocrine disruptors by the EU, which restricts both accordingly, while isobutylparaben is banned outright in both the EU and California.8 These are not speculative associations, as regulators have already banned or restricted all three.
My second flagged product, Neutrogena Rapid Wrinkle Repair Retinol Cream, is a skincare product rather than makeup. The cream contains BHT, which is a potential endocrine disruptor, and phenoxyethanol, which the FDA warned about in 2008 because oral intake from a nipple cream was suggested to depress the central nervous system of breastfeeding infants.9 A face cream involves a different exposure route, and phenoxyethanol is restricted in both the EU and Japan. Even the retinol itself, the ingredient the product is marketed around, carries a California developmental-toxicity warning at high doses and is restricted in Canada.
The formulation of the Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask I examined next contains BHT, the same potential endocrine disruptor flagged in the Neutrogena moisturizer, alongside a restricted colorant. It is worth noting that this is a lip product, meaning that the toxic chemicals in the product can be ingested in addition to being absorbed into the skin.
The L’Oreal Colour Riche Intense Volume Matte Lipstick contains CI 45380, a dye prohibited in the EU when used in hair dye products, that is present across every shade in the line. Every shade also lists “Fragrance” as an undisclosed ingredient, but the specific allergens are not the same from shade to shade. The shade Worth It flagged vanillin, while Worth It Medium flagged citronellol, limonene, geraniol, and benzyl alcohol instead, each of which must be individually labeled above a set concentration threshold under EU cosmetics law.10 Limonene is additionally classified as a recognized skin sensitizer.
Glow Recipe’s Watermelon Glow Dew Drops contains glycereth-26, which can carry trace amounts of 1,4-dioxane, a potential human carcinogen formed as a manufacturing byproduct. It also contains benzyl benzoate, a fragrance allergen that must be individually labeled above a set concentration threshold under EU cosmetics law.10
These five products are only a small sample. Over 10,000 chemicals are used in personal care products. The EU has banned or restricted over 2,400 toxic chemicals, while the U.S. has banned or restricted only 11.11
The Loophole in All Five Products
Every one of these five products shares something else worth noting. Clearya flags “Fragrance” on all of them as a generic ingredient, meaning the label does not disclose what it actually contains.
A 2026 study of 103 young women found that using fewer personal care products and switching to alternatives free of synthetic phenols, parabens, phthalates, and glycol ethers lowered their urinary levels of bisphenol A by 39%, methylparaben by 30%, and a phthalate breakdown product by 22% in as little as five days, showing just how quickly effect can take place with a simple change to routine.12
What You Can Do
● Install Clearya. It is free, ad-free, and flags concerns while you shop on Amazon, Target, Sephora, and other major retailers, allowing you to check a product before it reaches your cart.
● Do not assume that “sensitive skin” or “clean” marketing means anything on its own. Many products like these are marketed as gentle, dermatologist-friendly, or clean, and every product on this list carries a flag.
● Use Clearya’s “Discover” tab, which suggests alternative products in the same category without alerts.
● Do not stop at your own routine. Ask the stores and pharmacies you shop at why the lower-hazard version is not the one on the shelf.
● Push for policy change. BCPP champions the Safer Beauty Bill Package, a set of federal bills that would phase out harmful chemicals in personal care products and strengthen FDA’s authority to review ingredient safety. Contact your representatives and ask them to support it!
● Follow Protect Our Breasts for more research like this and ways to get involved as a student advocate. This project is what brought me here, and it might be the start of something for you too.
I began this research for my sensitive skin. However, somewhere between the ingredient lists and scientific articles, it grew into something bigger: an opportunity to help my family friend, her children, and every other woman during windows of susceptibility.
Learning to read an ingredient label is a small, manageable step to know what is in the products we use every day. Prevention starts here.
Divya Mohanraj is a senior at the Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science (TAMS), an early-college program at the University of North Texas, where she researches environmentally sustainable solvents.
References
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2022, February 28). Fragrances in cosmetics. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. https://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/cosmetic-ingredients/fragrances-cosmetics
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2022, May 19). Phthalates in cosmetics. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. https://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/cosmetic-ingredients/phthalates-cosmetics
- Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. (2022). Fragrance ingredient disclosure: Health concerns and trade secret loopholes. Breast Cancer Prevention Partners. https://www.safecosmetics.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Learn-More-Additional-Resources-Fragrance-Disclosure-Policy-Fact-Sheet.pdf
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2023, December 18). Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act of 2022 (MoCRA). U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. https://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/cosmetics-laws-regulations/modernization-cosmetics-regulation-act-2022-mocra
- Terry, M. B., Michels, K. B., Brody, J. G., Byrne, C., Chen, S., Jerry, D. J., Malecki, K. M. C., Martin, M. B., Miller, R. L., Neuhausen, S. L., Silk, K. J., & Trentham-Dietz, A. (2019). Environmental exposures during windows of susceptibility for breast cancer: A framework for prevention research. Breast Cancer Research, 21(1), Article 96. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13058-019-1168-2
- Breast Cancer Prevention Partners. (n.d.). Breast cancer statistics. BCPP. https://www.bcpp.org/resource/breast-cancer-statistics/
- Clearya. (2026, October 2). Cosmetic product hazard analysis [Mobile app and browser extension]. Covalent Bits Ltd. https://www.clearya.com
- European Commission. (2009). Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council on cosmetic products (Annexes II and V, as amended by Commission Regulations (EU) No 358/2014 and 1004/2014). Official Journal of the European Union.
- Toxic-Free Cosmetics Act, Assembly Bill 2762, ch. 314, Stats. 2020 (codified at Cal. Health & Safety Code § 108980 et seq.).
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2008, May 23). FDA warns consumers against using Mommy’s Bliss Nipple Cream [Press release]. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
- European Commission. (2023). Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/1545 amending Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards labelling of fragrance allergens in cosmetic products (Annex III). Official Journal of the European Union.
- Price, S. (2025, January 16). Rising rates of breast cancer in younger women. Breast Cancer Prevention Partners (BCPP). https://www.bcpp.org/rising-rates-of-breast-cancer-in-younger-women/
- Jovanovic, N., Bright, F., Thomsen, C., Garlantezec, R., Rocabois, A., McEachan, R. R. C., Yang, T. C., Sakhi, A. K., Chevrier, C., Mathy, S., Slama, R., Lyon-Caen, S., Vrijheid, M., & Philippat, C. (2026). Levers to decrease exposure to harmful chemicals: The case of personal care products and cosmetics. Environment International, 211, Article 110243. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2026.110243