Lead in lipstick, who knew?!

I have a bit of a tendency to live under a rock during the week; news and current events are pretty much off my radar until the weekend is upon us or when Scott shoots me an e-mail or text about something super newsworthy.  Case in point, I received this little gem last week..

Colour me shocked!  Could you hear the sarcasm in there?  If you keep up with celebrity gossip as much as I do, you would know that something bad would eventually happen.  This is the only mention WH gets on here, because I've found the excessive coverage about her to be completely nauseating.

Onto much, um, lighter things in the news.  According the Washington Post, the FDA (America's Food and Drug Administration) have tested and found 400 shades of lipstick from various brands sold across the U.S. contain "trace amounts of lead."  But how much is too much, especially when many women reapply throughout the course of the day?  There's a reason why lead-based paint used in homes remained a hot button issue for so many years.

Here's a list of the top ten culprits that contain the highest amounts of lead:

1. Maybelline’s Color Sensation in Pink Petal. (Lead content: 7.19 ppm)

2. L’Oreal Colour Riche in Volcanic. (Lead content: 7.00 ppm)

3. NARS Semi-Matte in Red Lizard. (Lead content: 4.93 ppm)

4. Cover Girl Queen Collection Vibrant Hues Color in Ruby Remix (Lead content: 4.92 ppm)

5. NARS Semi-Matte in Funny Face. (Lead content: 4.89)

6. L’Oreal Colour Rich in Tickled Pink. (Lead content: 4.45)

7. L’Oreal Intensely Moisturizing Lipcolor in Heroic. (Lead content: 4.41)

8. Cover Girl Continuous Color in Warm Brick. (Lead content: 4.28)

9. Maybelline Color Sensational in Mauve Me. (Lead content: 4.23)

10. Stargazer lipstick in shade “c.” (Lead content: 4.12)

Halzack, Sarah. Lead in lipsticks: Which brands are the worst offenders? The Washington Post, 14 February 2012. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-checkup/post/lead-in-lipsticks-which-brands-are-the-worst-offenders/2012/02/14/gIQAfNkiDR_blog.html

The other thing worth mentioning was the fact that there was no direct correlation between price point and lead content.

Will you give your shade of choice a second thought before applying?