Prepare yourselves to mentally try to block this information next time you apply your lippie cos this ain't pretty people. Here's the not so delightful beauty facts we wish we didn't know.
Beetle Juice
That gorgeous rouge lipstick you love could just be a little bit closer to nature than you think. The red shade comes from crushed Cochineal Beetles after they’ve been soaked in hot water and crushed. Creepy or what?
Funnily enough it won’t be listed as beetle juice though, they mask it under the slightly nicer name Carmine.
Winkles on your wrinkles
We. Are. Speechless. Human foreskin in our anti-ageing cream. What are we hearing? That little hood of skin *shudder* has been known to cultivate knew skin growth and has been used on burn patients for years as an alternative to skin graphs.
And, what's more foreskin fibroblasts can do magical things for reducing wrinkles. We’ll never look at an erection in the same way again.
Chicken dinner. Yum.
Yep, that moisturiser you slather on everyday probably contains chicken bone marrow. For anti-inflammatory purposes. Obviously. GROSS.
Haddock highlighter
Obsessed with shimmer? Well here’s a fishy fact for you. Guanine, the crystalline material that’s used in products to create sheen, actually comes from…fish scales. Who knew? Probs won’t stop us using it though.
Eyelash mites
Apparently eyelashes are a breeding ground for bacteria but that doesn’t stop us loading them up with mascara. And mites love mascara. They attach themselves to our lashes (vom) and eat away the dead skin cells and hair follicles on the eyelash. Never sleeping in make-up again.
PS pumping your mascara contaminates the brush. So yeah maybe stop doing that.
Whale vomit in your perfume
Whales produce a waxy oil called Ambergris to protect their stomachs from sharp squid particles and whatnot. Clever but also EW.
It just so happens that something lurking in that Free Willy whale vomit enhances other fragrances and enables perfume to stick to the body. How do they discover these things? Appaz it’s still used in the ladies’ classic Chanel No. 5 but it’s probably not listed under whale sick.
Sheep filth
Usually you’d wanna do anything and everything to keep this ingredient away from your mouth but in reality we just love lippy too much.
Lanolin, the gunk produced and squeezed from the wool of a bath-deprived sheep, is the stuff that gives your lipstick that seamless, glide-on, if a little bit greasy application. Bet that’s made you feel sheepish.
Fish tank remains in your scrubs
You heard it here first. Chances are if you’ve ever used an exfoliating body scrub then you’ve rubbed the same thing that turns your fish tank slimy all over your bod. Delightful.
Dead algae rock is recognised for its abrasive properties hence why it’s used in scrubs to buff our skin back to its glowing best.
Placenta protein
If you’re a true beauty junkie you would have heard of the sheep placenta face mask before – the bizarre treatment celebs like Victoria Beckham swear by.
The placenta contains stem cells which have the ability to repair every type of cell in the body. Which is why it can be found in certain skincare and hair products. Mind blowing.
Snail gunk
Who would have thought the humble snail would be such a key ingredient in one’s beauty regime.
Snails secrete slime or gel to regenerate their shells once it has been damaged. That’s why a lot of anti-ageing products contain snail secretion to help repair skin cells and make skin feel softer and smoother. Not such a pest after all!
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