In this series, Amazingy Magazine brings you well-rounded knowledge on some of the most prevalent ingredients out there. In our mission to promote a green and healthy lifestyle, inside and out, we believe that the first step is advocating educated consumption. We want you to be able to quiz yourself on back of a product with the ingredient list and to pass with flying colors. This means you understand the gibberish that ingredients are often disguised as, for both food and cosmetics. Practice self-love by knowing what exactly you’re putting in your body AND on your body.

Now, it’s time for the background story of an ingredient called carmine that starts off spooky.

Carmine

Also called cochineal, crimson lake, natural red 4, E120 or C.I. 75470 (you’d have to be a robot to remember all these names), carmine is a bright red color derived from the aluminium salt, carminic acid. What it actually is, is crushed up bugs. I told you, spooky right? It is used in many cosmetics, but most commonly in your beloved red power lipstick. It is also routinely found in food such as juices and candies and even your weekend campari spritzer.

It’s history dates way back. The word carmine comes from the Arabic word qirmiz, which means crimson. Europeans discovered carmine in the 1500s while exploring South America, although the local Aztec communities had been using this vibrant red to dye clothes for a long time. Soon thereafter it became a majorly traded good. Today, carmine is mainly sourced from Peru and the canary islands, where the cochineal’s, the origin bug, preferred habitat is.

It is produced using powdered scale insects (predominantly the cochineal), which are boiled in ammonia, and after a series of chemical interactions, the dried crimson pigment is formed. Sometimes, if a more purple-y shade is desired, manufacturers will add some lime.

The use of carmine in cosmetic products poses no real health risks, apart from those who experience allergic reactions. For those who are allergic, it causes a severe reaction, sometimes even resulting in analphylactic shock. But not to worry; these allergies are still exceedingly rare, and if you did experience a intense reaction, you would definitely know. The EWG (Environmental Working Group) ranks carmine as a 1 on it’s scale, indicating the lowest potential health risk for people. However, it does present a moral quandary for vegetarians and vegans alike. If your wish is to be truly vegetarian or vegan, you will have to be careful to eliminate your consumption of carmine.