Shimmery Lipsticks From The Fish Scales

When it comes to makeup, probably anyone thinks of any of the possible odd stuff that could be in that product and lipstick is one such product. History reminds us of the ancient Egyptians who used henna to paint their lips. The History of Lipstick, a reddish-purple mercuric plant dye called fucus- algin, 0.01% iodine, and some bromine mannite- was used for lip rouge. The ancient Egyptians were unaware of the fact that it was potentially poisonous- here comes the kiss of death.
Many of the modern-day lipstick's shimmery effect comes from the fish scales. The ingredient used is known as the pearl essence (pearlescence)- the silvery stuff found in fish scales. Pearl essence is scaled up mainly from herring- forage fish from the family Clupeidae. Large-scale commercial fish processing produces this as one of the by-products. Even though synthetic versions have been developed, yet it is quite difficult to say how many cosmetic manufacturers prefer synthetic version over the natural variety because fishermen still collect them. Pearl essence is just one of many animal ingredients that makes up the cosmetics.