Determination of Lipstick Authenticity Parameters

Counterfeit medicine and cosmetics are available on the market despite the joint effort of corporations, e-commerce platforms, and the regulatory authorities to “fight the fakes”. This could be due to the lack of quick and reliable analytical methods for identifying counterfeit products. Techniques that perform physicochemical characterisations are the most reliable way to detect counterfeit cosmetics. However, this is costly and time-consuming therefore a more efficient approach to determine counterfeit cosmetics is beneficial. The aim of the study was to show how physical characterisation parameters such as hardness and yield stress could be used as a tool to authenticate stick-based products.