Even more hideous cosmetics ingredients

You’re probably getting the gist now: make-up and other cosmetics are often made of weird stuff. Here are just two more examples.

Firstly, diatomaceous earth, which is an ingredient in exfoliants. This is basically a form of fossilised algae – algae being the green gunk that makes ponds go all scummy. On this occasion, it’s not as bad as it sounds, because the algae is so old, it’s basically become rock.

Then there’s guanine, which you’ll typically find in shampoo and nail polish. It’s sometimes called ‘natural pearl essence’ which sounds very nice. However, you could more accurately think of it as being ‘fish scales’.