The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, a consumer group, recently conducted testing on 33 popular lipstick brands and found that a surprising 61% contained detectable levels of lead. About 1/3 of the lipsticks exceeded the allowable level of lead in candy. While these may seem like relatively small amounts of lead, you do apply lipstick to your mouth where some of it inevitably gets ingested.

Makeup manufacturers are striking back, saying their products pass numerous inspections and meet federal standards. In addition, the FDA says that they've been aware of the presence of lead in lipstick and have no plans to address the issue.

I'm not sure, at this point, what this finding means, but I do think it's important for consumers to be informed about what's inside the products they are using. Read more about the issue at the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics website.