What Is Carmine in Makeup? Why It Isn't Vegan, and How to Spot CI 75470

If you've ever turned over a lipstick or blush and seen CI 75470 in the ingredient list, you've already come across carmine. You just may not have known what the number meant.

That's the short answer.

The more useful answer is learning how to recognize it. Depending on where a cosmetic is sold, you might encounter Carmine, CI 75470, Natural Red 4 or cochineal-related terminology. And carmine isn't only something to check for in bright red lipstick.

Once you know the language, the ingredient list gets a lot easier.

First, what actually is carmine?

Here's the easiest way to understand it:

They're connected, but they aren't three different names for exactly the same thing.

Female cochineal insects, Dactylopius coccus, contain carminic acid, the molecule responsible for their red colour. In conventional production, the insects are harvested and dried, carminic acid is extracted, and that colour is then processed with metal salts to form the stable pigment known as carmine. ^{1 2}

That distinction sounds small, but it clears up a lot of confusing ingredient information online. Carmine, cochineal and carminic acid are related. They are not chemically interchangeable terms.

Thankfully, you don't need to remember the chemistry to shop for makeup. The three-line shortcut above is enough.

Why isn't carmine vegan?

Because cochineal insects are animals.

Conventional carmine is made from material obtained from those insects, so it doesn't meet vegan standards that exclude animal products, by-products and derivatives. The Vegan Society's standard explicitly includes multicellular invertebrates within its definition of animals. ³

Pretty straightforward.

Where things sometimes get muddled is the word natural.

Something can come from nature without coming from a plant. Likewise, a human-made colourant can be animal-free. These aren't opposite ends of the same scale.

Is vegan the same thing as cruelty-free?

No. These labels answer different questions.

Cruelty-free standards are concerned with animal testing. Vegan standards also address whether animal-derived ingredients are used. That means a product can be cruelty-free without automatically being vegan. Carmine is a good example of why shoppers shouldn't treat the two terms as synonyms. ^{3 10}

The two names worth remembering

You could memorize a long list of carmine-related terms. You probably don't need to.

For everyday makeup shopping, start with:

In the United States, Carmine is the name to watch for. FDA rules require cosmetics containing carmine to declare it by name. FDA also does not accept a CI number by itself as a substitute for the U.S. common or usual colour-additive name. ⁴

In Canada, colourants can be declared using CI numbers or accepted colour names, so CI 75470 becomes especially useful to recognize. EU cosmetic rules also use CI nomenclature for colourants where applicable. ^{5 6}

Carmine label decoder: what are you actually looking at?

That final row matters.

Natural Red 4 and Red 4 are not interchangeable names. There is a separate colour additive called FD&C Red No. 4, so telling people simply to avoid anything labelled "Red 4" creates more confusion, not less. ^{1 7}

This is one of those cases where one missing word changes the answer.

And then there's the +/- problem

This may be the most useful part of the article if you regularly read makeup labels.

Imagine you pick up a palette, blush or lipstick and the colourants look like this:

You now know that CI 75470 means carmine. So does that automatically mean the shade you're holding contains it?

Not always.

Colour cosmetics are often sold in several shades. In Canada and the EU, regulations allow colourants used across a multi-shade range to be grouped after wording such as "may contain" or the symbol "+/-". Similar shade-range provisions exist in Australia. ^{5 6}

That's much more useful than either ignoring the listing or automatically assuming every shade contains carmine.

If strict avoidance matters to you, check the current information for your exact shade or ask the brand to confirm its shade-specific formula.

Sometimes the ingredient list gives you the answer. Sometimes it tells you which question to ask.

Wait, can carmine be in makeup that isn't red?

Yep. This is where carmine becomes less intuitive.

Red lipstick makes sense. Rosy blush makes sense. But cosmetic shades are rarely built from one pigment alone.

Think about mixing paint. A brown can contain red. A plum can contain red. A warm bronze can contain red. A muted mauve can contain red. The finished colour you see is the result of several pigments working together.

So the useful rule isn't "check anything red."

Don't judge by the colour in the pan. Check the colourants in the formula.

If blush is the category that brought you here, our vegan liquid blush guide goes deeper into what "vegan blush" actually means and what to look for beyond one pigment.

So are brands "hiding" carmine?

Usually, that isn't the fairest way to describe what's happening.

A term like CI 75470 can look secretive if you don't know what it means, but CI numbers are standardized colour identifiers used in cosmetic regulation. The ingredient isn't necessarily being disguised. The terminology is simply written for a regulatory system, not for someone standing in a store trying to decode a lipstick box.

Technically disclosed doesn't always mean instantly understandable.

In the United States, FDA requires carmine to be declared by its common or usual name. In Canada, cosmetic labels use the INCI system and colourants may use CI numbers. EU rules require CI nomenclature where applicable and also allow multi-shade decorative cosmetics to use "may contain" or "+/-" declarations. ^{4 5 6}

So I wouldn't say carmine is usually hidden.

I'd say it can be hiding in plain sight when you haven't been taught the vocabulary yet.

Now you have.

Why do makeup brands use carmine in the first place?

Because making colour is more complicated than picking a red pigment and calling it a day.

Carmine has long been useful for creating red, pink, berry, purple and related tones. Replacing it also isn't as simple as saying, "use the vegan version." There isn't one universal ingredient called vegan red.

Formulators can work with different combinations of iron oxides, approved synthetic dyes, lakes and pigment blends depending on the shade, product type, intended use and market. ⁷

Why not just use beetroot?

Beets are red. They contain plant pigments. It sounds like an easy swap.

But being colourful and plant-derived doesn't automatically make an ingredient an approved cosmetic colourant for every product, use or market. Colour additives intentionally used in cosmetics have to meet the rules for that cosmetic use where the product is sold. ⁷

Cosmetic formulation has to satisfy colour, stability, performance, intended use and regulation at the same time.

VHUES uses "vegan" here as a formula standard. This article does not make a separate shade-specific "carmine-free" claim for products unless the current formula documentation supports that exact wording.

Is carmine unsafe?

This is where it helps to separate two completely different questions.

Carmine remains a permitted cosmetic colourant in the United States, including for eye-area use. It is also included within the EU's permitted cosmetic colourant framework. Its animal origin is why a vegan shopper would avoid it. Safety is a separate discussion. ^{7 6}

There is one health-related reason accurate identification can matter: carmine allergy is documented.

Published case reports include allergic contact dermatitis linked to carmine-containing eyeshadow, lipstick and blush. A 2024 case report also described a more serious allergic history involving repeated eyelid reactions to carmine-containing eyeshadow before a later systemic reaction after food exposure. Case reports don't tell us that these outcomes are common. They do show that the allergy is real. ^{8 9}

So there's no need to turn carmine into a scary ingredient to make the vegan argument stronger. Someone can decide that an insect-derived pigment doesn't belong in their makeup without believing that it is toxic or dangerous.

How to shop for makeup without carmine

You really only need a simple system.

That's where a clearly stated vegan standard can make shopping easier. You can still read the ingredient list. You just don't have to turn every lipstick purchase into detective work.

Carmine gets much easier once you know the language

If you only remember a few things from this article, make them these:

Then there's the slightly more advanced lesson: +/- CI 75470 may tell you that carmine is used somewhere in a shade range without confirming it is in the exact shade you're holding.

Look at you. Ingredient-list literacy.

That's really the point. The goal isn't to make cosmetic ingredients sound complicated, alarming or mysterious. It's the opposite.

Once you understand what the label is telling you, you get to decide what belongs in your makeup bag.

For us, that matters because transparency should make beauty easier to choose, not harder to understand.