Do you know the bad beauty ingredients to look out for in your products?

We are becoming acutely aware of what's good for our skin and what's not these days. Do you know the bad beauty ingredients to look out for on the ingredients list?

To put this simply, a long list of ingredients on the back of your product should ring the alarm bells. The fewer ingredients on the back of the box mean it should be better for your skin. If it has fewer ingredients it's probably more natural with less preservatives and chemicals thrown into the mix. Do you know what you should be looking out for? We want to help make everybody aware of what's good in your everyday makeup and skincare and know the bad beauty ingredients to look out for.

We have compiled a list of some of the common 'bad' ingredients to look out for. If your product has one or two of them it's not a disaster. However, if there are three or more from this list we recommend you ditch it.

The badies:

Bismuth oxychloride

Talc

Carmine

Perfume

Propylene glycol

Lanolin

Sodium Laurel Sulphate

Petrolatum

Any synthetic colour which could be represented by FD&C or D&C and a number

Parabens (Ethyl, Propyl, Butyl or Methyl)

Imid Urea/Diaz Urea

Nylon 12/Nylon Fiber (Nylon-66)

You might be one of the lucky ones whose skin never reacts to anything you put on it. Did you ever think that could be a bad thing? If your skin isn't sensitive, it might not react or flare up when these ingredients are put on it. It's actually more dangerous for you because you won't even know that the ingredients you are using are having an effect on your skin. So if you are a Sensitive Sally, be glad, it's just your skin talking to you and telling you to stop!

There are a few other things to consider when you are checking out the back of the box. Firstly, are all the ingredients listed on the back of the box? If not, alarm bells should sound immediately. All ingredients should be listed clearly and be easy to find. Secondly, you need to read between the lines. If the box says things like 'mineral-based' that doesn't mean it is a pure mineral product, just that there are minerals included. All products should be cruelty-free at this stage. So look out for the happy bunny sign on the back of the box or do your research to make sure they are actually cruelty-free.