You may have seen it listed as the latest beauty hack: How to Make Your Own Lipstick from crayons. Many YouTuber and Blogger alike have harked at its cost-effectiveness and money-saving savviness. But what if I told you that this DIY recipe can lead to some lethal issues that makes saving on expenses pale in comparison?

Amy Legate-Wolfe at CTV News reports that while “crayons are sold as nontoxic, they are designed, tested and approved to be used for drawing and not as makeup.”

What is Crayon Lipstick?

Like any beauty hack or DIY recipe, the idea of crayon lipstick largely emerged from the collaborative boards of Pinterest and surfaced on blogs, digital magazines and YouTube channels alike.

In its basic steps, crayon lipstick is made by melting down colors from a box of crayons, mixing the colored wax with oils, commonly coconut oil, and then hardening the mixture into a solid balm.
The novelty of this project is that crayon lipstick can be made from just two ingredients, melted crayons and coconut oil, making it inexpensive and highly doable.

Crayon Lipstick Toxicity 

Herein lies the problem, crayon lipstick is in fact NOT safe and is toxic because it is made from crayons.

Although many efforts have been made over the years to make crayons more safe and non-toxic, the fact remains that ingesting crayons—which is exactly what you are doing when you apply them to your lips and lick, drink, eat, etc— is a serious danger to your health.

Why is this? Let’s look at the ingredient list of a basic crayon. Crayons similar to other colored art utensils are usually made from the following:

• Filler (talc, chalk)
• Colorant (pigment and/or dye)
• Wax (paraffin, beeswax, carnauba wax

Hidden in this ingredient list is petroleum. Paraffin wax is made from petroleum (coal, oil) and toxic chemicals may come into contact with the wax during processing. Paraffin wax is not purified.

Colorants like dyes can also contain an assortment of chemicals like FD&C Lake colorants, tin oxides, aluminum, and other heavy metals, as well as titanium dioxide. Not to mention the proven dangers of talc, which can cause everything from skin irritation to organ toxicity in the lungs due to asbestos that are carcinogenic.

Safe and Not Sorry

As you select your beauty products especially lipstick, it is important to think about the ingredients. If you feel the need to be creative, try mixing lipstick to create new shades instead of putting your health potentially at risk.


Sources: Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, CTV News “Warns Against Crayons as Makeup,” "Wax Based Drawing Media” by Margaret Holben Ellis and M. Brigitte Yeh, Crayola FAQ.