As part of its controls on cosmetic claims, the DGCCRF analysed several references of Sephora branded masks in early 2020. It announced today that it has found that ingredients representing only a tiny part of the finished product were highlighted on their packaging. This is a practice that does not justify any effect on the product and is likely to mislead consumers. The company has agreed to pay a fine of €200,000.
As part of their investigation conducted in 2020, the DGCCRF services took samples and analysed several references of masks marketed under the Sephora brand. In two of them, “Spirulina stick mask - purifying” and “Blackhead peel-off mask”, the analyses revealed that the concentration levels of the ingredients whose presence in the products was promoted in the labelling and on the website, namely the ingredient “spirulina” for the first and the ingredients “glycolic acid” and “aloe vera” for the second, did not represent more than 0.2% of the finished product.
Among the other highlights of the investigation conducted in 2020, another international brand received a warning from the DGCCRF for the use of claims of particular properties for an ingredient ‘invigorating, relaxing, refreshing’ without any demonstration based on the concentration in the finished product and based only on a press article. In addition, sample analyses by the joint laboratory service (SCL) revealed not only the presence in insufficient quantities of certain substances announced on the label as being present or used in the composition of the product, but sometimes even their total absence (e.g. bay laurel oil or shea butter).
In total, out of the more than 1000 products controlled by …
