Abstract
Heavy metal impurities in cosmetic products are unavoidable due to the ubiquitous nature of these elements, but should be removed wherever technically feasible. Most of people specially females use cosmetic and their ingredients on a daily basis. Although human external contact with a substance rarely results in its penetration through the skin and significant systemic exposure, cosmetic produce local (skin, eye) exposure and are used in the oral cavity, on the face, lips, eyes and mucosa. Therefore, human systemic exposure to their ingredients can rarely be completely excluded. Given the significant and relatively uncontrolled human exposure to cosmetic and their ingredients, these products must be thoroughly evaluated for their safety prior to their marketing. In this work we chose nine brands of the most expensive brands names of Mascara and Eye Shade from the Saudi market. Twenty eight elements were determined by using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer (ICP-MS) and a flow injection mercury system (FIMS).