There are misconceptions galore out there about what the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has to do with cosmetics. Do they or don’t they regulate makeup and beauty products the same way they regulate drugs? Inquiring minds want to know! The answer, so it seems, is both yes and no. I’m not an attorney, but I think it breaks down a little something like this:
Drugs and premarket approval
The FDA treats drugs and cosmetics differently, except when they’re one and the same (more on that in a minute). For public safety, the distinction matters because the FDA subjects drugs to premarket approval, taking a closer look at their safety before they ever go on sale.
What about cosmetics?
Cosmetics, however, aren’t really examined by the FDA before they end up at Sephora, Nordstrom or MAC. The FDA still requires that beauty products list their ingredients, and they can shut down companies for making misleading claims (although we still see these claims made all the time) or for putting the public at risk, but when you get right down to it, makeup isn’t approved by the government before it winds up at the store.
BOTTOM LINE: With drugs, the FDA takes responsibility for ensuring their safety before they hit the market; with cosmetics, this responsibility falls to the manufacturer, who can be penalized for breaking the rules, but it’s mostly after the fact. 😉
When it’s both a cosmetic AND a drug
Now, there’s one big “but,” and it has to do with products the FDA says are both a cosmetic AND a drug.
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To diminish the appearance of my summer breakout scars, I’ve been using a product with AHA (salicylic acid) from Clinique called 
