In my previous post regarding SwiitchBeauty, I spat out all the trials and tribulations I faced AND all the things I loved about the company bringing Mzanzi all the latest makeup products and gadgets!
SwiitchBeauty was kind enough to contact me after my previous post and told me that the ingredients of their products are now listed on their website. I got a few requests to do this sort of post, and I just thought, “okay, let’s do it!”.
If you haven’t already done so, check out their site, here.
Initially, when the Holy Grail Flash Case, Slays for Days palette and Glowgasm palette launched on the website, none of the ingredients were listed. SHOCKER- I KNOW!
Luckily for us, they are now finally listed! YAY!
Let’s dive right into the Holy Grail Flash Case…
The Holy Grail Flash Case is basically a dupe for the Make Up For Ever Flash Case!
So you can see the similarities, yes? Now the pending question, is it a dupe or *replica?
*A replica copies a high-end product. It resembles the high-end product by using the SAME packaging, design and name. It is made to REPLICATE the original product. Replicas are illegal- no one is legally allowed to forge a product and sell it! It is often of a lower quality and usually made in very unhygienic conditions. Think urine, faecal matter and other harmful ingredients. YUCK!
As you might’ve guessed, replicas CAN and DO cause rashes or other skin conditions.
A dupe is a product created by a company to resemble a high-end product. It is usually more affordable than the high-end product. It does not use the high-end company’s branding, but rather it’s own branding. It is a legitimate company in its own right. Dupes are legitimate products on their own BUT they are comparable to the high-end product.
It is not EXACTLY the same as the high-end product, but it is similar to a great extent. Think same formula, colour, etc. Dupes are usually produced in FDA approved factories. They are much safer than replicas for this reason. Why do companies make dupes? Affordability is key for consumers!
I took a snapshot of the ingredients from the website. You can find them, here.
I have found the ingredients in the Make Up For Ever Flash Case from Sephora’s website just for a comparison. You can check out the page I visited by clicking here.
So, the ingredients in BOTH products are EXACTLY the same and they have been listed the EXACT same way. This takes us back to the dupe or replica question above. ..
Ingredients analysis, in the order in which it is listed:
A mineral oil is basically a paraffin oil and is colourless, odourless and obtained from the distillation of petrol.
Petrol is in SO many cosmetic products! As an industry standard, there’s a lot of information out there promoting the safety of petroleum by-products so you might be wondering if you should avoid it. It contains 1,4-Dioxane, which has been listed by the World Health Organization and the Environmental Protection Agency as a probable carcinogen. Cancer from your makeup? Eish.
The Beauty Brains says that the talk surrounding mineral oil having carcinogenic properties is a myth. They say that the mineral oil that is used in the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industry is highly refined and purified. Its purity is apparently even regulated by the US FDA and other international regulatory agencies. There is absolutely no evidence that cosmetic grade mineral oil causes cancer, according to them. Check out their page, here.
Isononyl Isononanoate is a skin conditioning emollient that leaves a silky feeling on the skin. An emollient is something that has the quality to condition or soften. It poses a low overall hazard to the skin.
Beeswax is plain ol’ beeswax. Beeswax gives a rich emollient quality to creams, which is very useful for dry skin and it creates a waterproof barrier on the skin. Beeswax is an animal by-product. Therefore, the Holy Grail Flash Case is not vegan.
Kaolin is also known as China Clay and is a naturally occurring porous soft clay rich in the mineral, kaolinite. Its colour varies from white to dark brown. The white, finest powder grade is used in cosmetics. I would rate this ingredient as safe! ✅
Caprylic or Capric Triglyceride is a mixed chemical compound derived from coconut oil and glycerin. It comes in the form of an oily liquid and mainly works as an emollient, dispersing agent and solvent.
Trioctyldodecyl Citrate is basically a skin conditioning agent based on citric acid and octyldodecanol ( which is a long chain branched alcohol.)
Zinc Stearate is also known as “zinc soap”. It is a fine, white powder with a slightly fatty odour.
For some extra info: in cosmetics, zinc salts is used mainly in the formulation of makeup products such as eyeliner, eyeshadow, mascara, lipsticks, blushers, face powders and foundations. They are also used in fragrances, deodorants, and hair and skin care products.generally used for their lubricating properties.
Zinc stearate helps to keep emulsions from separating into their oil and liquid components.
Distarch Phosphate basically acts as an anti-caking agent and a binder in cosmetics. If you have a knack for chemistry, it is made by the cross-linking of starch with sodium metaphosphate.
Synthetic Wax is a hydrocarbon wax produced from fossil fuel materials such as natural gas. It basically acts as a binder, emulsion stabilizer and fragrance ingredient in cosmetics.
Trihydroxystearin is a chemical compound of glycerin and hydroxystearic acid. In cosmetics, it is used in the formulation of body, hand and skin care preparations. It is also used in makeup preparations including eye makeup, blushers, face powders, foundations and lipstick.
It just increases the thickness of the oil portion of cosmetic products.
Disteardimonium Hectorite is an ingredient based on naturally occurring clay mineral hectorite and is used as a thickening agent.
Propylene Carbonate serves as a synthetic solvent (i.e. it dissolves other substances).
Now for the colours listed…
The ingredients that colour our lipsticks and in this case; our Flash Cases are derived from coal tar, which causes cancer. “Now, these colour ingredients may not themselves be known to cause cancer, but a great deal of them have not been adequately tested to determine if they’re safe”, says dyingtolookgood.com. EEEP!
The FDA has approved D&C Colors for drugs and cosmetics, hence D and C, but not for food. So, they cannot be used in food. Despite the fact that lipstick is a cosmetic item and not a food, everyone who wears it eats it. Every time you lick your lips, you’re eating a little bit of lipstick. Truth be told, girl-friend.
Side-note: “in the June 2002 issue of Glamour magazine it was reported that women accidentally ingest about 4 pounds of lipstick in their lifetime.” Lead and arsenic are poisonous. So, every time you lick your lips you may be getting a small dose of these poisonous chemicals!
Most of the colour ingredients in our lipstick that give you an amazing number of shades to choose from are D&C and FD&C colours, i.e. artificial colours. However, the majority of the time, the D&C and FD&C are left off the label so you’ll see the colour listed something like “Orange 5” or “Blue 1 Lake.”
I have blocked the colors that are on the Holy Grail Flash Case ingredient list in red and added a short explanation on each of the other compounds.
And that’s a wrap on the ingredients analysis of the Holy Grail Flash Case from SwiitchBeauty!
I hope that this post gave you an insight into the ingredients that go into the Holy Grail Flash Case. You as a consumer can decide for yourself if it is safe for YOU and if you think it is a dupe or replica!
I pose one last question to you as a beauty-lover: Will any two companies have EXACTLY the same formula if they are not manufactured by the same cosmetic lab?
Sources listed:
https://www.annmariegianni.com/top-10-toxic-skin-care-ingredients/
https://uk.lush.com/ingredients/kaolin
http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/ingredient/706414/SYNTHETIC_WAX/
http://www.cosmeticsinfo.org/ingredient/trihydroxystearin
https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/ingredient/702178/DISTEARDIMONIUM_HECTORITE/
https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/ingredient/705314/PROPYLENE_CARBONATE/
http://www.cosmeticsinfo.org/ingredient/propylene-carbonate-0
http://www.dyingtolookgood.com/dtlgb-lipstickingred.html
***Featured image belongs to Belleblushh
Just Kamini 
It really does give you something to think about. I can definitely admit I trust certain brands due to reputation without delving in depth into the ingredients they use in their products. Even the best of them can do us harm. Thanks for the great post. I’m hoping to be more observant in future
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Thank you for the kind words, Nisa! ❤ I appreciate all you support! xx
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Excellent post. I love doing research on all the ingredients used in the stuff we put on our skin. 60% of everything we put on our skin is absorbed into our body so its a critical thing. Thats why i dont use mineral oil, parabens or sulphates in any of our bath and body products. Would love to see more posts about this.
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Hi, Janet! Thank you for the all your kind words and constant support! ❤ I cannot wait to try out some of your amazing bath goodies! I'm hoping to place an order soon. I will definitely do more ingredient analysis posts! xx
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Is there a chance they just copied the ingredients listing and used it as their own and perhaps those aren’t even the real ingredients? It’s quite uncanny that every single ingredient is exactly the same. We’re leaning more then towards a replica vs a dupe.
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Hi, love! Swiitch Beauty has contacted me last night about the ingredient list and I have had a discussion with them. I completely agree with your sentiment that is uncanny! I will post whatever Swiitch Beauty has told me regarding the ingredients in an updated post. Stay tuned! xx
P.S. Thank you for reading! ❤
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Wow. This was a really well researched and thought provoking post. I feel like despite the huge amount of information our generation has access to thanks to the internet, the origins of products we consume still remains so obscure.
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