A Review on Natural Colourants Used in Cosmetics

Abstract

Colour plays a vital role in marketing any product such as cosmetics, food additives, pharmaceutical products etc. It gives the attractiveness for a product. Colour also helps to get the attention of the customers. Early days synthetic dyes were used as colorants in these products. The carcinogenic effect and the toxic effect of the synthetic dyes made the impact and thirst on the use of natural dyes. Natural dyes are obtained from the pigments produced by the microorganisms and the phytochemicals produced by the plants. Animal pigments are rarely used as colorants. The synthetic colorant in cosmetic industry is now replaced by the natural pigments. The colours obtained from the natural sources possess various properties like anti-cancer and so on. Some of the phytochemicals such as anthocyanins are used as colorant and also as antioxidant. Hence the natural colorants are used as a nutritional one and also it maintains in improving the health.