Just When You Think You've Got It Sorted - Gluten In Skincare

Contains Gluten

I'm not afraid to admit that when it comes to cooking, I'm on gluten free auto pilot. It comes so naturally now that I find it a breeze but that's only because I've immersed myself in learning as much as I can about ingredients, it didn't just happen overnight.

So there's me thinking I'm 100% gluten free but due to one little 15ml pot of eye cream, it's transpired that I am not.

I've been using Clinique All About Eyes Rich for over two years, it's a good cream. I've used this pretty much every day during that time and I've been pleased with the results which is why I've stuck with it after years of searching and trying countless other brands.

Last week I was bought a new jar as a gift which meant that it was in the box, I always throw the box away on first use but there it was, I hadn't opened it yet.

The Saturday before last I had irritated twinges in my left eye as I was applying my mascara, as the day went on it got more and more sore and I couldn't wait to remove my make up, very unlike me. The next day when I woke up The Glutenite noticed that my eye was very red, I neglected to look myself until much later in the day and it was much worse than I had expected.

A day or so in and it had faded then one day last week it flared up again. We were talking about it one evening when The Glutey picked up the All About Eyes box and read the ingredients. I got a huge shock.

Water, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter), Cetearyl Alcohol, Hydrogenated Polyisobutene, Phenyl Trimethicone, Dipropylene Glycol, Polyglyceryl-3 Beeswax, Polybutene, Sucrose, Cetyl Esters, Polymethyl Methacrylate, Isostearyl Neopentanoate, Glycerin, Glyceryl Stearate, Cetearyl Glucoside, Butylene Glycol, Tocopheryl Acetate, Euphrasia Officinalis (Euphrasia) Extract, Triticum Vulgare (Wheat) Germ Extract, Hordeum Vulgare (Barley) Extract, Sigesbeckia Orientalis (St. Paul’s Wort) Extract, PEG-100 Stearate, Coleus Barbatus Extract, Betula Alba (Birch) Extract, Polysilicone-11, Methyl Glucose Sesquistearate, Camellia Sinensis(Green Tea) Leaf Extract, Salvia Officinalis (Sage) Leaf, Glyceryl Polymethacrylate, Yeast Extract, Gentiana Lutea (Gentian) Root Extract, Stearic Acid, Milk Protein, Proteinum, Whey Protein, Lysine, Acetyl Glucosamine, Palmitoyl Oligopeptide, Guanidine Carbonate, Squalane, Glycosaminoglycans, Magnesium Ascorbyl Phosphate, Cholesterol, Caffeine, PEG-8, Phytosphingosine, Arginine, Acrylates, Aminomethyl Propanol, Glycine, Dimethicone, Ascorbic Acid, Isomerized Linoleic Acid, Linoleic Acid, Sodium Hyaluronate, 1,2 Hexanediol, Maltodextrin, Decarboxy Carnosine HCL, Potassium Sulfate, Caprylyl Glycol, Disodium EDTA, Sodium Dehydroacetate, Phenoxyethanol, Mica, Iron Oxides(CI 77491, CI77492, CI77499), Yellow 5 (CI 19140), Titanium Dioxide(CI 77891) Color Additive.

Clinique All About Eyes Rich contains gluten.

With every new product that I'm thinking of buying, I always research thoroughly. I guess way back when I first tried this I didn't pay any attention to the ingredients and I know why. It came as a sample with another Clinique product I had ordered, as it was a sample the pot and box were much smaller than the bought version and so there was no room for ingredients to be listed.

Also, back then I wasn't as gluten free savvy as I am now so it probably didn't cross my mind that there may be gluten in an eye cream. I used the sample up, thought it was great and ordered the bigger version, no attention paid to ingredients as I had been using the sample for around three weeks with no problems.

So here I am with my eye cream of over two years and it contains gluten. I highly doubt that the red eye problem has anything to do with it, for starters, it's taken two years to happen, also, it's only one eye. From my research the ingredients haven't changed during the time I've been using All About Eyes Rich.

It would seem that I don't react to topical ingredients (applied to the skin rather than ingested) that contain gluten but I won't be using anything new with it in. I'd be intrigued to know if any other long term products that I use contain it.

I've thought about it and I'm going to continue to use All About Eyes until this pot runs out. It hasn't affected me to the best of my knowledge but I'm still uneasy about gluten being anywhere near me. Once this pot runs dry it may be a case of sourcing a new and equally good eye cream without gluten or I may choose to continue with it, I'm not sure yet. 

I'm terrified of gluten but at the same time if it isn't causing me any harm as a topical product, then vanity will probably win. If a report comes out anytime soon that topical products do unseen harm then it's being thrown out of the window immediately.

Gluten, you never know where you'll find it next.