Does Maybelline eyeliner have PFAS?

What Maybelline says and does about PFAS

Maybelline is sold by L’Oréal, which says that since the end of 2025 it has stopped producing any formulas containing ingredients from the PFAS family. That statement is L’Oréal’s and does not name Maybelline. A consumer class action in New York, Hicks v. L’Oréal USA, alleges that the plaintiffs’ lab analysis found PFAS in waterproof mascaras including Maybelline Great Lash Waterproof. In 2024 the court dismissed some claims and let others proceed. These are allegations, not findings.

• Brand statementL’Oréal says that since the end of 2025 it has stopped producing any formulas containing ingredients of the PFAS family. The statement does not name Maybelline. L’Oréal ↗
• Legal caseThe amended complaint in Hicks v. L’Oréal USA (S.D.N.Y.) lists Maybelline waterproof mascaras, including Great Lash Waterproof, among the products at issue and alleges the plaintiffs’ lab analysis detected PFAS. Complaint via ClassAction.org ↗
• Legal caseIn 2024 the court granted L’Oréal’s motion to dismiss in part and denied it in part, so some of the claims continued. U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York ↗
• Legal caseA 2022 federal class action alleged that third-party lab testing found PFAS, including PFOA, in several waterproof mascaras, naming four Maybelline products among them. That is the plaintiff’s allegation, not a finding. Vega v. L’Oreal USA, Inc., No. 2:22-cv-02049 (D.N.J.), complaint ↗
• Legal caseThe parallel case was dismissed because the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate standing, having not sufficiently shown that the specific mascaras they bought contained PFAS. The court also noted the plaintiffs never alleged the 2021 Notre Dame cosmetics study had reviewed any L’Oreal product, so that study cannot be read as a finding against this brand. Verdant Law ↗
• StudyThe 2021 Notre Dame screening tested over 230 cosmetics for total fluorine and reported results by product category, finding high fluorine in 47 percent of mascaras and 56 percent of foundations and eye products. It named no brands, and only one of the 29 products in its targeted subset listed a fluorochemical on its label. University of Notre Dame, Peaslee Lab ↗

Sources checked October 1, 2026. A brand statement is the company’s own claim, which we report but have not verified. Our grades are model-based estimates, not lab tests.