Bismuth / Bismuth Oxychloride
Bismuth oxychloride (INCI name CI 77163) is rated 3 on our list, in the moderate band, and that number is unconfirmed: we have not traced it to a published study (what unconfirmed means).
Like every rating here, it is for the raw ingredient tested alone, and a label does not print how much of it a product holds.
Is bismuth oxychloride comedogenic?
Bismuth is rated 3 on the comedogenic scale, which is the moderate band.
A synthetic mineral powder used to give makeup a pearlescent, glowing finish.
- Comedogenic rating
- 3 out of 5
- Band
- Moderate: Borderline plugging in the rabbit-ear test. Worth a look in a leave-on product.
- Where the number comes from
- Unconfirmed. We could not trace this rating to a study we have read; the section on who rated it says what we checked.
- Composition
- Mineral Colorant / Minerals
- Also written as
- Bismuth Oxychloride
What a 3 means in practice
Three is the middle of the scale. Fulton 1989 counted 2 to 3 as borderline in the rabbit-ear test: some plugging of the follicles, short of a clear positive. Whether it matters depends on how high it sits on the label and whether the product stays on your skin.
Two things change what this number is worth. Ingredients are listed in descending order of concentration, so bismuth near the top of a label matters far more than bismuth at the bottom. And the rating describes the raw ingredient on its own. A 2006 review in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology found that a rating for a single ingredient does not reliably predict how a finished formula behaves on human skin. The full story of the scale is here.
This is a colour additive, so it turns up mostly in makeup. See the other makeup ingredients on the list.
Who rated it
We could not trace the 3 on our list to a paper we have read. Neither paper we could read tests bismuth oxychloride. The list does not say where its numbers came from, so treat this number as unconfirmed rather than as one we can tie to a table.
Where bismuth comes up on this site
What safety reviewers say
The rating above is about pore plugging. Whether bismuth oxychloride is safe to use in cosmetics is a separate question. CIR has not reviewed it, so below is the FDA rule that covers it and what the EU ingredient database, CosIng, lists for it. We quote the FDA rule as written, read on 31 October 2026.
- Cosmetic Ingredient Review (US)
- CIR has not assessed it. CIR’s procedures let it leave colour additives out, because their safety is decided under FDA rules. CIR procedures (opens in a new tab)
- US Food and Drug Administration
- Bismuth oxychloride is a listed colour additive. The rule says it “may be safely used in coloring cosmetics generally, including cosmetics intended for use in the area of the eye, in amounts consistent with good manufacturing practice”. 21 CFR 73.2162 (opens in a new tab)
- What it does in a product (EU CosIng)
- Listed as CI 77163: colorant. CosIng entry (opens in a new tab)
- EU restrictions
- Listed in Annex IV of the EU Cosmetics Regulation, the colorants allowed in cosmetic products, as entry 123. Annex IV sets no conditions for it. Annex entry (opens in a new tab)
What we make of this. The FDA rule does not grade pore plugging, so on its own it neither confirms nor contradicts the 3 on our list. A safety review looks at things like irritation, allergy and toxicity at the amounts products use, and the rating is only about pores, so read them side by side.
Common questions
- Is bismuth comedogenic?
- Bismuth is rated 3 on the comedogenic scale, which is the moderate band. We have not found a published study that grades it, so treat this number as unconfirmed.
- Is bismuth non comedogenic?
- No. Bismuth is rated 3 on the comedogenic scale, which is the moderate band. That is the number on our list rather than a verdict on any product. We have not traced it to a published study, so treat it as unconfirmed.
- What is bismuth's comedogenic rating?
- 3 out of 5 on our list. It is classed as Mineral Colorant / Minerals. We have not found a published study that grades it, so treat this number as unconfirmed.
Sources we checked this rating against
- Kligman AM, Kwong T. “An improved rabbit ear model for assessing comedogenic substances.” British Journal of Dermatology, June 1979;100(6):699–702. (opens in a new tab) The rabbit-ear assay behind published 0 to 5 comedogenicity grades.
- Fulton JE Jr. “Comedogenicity and irritancy of commonly used ingredients in skin care products.” Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists, November/December 1989;40(6):321–333. (opens in a new tab) Rabbit ear. Each ingredient at 10 percent in propylene glycol unless stated, applied five days a week for two weeks, and graded 0 to 5 from the width of the follicles, measured by micrometer and under the microscope. The paper counts 0 to 1 as not significant, 2 to 3 as borderline and 4 to 5 as positive. Some grades depended on the supplier of the raw material, and some oils were also tested refined.
- Draelos ZD, DiNardo JC. “A re-evaluation of the comedogenicity concept.” Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, March 2006;54(3):507–512. doi:10.1016/j.jaad.2005.11.1058 (opens in a new tab) Tested finished products on the backs of six people and concluded that “Finished products using comedogenic ingredients are not necessarily comedogenic.”