Just two days ago on Tuesday, Amorepacific chairman Suh Kyung-bae issued a public apology for a batch of contaminated beauty products that will now be recalled nationwide in South Korea.

13 beauty products were found to contain antimony, a heavy metal that is possibly carcinogenic, in amounts higher than the permissible limit, according to South Korea’s Ministry of Drug and Food Safety. They were manufactured by Hwasung Cosmetics, a subcontractor under Amorepacific.

The ministry has suspended sales of these 13 products and ordered a nationwide recall.

Antimony is a naturally occuring element which can be found in trace amounts in drinking water. According to a study, on average we take in about 5 micrograms of antimony a day from our food and water.

South China Morning Post reports that antimony was found at levels between 10.1 parts per million (ppm) to 14.3ppm in these 13 cosmetic products, despite the maximum legal limit of 10ppm given by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.

“The decision of suspension and recall followed upon finding traces of excessive antimony in them and voluntarily reporting the same to the Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety,” said Etude House to Daily Vanity in an official statement.

Among the affect products are those from young adult cosmetic brand, Etude House, and cosmetics label Aritaum, popular with working women.

According to an official list from Etude House, these are some of the products that were affected by the suspension and recall:

Product Name Serial Number Use-by Date ARITAUM Full Cover Stick Concealer No.1 Light Beige AAH January 12, 2021 BAH January 30, 2021 CBH February 11, 2021 ARITAUM Full Cover Stick Concealer No.2 Natural Beige ELG December 17, 2020 ARITAUM Full Cover Cream Concealer No.1 GLG December 14, 2020 AAH January 30, 2021 ARITAUM Full Cover Cream Concealer No.2 AAH January 14, 2021 ETUDE HOUSE AC Clean-Up Mild Concealer AAH January 8, 2021 ETUDE HOUSE Drawing Eyebrow Duo No.3 Gray Brown GLG December 17, 2020

※Products with above serial numbers and use-by dates are subject to recall. All products included in the list were distributed starting January 2018.

※Products with other serial numbers and use-by dates were tested and found to be appropriate for sale/use.

※All Drawing Eyebrow Duo No.3 Gray Brown products were withdrawn from stores before sale.

Etude House Singapore also told Daily Vanity about how this will affect Singaporean customers. “Only a small portion of the Etude House AC Clean-Up Mild Concealer from the batch AAH is affected, and they’ve been taken off the shelves.

“The affected lot of Drawing Eyebrow Duo in No. 3 Gray Brown were not delivered to Singapore.”

South China Morning Post reports this list of products as being among the ones recalled by the South Korean ministry:

Aritaum’s Full Cover Cream Concealer and Stick Concealer

Etude House’s AC Clean Up Mild Concealer

Black Monster Homme Black Erasing Pen

XTM Style Homme For Men Easy Stick Concealer

SKEDA Concealer

Skinfood Cherry Full Lip Liner

3CE Slim Eyebrow Pencil (chestnut brown shade)

Makeheal Naked Slim Brow Pencil (shades BR0203 and YL0801)

Please take note that this list is unofficial, as far as we are able to ascertain.