Play make-up sets for children

Play make-up and nail varnish sets are sold as toys for children. The government's product safety team publishes what has been found in some of them.

Check a set before you buy

The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) publishes product safety alerts, reports and recalls on GOV.UK. A search there for "children's make up set" lists reports on these sets, with product names and, where OPSS has one, the barcode. OPSS also says toys must be clearly marked with an age warning, and asks buyers to follow it.

What the reports have found

In August 2025 OPSS published a recall of four toy make-up kits (report 2505-0086). The nail varnishes in each kit contained methylisothiazolinone. The law bans it from products left on the skin, because it can set off a skin allergy (sensitisation).

In May 2024 OPSS reported on a make-up set that contained excess nickel (report 2403-0238). Nickel can cause an allergic reaction when it sits against the skin for a long time, the report explains.

In March 2022 OPSS reported a children's cosmetic kit as a suffocation risk, because the plastic bag it came in was thinner than the rules require (report 2108-0189).

If you have a set named in a report

For the kits in report 2505-0086, OPSS recommends that owners stop using them immediately and contact the distributor for redress. OPSS gives the action for each product in its report.

In England, Citizens Advice says to report a business to Trading Standards if it sold you something unsafe or dangerous.

The rules the reports cite

The two chemical reports say the sets did not meet Regulation (EC) 1223/2009 or the Cosmetic Products Enforcement Regulations 2013. The report on the bag cites the Toys (Safety) Regulations 2011.

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