Drunk Elephant Recall 3 Skincare Products Due to ‘Ingredient Mixing’

Drunk Elephant, a skincare brand particularly popular with teenagers, has voluntarily recalled batches of three products due to “ingredient mixing” that can cause adverse skin reactions, the company announced this week.

Drunk Elephant is urging customers to stop using the infected batches of Beste No. 9 Jelly Cleansers, Protini Polypeptide Creams, and Lala Retro Whipped Cream, including Lala sample packs found inside the O-Bloos Rosy Drops box (drops not affected by the recall).

Mixing ingredients between preservatives and surfactants during manufacturing has compromised certain product batches, Drunk Elephant said.

Preservatives are added to cosmetics to prevent the growth of any harmful mold or bacteria and to extend the product’s shelf life. Surfactants are chemicals that reduce surface tension and allow incompatible substances such as oil and water to mix, giving products cleaning and foaming effects.

Both preservatives and surfactants are essential ingredients in many beauty products, but people can be sensitive to certain ingredients, causing adverse skin reactions — and the mislabeled ingredients in Drunk Elephant’s recalled products can cause irritation.

Withdrawn series Beste No. 9 Jelly Cleansers contain additional levels of the preservative Microkill COS (a combination of chlorphenesin, caprylyl glycol, and phenoxyethanol) that are not listed in the product ingredients.

The affected Protini polypeptide creams contain the surfactant Mirataine CBS (including cocamidopropyl hydroxysultaine, sodium chloride, sodium hydroxide and water) which is not listed in the ingredients list.

The recalled batches also have no preservatives, and some of the affected products contain bacteria closely related to Klebsiella and Enterobacter bacteria. These bacteria are ubiquitous in nature and are commonly found in the human intestinal tract, but some species can cause conditions such as pneumonia, bloodstream infections, wound infections, meningitis and urinary tract infections.

The batch of the last recalled product, Lala Retro Whipped Cream, also contains the surfactant Mirataine CBS which is not included in the list of ingredients.

The recalled Lala creams also lack a preservative and have been found to contain yeast, some of which are Candida parapsilosis (C. parapsilosis). This fungus lives on the human skin and inside the body – and is usually harmless. But using the recalled cream contaminated with C. parapsilosis increases the risk of infection, especially if it touches an open wound or cut.

The risk of infection or irritation from contaminated products is low, Drunk Elephant said, but consider contacting a healthcare professional or dermatologist if you experience prolonged skin irritation after using one of the recalled products.

If you have an affected product, Drunk Elephant said to fill out the refund form on it website for a full refund and product replacement. Only products with the specific batch codes listed below are being recalled—the same products with different batch codes are safe to use.

Beste No. 9 Jelly Cleanser