Lipsticks are cosmetics for the lips. Some lipsticks, when applied on the lips cause skin reaction like peeling of lips and few black spots discolorations. These indicate that such lipsticks could be contaminated by some organisms which could be pathogenic. Used lipsticks samples were collected from students in Stella Okolie Female Hostel, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria and microbiological analysis conducted on them. . The samples were dissolved with Tween 20 and diluted using Nutrient broth. Appropriate dilutions were plated on appropriate growth media. The bacterial isolates obtained include Klebsiella sp, Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Morganella sp and Bacillus sp. As these organisms are of public health concern, there is need for creating awareness and educating the populace on the dangers inherent in sharing lipsticks.

Keywords : Cosmetic, Contamination, Tween 20.