- Kylie Jenner shared Instagram photos from her visit to a Kylie Cosmetics laboratory in Italy.
- Jenner was pictured without gloves or a hairnet, but sources said she wasn't in a production area.
- According to FDA guidelines, products handled under insanitary conditions can be "prohibited."
Kylie Jenner sparked hygiene concerns over Kylie Cosmetics products after she posted photos that appeared to show her in a laboratory not wearing basic sanitary equipment.
On Wednesday, the makeup mogul, who started her self-named brand in 2015, shared a photo carousel of her visit to a laboratory in Milan, Italy. In the post, Jenner is seen peering into vats of liquid without a hairnet and handling glass beakers wearing multiple silver rings but no gloves. She also shared a short clip of her scooping and weighing a beaker full of powder herself, during which she can be heard saying: "I could do this."
Captioning the post, which has over 6 million likes as of Thursday, Jenner wrote that she was "in the lab creating new magic" for her fans and that Kylie Cosmetics was "better than ever."
It's not clear whether she was handling any cosmetics intended for consumers or whether she was inside the actual laboratory production area. Representatives for Jenner declined to provide Insider with a statement. However, sources told Insider that Jenner was not on the production floors but in an accessible lab area where she could play around with colors and ideate concepts.
While the laboratory Jenner visited was in Europe, if she was planning to sell any cosmetic material she handled in the US she would need to adhere to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standard that imported products must be safe for consumers.
According to guidelines published by the FDA on good manufacturing practices for cosmetics, a product that has been "manufactured or held under insanitary conditions whereby it may have become injurious to users or contaminated with filth," may be deemed "adulterated" and therefore prohibited.
Regarding personnel, the guidelines say that anyone coming into contact with cosmetic materials should "wear appropriate outer garments, gloves, hair restraints etc., and maintain adequate personal cleanliness." Representatives for the FDA did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment on Jenner's post.
Although sources told Insider that Jenner was not in a laboratory area, the photos gained mixed reactions on social media. Some users pointed out that Jenner did not appear to be following standard laboratory procedure, leaving comments asking her to "wear a hair cap" while others joked about finding hair in the makeup they will later purchase.
One user wrote that they couldn't "wait for this to break my skin out in hives."
Another user questioned "what kind of professional lab" would let Jenner enter without wearing basic sanitary equipment.
But it's not the first time celebrities with beauty brands have shared photos of themselves appearing to work with their own makeup products without gloves or hairnets. In June, DJ and influencer duo Simi and Haze Khadra, founders of Simihaze Beauty, shared a similar Instagram carousel to Jenner's showing their visit to a laboratory in Italy.
Representatives for Coty, the beauty brand that owns 51% of Kylie Cosmetics, did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.