Rubio Lareu, LauraCosta, Mafalda Barrocas Dias Teixeira daBarrulas, PedroLores Aguín, MartaGarcía Jares, Carmen MaríaBarrocas Dias (anteriormente Teixeira da Costa), Cristina Maria2022-08-262022-08-262022Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry (2022) 414:6233–6246. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-022-04194-11618-2642http://hdl.handle.net/10347/29152Temporary tattoos and dyes constitute a great analytical challenge in relation to the regulatory control of their ingredients. Most of these commercial products are not labeled according to their content and their chemical nature is highly diverse. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze these complex samples to evaluate the potential presence of metallic impurities, to ensure the safety of cosmetic products contributing to health protection. This study proposes a multi-analytical methodology, which includes handheld X-ray fluorescence (h-XRF) and X‐ray diffraction (XRD), complemented by variable pressure scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X‐ray spectrometry (VP-SEM–EDS) to fully characterize 34 commercial samples of jagua and henna tattoos and dyes. The approach allowed the identification of the main constituents providing complementary compositional data and differences between sample types were established. In addition, information on the degree of natural pigments homogeneity was also obtained. The results’ discussion considering the current European cosmetics regulation may be useful to support the drafting of safety requirements and specific regulationeng© The Author(s) 2022. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Atribución 4.0 Internacionahttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/HennaJaguaNatural pigmentsh-XRFXRDVP-SEM–EDSjournal article10.1007/s00216-022-04194-11618-2650open access