‘Oil-Free’ Walgreens No. 7 Skincare Products Actually Contain Oil, Class Action Claims

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Walgreens has falsely and misleadingly claimed certain skincare products are oil-free when they, in truth, contain oils, a proposed class action alleges.

The false advertising lawsuit, filed in Cook County, Illinois Circuit Court, claims Walgreens’ No. 7 brand of supposedly oil-free skincare products, including its eye makeup remover and hydraluminous water surge gel, actually contains tocopherol acetate, dimethicone and PEG-40 hydrogenated castor oil.

“Plaintiff and the Class were deceived into paying money for products they did not want because the Products were labeled as oil free,” the suit contends, echoing claims presented in recent lawsuits against Maybelline, L'Oreal and Murad. 

By making false and misleading claims about the qualities of its No. 7 skincare products, defendant Walgreens Boots Alliance has “impaired” the ability of consumers to choose the type and quality of the items they buy, the case argues. As a result, the plaintiff and other consumers, having been “deprived of [their] legally protected interest to obtain true and accurate information about consumer products,” have been misled into buying skincare items that they otherwise would not have purchased, according to the lawsuit. 

Oil is an umbrella term for a material that is both hydrophobic, or tends to repel or not mix with water, and lipophilic, meaning a tendency to dissolve or combine with lipids or fats. According to the lawsuit, tocopherol acetate, dimethicone and PEG-40 hydrogenated castor oil definitively fit the bill in that their molecular structures cause them to be, in a layperson sense, less dense than or more viscous than water, and slick or slippery to the touch.

The lawsuit asserts that the plaintiff “would not have been able to understand” that Walgreen’s apparently oil-free products contained oil without an advanced understanding of chemistry. 

The lawsuit, which alleges violations of the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, looks to represent all consumers in the United States who bought Walgreens’ No. 7 brand skincare products within the last four years and through the date of class certification. 

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