Sichuan Pepper, Hot Sauce, Tomatoes, and Tingling Lips: How Food Took Over Beauty

In the past, food in beauty usually meant safe and subtle ingredients — vanilla, coconut, maybe citrus if brands were feeling extra bold.

Now?

Ingredients from the kitchen — including our favorite Sichuan pepper — are showing up in makeup, fragrance, and skincare in ways that are playful, sensory, and sometimes a little ridiculous.

Think hot sauce–inspired eyeshadow, soda-flavored gloss, cheese-scented lip balm, viral tomato leaf candles, and perfume that promises more than just a smell.

Food has officially left the kitchen and entered the makeup counter, without apologies.

Below, we’ll explore the fun ways Sichuan pepper has made its way into beauty, then take a look at some of the other fun, unexpected food ideas brands have turned into makeup moments — and why people can’t get enough of them!

Sichuan Pepper, but Make It Beauty

Capsaicin — the heat compound in chili peppers — has been used in beauty for decades. It shows up in warming masks, cellulite creams, and lip plumpers designed to flush the skin by increasing blood flow. It burns a little, on purpose.

But not all “spicy” sensations work the same way.

Sichuan pepper isn’t spicy in the usual sense. It doesn’t burn — it tingles. It buzzes. It creates a physical, electric sensation rather than heat.

Sanshool, the numbing compound in Sichuan pepper, is different.

Instead of heat, it creates a vibrating, electric sensation — more buzz than burn. And until recently, it was almost unheard of in cosmetics.

That difference is exactly what has made it so intriguing to the beauty world.

Image: An early example of capsaicin in beauty: Too Faced’s Lip Injection uses chili-derived heat to create temporary lip plumping.

Sichuan Pepper in Fragrances

Fragrance was one of the first places Sichuan pepper appeared, but more as an idea than a physical sensation.

Perfumers were drawn to its bright, citrusy, peppery aroma and the suggestion of energy it brings, not the literal numbing tingle it creates in food.

In fragrance, Sichuan pepper is used for its top notes rather than sensation.

Image: Rose Prick by Tom Ford uses Sichuan pepper to add brightness and contrast to the rose, keeping the floral composition sharp and modern.

Image: In Sauvage by Dior, Sichuan pepper adds crisp brightness to bergamot, helping create the scent’s fresh, energetic character.

In both cases, Sichuan pepper doesn’t create a literal tingle on skin.

It creates depth, energy, and complexity. 

Sichuan Pepper in Skincare

Fragrance borrowed the aroma, while skincare explores the sensation. 

Here, sanshool — the compound behind Sichuan pepper’s signature tingle — creates a subtle tightening, buzzing effect without heat or irritation. Unlike capsaicin, it stimulates sensory receptors rather than inflaming the skin.

That difference has attracted scientific and industry interest. Sanshool has been isolated and explored in professional cosmetic ingredients such as Givaudan’s Zanthalene, where it’s studied for short-term smoothing and wrinkle-softening effects that produce a sensation you can actually feel.

Image: Marketed as a “phyto-botox,” Zanthalene™ reframes Zanthoxylum bungeanum (Sichuan pepper) as a comforting, formulation-ready skincare active rather than a heat-based irritant.

Academic research points in the same direction. Small cosmetic and clinical studies, including work from universities in Italy and China, have observed short-term lifting and wrinkle-softening effects from topical formulas containing Sichuan pepper extract. (We covered the science in more detail here)

Together, this has opened a small but growing category of sensory beauty products: lip plumpers that buzz instead of burn, creams and masks that wake up the skin, products you don’t just apply —you experience

Compared to capsaicin’s long history in beauty, sanshool remains relatively underexplored — leaving plenty of room for evolution.

Don’t be surprised if a Sichuan pepper lip plumper shows up in our product line sooner than you think! ⚡

When Food Meets Makeup (and the Internet Loses Its Mind)

Once food proved it could do something in beauty — tingle, tighten, wake up the skin — brands started asking a different question:

What if food didn’t just function?

What if it performed?

That’s when things got loud and a bit ridiculous. 

A hot sauce brand became an eyeshadow palette.

Image: HipDot’s Tapatío collaboration transformed a cult condiment into bold, flame-colored cosmetics.

Chipotle’s burrito bowl inspired an entire makeup collection.

Image: Chipotle and e.l.f. Cosmetics turned a burrito bowl into a limited-edition makeup collection.

Snack foods didn’t just inspire makeup — they became it. When Flamin’ Hot Cheetos were turned into flame-colored cosmetics, the products looked exactly how you’d expect them to taste. 

And the spectacle worked. These launches racked up millions of viral views, fueled by creator reactions like Jeffree Star’s now-iconic review, where shock, delight, and disbelief became part of the product itself.

Image: When Flamin’ Hot Cheetos became makeup, the product was only half the spectacle — the real moment was the reaction. Shock, delight, and disbelief turned flame-colored cosmetics into pure internet theater.

These launches weren’t designed to blend in on a shelf. They were designed to stop your scroll.

Fast food brands leaned into the absurdity even harder.

KFC Hong Kong released “finger-lickin’ good” chicken-scented edible nail polish. Not once, but twice. 

The point wasn’t wearability — it was undeniability.

Burger King leaned all the way in, releasing a flame-grilled Whopper–scented body spray with unapologetic notes of smoke, meat, and fast-food nostalgia — an April Fools–style stunt that knew exactly what it was doing.

Image: In March 2015, Burger King Japan released a limited-edition flame-grilled Whopper–scented perfume, sold only in Japan for one day as a promotional stunt.

It wasn’t meant to replace your signature scent. It was meant to make headlines.

At this point, food wasn’t just inspiration.

It was the campaign.

Tomato, but Make It Luxury

Not all food-beauty moments were loud.

Some went in the opposite direction — quiet, emotional, and strangely refined.

Loewe’s tomato leaf candle turned the smell of a sun-warmed garden into a cult luxury object. Earthy, green, slightly bitter — it smelled like memory.

Image: Loewe’s Tomato Leaves candle became a worldwide bestseller — even selling 10,000 units in a single day on Tmall in China — a rare case where a quiet, non-gourmand note turned into a luxury phenomenon.

It didn’t scream “food.”

It whispered place.

That subtlety is part of why tomato leaf became one of the most talked-about fragrance notes of the past few years, popping up in candles, perfumes, and home scent — proof that food in beauty doesn’t have to be ironic to be viral.

Final Bite

Beauty doesn’t just want to look good anymore.

It wants to do something.

It wants to tingle instead of just moisturize.

It wants to smell like sun-warmed gardens, snack aisles, and late-night cravings.

It wants to surprise you — physically, emotionally, and culturally.

From Sichuan pepper’s electric buzz to hot sauce palettes, tomato leaf candles, and fried-chicken nail polish, food has become one of beauty’s most powerful creative tools. Not because it’s edible — but because it’s felt. It sparks memory, sensation, and conversation in a way traditional beauty ingredients rarely do.

The line between pantry and beauty isn’t blurry; it’s being actively played with.

And whether it’s loud internet spectacle or quiet luxury nostalgia, one thing is clear: when beauty borrows from food, it stops being just something you wear.

It becomes something you experience. ⚡