Sending skincare and makeup to the Philippines: the FDA line

Skincare and makeup can go home in a balikbayan box, a parcel or a suitcase, up to fixed personal-use quantities. DOH-FDA-BOC Joint Circular No. 1 of 22 June 2015 lets cosmetics enter the Philippines without prior FDA clearance up to 5 perfumes, 10 lipsticks, 2 kg each of shampoo, lotion and bar soap, and 1 kg of assorted cosmetics (circular hosted on customs.gov.ph, read 2026-10-19). Beyond those quantities, without FDA-DOH clearance, the circular says the goods “will be seized and forfeited in favor of the government”.

The six rows are the circular’s own wording and units. Perfume and lipstick are counted in pieces. Shampoo, lotion and soap go by weight. “Assorted cosmetics” is the only line not tied to a named product, and the circular does not list what it covers. At 1 kg it is the smallest weight among the cosmetics.

How the cosmetics limit is counted

Clause 3 of the circular says the limits “apply to the totality of all products within a specific category”, and it gives its own worked example. Allowed without a permit: 3 pieces of lipstick, 2 pieces of toys, 1 kg of lotion, 500 g of bar soap and 500 g of shampoo. Not allowed without a permit: 15 pieces of toys, or 5 kg of lotion.

In that example, 5 kg of lotion sits against a 2 kg lotion line, and the circular lists it as not allowed without a permit. The allowed set puts lipstick, lotion, soap and shampoo together, each under its own line.

The text leaves two points open. It does not say how the six cosmetics lines add up when a box carries all of them, beyond the “totality” wording, or whether 2 kg means net product or the bottle as shipped. Both are questions for the Bureau of Customs or the FDA on a specific box.

Vitamins, medicines and cleaning products can end up in a beauty haul too, and the same circular gives each its own line: vitamins and supplements intended as maintenance at 500 g in total, over-the-counter drugs at 50 g, and household hazardous substances such as detergent and fabric conditioner at 5 kg. The full 16-row table, with toys, food and medical devices, is on balikbayan box regulated items.

What counts as a cosmetic in the Philippines

RA 9711, the Food and Drug Administration Act of 2009, defines cosmetics as any substance or preparation placed in contact with the external parts of the body “or with the teeth and the mucous membranes of the oral cavity”, mainly to clean, perfume, change the appearance, correct body odour, or protect the body (§9, Official Gazette text). The same section lists cosmetics among the “health products” the FDA regulates.

So toothpaste, deodorant, body spray and perfume sit in the same category as a lipstick. FDA practice follows the definition: Advisory No. 2026-1540, posted on fda.gov.ph on 17 October 2026, names a toothpaste as an unauthorized cosmetic product.

The Bureau of Customs’ regulated-imports page does not list cosmetics by name. It names the FDA as one of the regulating agencies and says regulated imports “include, but are not limited to” food products, drugs and chemical products (customs.gov.ph, read 2026-10-19).

Over the limit: what the circular and customs law say

Under clause 4, any quantity beyond the limits, “whether declared or undeclared”, without FDA-DOH clearance “will be seized and forfeited in favor of the government”. Quantities within the limits are allowed without clearance “subject to payment of customs duties, when necessary”.

RA 10863 §117 says regulated goods “shall be imported or exported only after securing the necessary goods declaration or export declaration, clearances, licenses, and any other requirements”. For regulated goods in customs custody, §1148 hands the decision on their disposal to “the appropriate regulatory agency”, which for cosmetics is the FDA (official text on customs.gov.ph, read 2026-10-19).

The second limit is commercial quantity, and it runs on a different test. CAO 01-2018 §4.2 says balikbayan boxes “shall contain personal and household effects only and shall neither be in commercial quantities nor intended for barter, sale or for hire”, with the total FCA value of all boxes per sender capped at ₱150,000 in a calendar year. §3.21 lists “toiletries” among personal effects. §3.4 defines commercial quantity as a quantity “in excess of what is compatible with and commensurate to the person’s normal requirements for personal use”, and adds that for one sender with several consignees, the total sent to all of them is what counts (CAO master copy on customs.gov.ph, read 2026-10-19).

A beauty haul split across three boxes for three sisters is one sender’s shipment under that clause: for commercial quantity, §3.4 counts the sender’s total. The tax-free side of the same CAO is covered in full on the balikbayan box tax-free limit.

What the rules check in a cosmetics box

• An itemized packing list of every good in each box, with quantities and descriptions: CAO 01-2018 §5.1.2(e), Information Sheet.
• Cosmetics totals within the Joint Circular No. 1 lines: 5 perfumes, 10 lipsticks, 2 kg each of shampoo, lotion and bar soap, 1 kg assorted.
• No commercial quantity, judged on the sender's total across all consignees: CAO 01-2018 §3.4 and §4.2.
• Box values that keep the sender's calendar-year FCA total at or under ₱150,000: CAO 01-2018 §4.2.
• Perfume, aerosols and nail polish only on a route whose carrier accepts them: the carrier's own posted list (table below).

Perfume, aerosols and nail polish: the carrier decides first

Whether a carrier will take perfume at all is outside the circular. The Universal Postal Union states that perfume “normally contains flammable liquid”, and it lists aerosol cans and nail polish remover as dangerous goods too. Those are carriage rules set by posts, airlines and forwarders, and they apply before the box reaches a Philippine port.

In international mail, the Universal Postal Union bars perfume, and USPS bars aerosols and perfumes containing alcohol. Forex Cargo, a forwarder rather than a post, marks perfume and aerosols as prohibited in its air column. A sea box is a different contract, and Forex Cargo’s table leaves its sea column blank for perfume and aerosols while marking flammable materials in both. Nail polish is named by USPS; Forex Cargo’s table does not name it, but marks “Liquids” as prohibited by air, with the sea column blank.

Joint Circular No. 1 also covers passenger baggage, with the same 5-perfume and 1 kg assorted lines. For flights leaving the UK, the Civil Aviation Authority allows toiletry articles including aerosols at up to 0.5 kg or 0.5 L net each and 2 kg or 2 L net per person, with hand-baggage liquids held to 100 ml containers at security. More on the box routes is on sea vs air vs door-to-door.

Parcels and the ₱10,000 line

A courier or postal parcel meets the same circular, which names “parcels sent through mail or delivery services” in clause 1. Duty is a separate count: RA 10863 §423 sets the de minimis value at ₱10,000.00 FOB or FCA, at or below which “no duties and taxes shall be collected”. CAO 01-2018 §4.1 uses the same ₱10,000 figure when it counts a shipment as one of the three tax-free balikbayan box availments in a calendar year (both on customs.gov.ph, read 2026-10-19).

Unauthorized cosmetics and the FDA verification portal

Advisory No. 2026-1540, posted on 17 October 2026, came five months after Advisory No. 2026-0574.

The portal is where a product’s status shows. Its search covers a “Cosmetic Product Notification” category alongside the drug, food and device registrations.

One question the published rules leave open: whether a product with no Philippine notification still enters under the personal-use quantities. Joint Circular No. 1 lifts the prior-clearance step for personal-use amounts; the advisories cite RA 9711 rules prohibiting the importation of an unauthorized health product, and the circular is silent on notification. The advisory names the FDA’s cosmetics centre, CCHUHSRR ([email protected]), as its contact for inquiries.

Where this sits among the other box rules

The general packing rules, item by item, are on what you can and can’t pack, and the items the Bureau of Customs keeps out of a box altogether are on what not to send home. For the sale-season side of a beauty haul, see Black Friday gifts to ship and the US pasalubong sales calendar; for gifts that reach the family without a box, see Christmas gifts delivered in the Philippines from abroad.