Rapid identification of cosmetics is important particularly in warehouses that witness the large inflow of products every day. Attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared ATR-FTIR spectroscopy offers the advantage of measuring low amounts of samples (few milligrams or milliliters) in minimal time. Therefore, this work evaluated the accuracy of ATR-FTIR spectroscopy for identification of cosmetic products. A total of 99 cosmetic products of different manufacturers were measured using an FTIR spectrometer over the wavenumber range of 400 – 4000 cm-1. Spectra of the aforementioned products were exported to Matlab 2019a where spectral interpretation, correlation in wavelength space (CWS) and principal component analysis (PCA) methods were applied. Spectral interpretation showed absorbance patterns specific to constituents present in cosmetic (e.g. stearates, alcohol and water). CWS gave some mismatches in identification particularly for compounds with overlapping constituents. Nonetheless, when combined with PCA more accurate classification of cosmetics was obtained. In summary, ATR-FTIR offered efficient identification of cosmetic products when used in combination with CWS and PCA methods
