Heathrow security staff accused of ‘daylight robbery’ after woman’s £90 Estée Lauder lipsticks are seized – so what REALLY happens to your toiletries when the airport takes them?

Holidaymakers have criticized Heathrow after staff confiscated a woman’s make-up claiming her lipstick was a liquid.

Shadia Black, from Switzerland, spent two days in London with only hand luggage and was going through security at Heathrow Terminal Two when she was stopped by staff.

The law student and fashion model said staff initially wanted to confiscate her travel-sized Estée Lauder perfume and facial wash gel worth €250 before resigning themselves to taking three of her unused lipsticks worth around €90.

Shadia told MailOnline that the experience left her ‘furious’, especially as Heathrow’s website stated that solid lipsticks were not considered liquids.

She said: “They took my bag aside and searched everything and took a perfume and a face wash.

Did airport security take your belongings? E-mail chris.matthews@mailonline.co.uk

Shadia Black (pictured), from Switzerland, had spent two days in London with only hand luggage and was going through security at Heathrow Terminal Two when she was stopped by staff.

The law student and fashion model said staff initially wanted to confiscate her £250 travel-sized Estée Lauder perfume and face wash before resigning themselves to taking three of her unused lipsticks worth around £90 .

“They started putting all my lipsticks in there [a clear] bag. They said it was liquid.

‘It’s an abuse of position. They didn’t throw it away. They just put it aside.

‘The rules are the rules. I didn’t like the way the staff handled things.

‘I was furious.’

Shadia said she left the three lipsticks at security because she didn’t want to miss her flight.

She said she wanted “those in power kept in check. I’m smoking. I’ve never been so angry.”

She alleged: “Airport staff are brutally robbing people.

“They tell you there are too many liquids in your bag and then they take it and put it aside, but not in the trash.”

She told her 18,000 followers via TikTok about her conversation with a female security officer at Heathrow.

Shadia said, “She said, ‘It has to fit in this clear bag,’ and then she gave me this clear bag.

Some of Shadia’s 18,000 followers shared their thoughts under her video. One said: ‘I worked at Heathrow. The staff says this deliberately [an] item is liquid, more than 100 ml, [you’re] not allowed to take it. They take it home

“I told her, ‘This is lipstick, not liquid.’ But she said, “Our policy says it’s fluid.”

‘Apparently I was the person with the attitude.

“They said, ‘We don’t care what you come with, but when you leave, you have to follow the policy.’

‘I thought, ‘lipstick isn’t a liquid,’ but she said, ‘It is, it’s on our website. I’m the manager and I say that’s how it is.”

‘I was so angry that I didn’t think: but now I would have destroyed them so that they can’t take them anymore.

‘I don’t even know what to do. This is so crazy and cruel.

On Heathrow’s website, the security and baggage FAQ states that solid lipstick is not considered liquid

Heathrow told Shadia that the airport’s Mail and Fly service might hold her lipsticks instead of destroying them

‘Imagine that they keep taking out the things they want to keep for themselves.

‘It seemed like they wanted to keep these things to themselves.

‘This is a robbery.’

On Heathrow’s website, the security and baggage FAQ states that solid lipstick is not considered liquid.

Other passengers were just as angry when they heard of Shadia’s experience. Many demanded to know what happens to liquids after security confiscates them.

One said: ‘I worked at Heathrow. The staff says this deliberately [an] item is liquid, more than 100 ml, [you’re] not allowed to take it. They take it home.”

Another said: ‘It’s disgusting. Robbery in broad daylight. How can they do this?’

When MailOnline contacted Heathrow about the incident and what happens to seized property, an airport spokesperson initially claimed that ‘nothing seized is retained or reused’.

He said: “There is no other benefit we can vouch for. All our security colleagues have been trained.’

The spokesperson added: “OhOur security colleagues are trained to apply the standards set by the DfT for all UK airports on what items can and cannot be taken airside. All seized items will be safely disposed of.’

However, Heathrow told Shadia that the airport’s Mail and Fly service may hold on to her lipsticks rather than destroy them.

The Mail and Fly service aims to help reunite passengers with property seized by security.

When MailOnline spoke to the agency, it admitted that security did not throw away the seized items, but kept them and gave them to Mail and Fly.

The agency said it will hold them for three months and if no one comes forward to claim them, it will donate the properties to charity.

Heathrow did not make it clear which charity.

Did airport security take your belongings? E-mail chris.matthews@mailonline.co.uk