Objective To establish an HPLC method to determine sudan Ⅰ-Ⅳ and dye para red in the lipstick. Methods The samples were extracted with the acetonitrile, after centrifuge and filter, the extracted solution was tested by HPLC-UV and the external standard method was employed to do the quantitative analysis. Results As the concentrations was 1.0 mg/kg, the mean recovery rates were 93%-97%, the RSD was less than 4.6%, the detection limit was 0.05 mg/kg and the linear range was 0.2-5.0 mg/kg(the correlative coefficient ranged 0.998 5-0.999 8). Conclusion This method is simple, accurate, rapid and applicable to the determination of sudan I-IV and dye para red in the lipsticks.