A new method was established to determine 2-bromo-2-nitro-1，3-propanediol in cosmetics by high performance liquid chromatography-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry(HPLC-ICP-MS). The analyte was separated on a ZORBAX-C8 column (150×2.1 mm， 5 μm) using methanol-water-5% phosphoric acid (10 ∶ 985 ∶ 5， pH value was adjusted to 3.0 with 2 mol/L NaOH) as mobile phase. The flow rate was set at 0.7 mL/min. The column temperature was room temperature. The results indicated that the calibration curve of 2-bromo-2-nitro-1，3-propanediol was linear in the range of 0.01-1.0 mg/L，with a correlation coefficient(r) of 0.999 9. The detection limits of different matrix samples were all 1.0 μg/g. The spiked recoveries of 2-bromo-2-nitro-1，3-propanediol ranged from 94.6% to 101.3%， with RSDs(n=6) of 1.5%- 4.5%. The method showed the advantages of rapidness，sensitivity，accuracy and little interference，and it could be used for the qualitative and quantitative determination of 2-bromo-2-nitro-1，3-propanediol in cosmetics.