An ion chromatographic method with post-column deriviation and UV detection for the determination of iodate and bromate in cosmetics was developed and validated.The sample was purified with a guard-column IonPac AG11-HC(50 mm×4 mm),and separated on an analytical column IonPac AS11-HC(250 mm×4 mm) using KOH as an eluent with a self-regeneration suppressor.NaNO2 and KBr were used as the post-column deriviation solution.The analyte was quantitatively analysed by external standard and detected with a DAD detector.The results showed that the calibration curves were linear in the range of 2.0-1 000 mg/kg with correlation coefficients not less than 0.999 8.The spiked recoveries were in the range of 84%-99% with relative standard deviations(RSDs,n=3) less than 2%.With advantages of simplicity,good reproducibility and high sensitivity,the method was suitable for the determination of iodate and bromate in cosmetics.