Mineral makeup is heating up chat rooms far and wide, and beauty blogs are writing about it daily. YouTube is chock full of videos on how to apply it. Women are raving about the light, natural, long-lasting glow that simply can't be duplicated by other types of makeup, and they are saying they will never go back to their former pressed and liquid foundations.
Mineral makeup is essentially pure, finely ground minerals applied directly to the face with a brush. It looks like a powder but is really a foundation, and it feels feather-light on your face. Because the titanium dioxide and zinc oxide in its formulas are resistant to the sun's rays, it has also been touted as a sunscreen, although it has been speculated that to act as a full-spectrum sunscreen one would have to use so much of it that it would look cake-like on the skin. Mineral makeup is also water and sweat resistant, so it has great staying power.
It all started with Bare Escentuals, the company that began doing QVC commercials around the year 2000 and still does to this day. Bare Escentuals is responsible for bringing mineral makeup to the attention of the general public, but its original premise, that the minerals are "pure and natural," is not technically accurate. For example, its mineral veil (finishing powder) contains methylparaben and propylparaben, petroleum-based preservatives. Some of its products also contain corn starch (disguised as "zea mays"), hardly a mineral excavated from the earth. Its foundation also contains bismuth oxychloride, which can cause itchiness and breakouts for some women.
Mineral makeup actually began, in its simplest sense, centuries ago. The red lips of Cleopatra and her dark eyes were no doubt achieved with iron oxides and other minerals to be found along the Nile. Bare Escentuals, which still dominates the field, actually dates back to the seventies when its founder, Diane Ranger, coined the phrase. Makeup artists and dermatologists have been using and recommending mineral makeup for many years. Dermatologists in particular have recommended it for patients suffering from acne and roseaca because of its non-reactive, good coverage, and it is also used following plastic surgery and dermabrasion because it is so gentle.
Today, the field is populated by companies akin to Bare Escentuals – the "big-box" varieties of mineral makeup (Leeza Gibbons's Sheer Cover and Jane Iredale's products are in this category), by the "drugstore" varieties, most of which continue to use preservatives and other toxins in their formulas, and by small companies found primarily on the internet. In all three categories, companies have added dozens of "natural" ingredients touted as good for the skin, but dermatologists and others remain skeptical about confusing makeup with a good skin care regimen.
Given the overwhelming popularity of mineral makeup, it is clear that it is not a fad, that is it here to stay. Many companies have started to return to the notion of mineral makeup in its original sense - pure, ground minerals without additives or harmful ingredients.
Alice Cosmetics is among this group of "second-generation" mineral makeup companies and aspires to be a leader in the field.
Copyright Alice Cosmetics 2008. All rights reserved.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
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