Mineral Makeup & Keeping it “Pure”

By Lisa D Liguori

Pure, truly pure, mineral makeup has many virtues over minerals that have been adulterated.

A true mineral makeup is 100% INorganic.

Hey, they are rocks, after all. (That sure takes the glamour out of it, doesn’t it?)

The good news for you is that your mineral makeup can not support bacteria, you can not contaminate it by dipping your fingers in it, and it will last forever.

I love that about mineral makeup.

You can save money by buying the economy size, and no worries about it going ‘off’ before you are done with it. I love that I can dab my finger in and touch it to my lips with a bit of gloss for lip color without any worries about contamination. So clean & easy!

The moment you add other ingredients into the pot, you not only create a shelf life, meaning you have to toss it after about two years, but you need to keep it clean while you still have it in order to prevent bacteria from collecting, no using your fingers to dab a bit of makeup on.

Even so, some ingredients are lovely to add to mineral makeup. Some brands add extras, such as silk powder, rice powder, essential oils, jojoba oil, and vitamin E oil. All wonderful ingredients, but it does change the makeup from a pure mineral makeup to a makeup that you now need to pay attention to shelf life and contamination.

How do you know if you have pure minerals?

Looking at foundation, if they are pure, you will see some of these ingredients on the label:

• titanium dioxidezinc oxide
• silk mica powder
• sericite mica
• mica
• magnesium stearate
• bismuth oxychloride
• boron nitride
• kaolin Clay
• iron oxide pigments (ultramarine blue, chromium green)

All of these above are inorganic materials used in mineral makeup. They will all provide you with a forever shelf life.

However, let’s narrow it down a bit more. In my opinion, there is one ingredient in the above list we should avoid as it is unnecessary and has been known to be an allergen, causing facial itching and redness.

Bismuth oxychloride is one common mineral ingredient I recommend you avoid; there is no need for it.

Are there other ingredients to be on the look out for?

You bet!

Often times, you will find a slew of other ingredients that are actually harmful and are used due to the fact that they are cheap. Ingredients such as parabens, dimethicone, talc, and carmine (a type of beetle that is crushed for the benefit of it’s color) just to name a few.

If you use a mineral makeup that is truly a pure mineral mix, you will not only have better skin in the long run, receiving the benefits and skin healing powers of minerals, you will also avoid the dangers of unnecessary and harmful additives. And you won’t need to toss your makeup before you are done with it due to it potentially going ‘off’ on you.

So go ahead, dip your fingers in!

By the way, if you are purchasing your minerals online, look for the ingredient list, which can be difficult to find (a red flag if you ask me, what are they trying to hide?). Get the full Monty before you buy. If you are purchasing in the store, always check the box or jar for ingredients. You are your best advocate.

Lisa D Liguori is founder & owner of Style Essentials,the resource for healthy beauty and a personal touch! In between consulting with clients and researching new products to share, she is an active homeschooling mama of two growing up kids in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Website: http://www.styleessentials.com/.