"I just love Alice Cosmetics.... I hate heavy feeling foundations but need a little extra coverage as I am aging. I think it is a positive that this has no chemical additives."
about mineral makeup
There is nothing quite like discovering mineral makeup. It glides onto the skin, stays on all day, and gives your complexion an air-brushed look. Women who have tried it say they will never go back to liquid or pressed foundation. From beauty chat rooms to mainstream consumer magazines, women are raving about the light, natural, long-lasting glow that simply can't be duplicated by other types of makeup.
Mineral makeup is not exactly new. Cleopatra's red lips and exotic, dark eyes were no doubt achieved with iron oxides. Dermatologists and Hollywood makeup artists have been recommending and using mineral makeup for years.
But what, exactly, is it? In the late 1970's, when the term was coined, mineral makeup was generally thought of as a product made of pure, finely ground minerals from the earth, applied directly to the face with a brush, without any of the chemicals, dyes, fragrances, binders, or preservatives found in traditional makeup.
Since then, many companies large and small have jumped onto the bandwagon and produced so-called "natural cosmetics" that have dozens of additives, botanicals, and natural ingredients in their formulas—from Vitamin K to Willow Bark extract. But as dermatologists and others observe, "natural" does not necessarily mean good for the skin.
Indeed, many of the "mineral makeups" sold in drugstores and made by the leading cosmetics companies contain the talc, preservatives, fragrances, and fillers used widely by the industry. In spite of their celebrity endorsements, many such products are called "mineral" simply because they contain minerals.
A leading company calls its makeup "pure" but uses petroleum-based preservatives that have been linked to breast cancer and ingredients that can cause breakouts, such as bismuth oxychloride.
The new "liquid" mineral makeup on the market is a contradiction in terms—one of the essential benefits of mineral makeup is that the dry, inert materials cannot support the growth of bacteria.
Is mineral makeup a fad? Hardly, given its overwhelming popularity. The good news is that recently there has been a trend back to the original concept of pure ground minerals without additives or harmful ingredients.
At Alice Cosmetics, we like to think of this movement as second-generation mineral makeup, and we aspire to be a leader in that field.