The Mineral Makeup Blog Special : What Is Mineral Makeup ?

min·er·al (mnr-l)
n. 1. A naturally occurring, homogeneous inorganic solid substance having a definite chemical composition and characteristic crystalline structure, color, and hardness.
2. An inorganic element, such as calcium, iron, potassium, sodium, or zinc, that is essential to the nutrition of humans, animals, and plants.

make-up n : cosmetics applied to the face to improve or change your appearance [syn: makeup, war paint]

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Natural and Organic is “in”
People nowadays are more vigilant and observant about the products that they eat, and use. They are more informed about the long-run detrimental effects of preservatives and artificial additives, that is why they take more time, as compared before, to read labels carefully to see what they are buying. Health and wellness is the new trend in almost any industry.

If organic foods are “in” nowadays, the cosmetics’ industry’s counterpart for that is mineral makeup.

Makeup yesterday, today, and tomorrow
If some of you have read Memoirs of a Geisha, it was mentioned there that the white paste used for the geisha’s face, we assume as that generation’s makeup, contained lead, made a geisha’s skin turn yellow when she gets older, and if she’s unlucky, she would be poisoned with the lead in her bloodstream. In the past, if you want to be beautiful, it’s a risky tradeoff in the long run with the lack of information about the products that they were using. That was the makeup of yesterday.

Makeup of today is the traditional cosmetics that we see everywhere. It’s a confusing plethora of beauty products, that you have to weed out the bad ones from the good ones. It’s a good thing that the cosmetics industry has progressed that comedogenic ingredients are slowly getting weeded out from the good brands, but there still exists some that have ingredients that make the skin break out . But still, almost every product out there has preservatives ( the “parabens” , as we call them ) and artificial color additives in their labels. Thus, the tradeoff of wearing makeup today, is having wrinkles tomorrow.

The emerging makeup revolution is mineral makeup. Mineral makeup, as compared to traditional makeup, does not contain talc, oils, alcohols, fragrance, dyes, binders, fillers preservatives, and other potential skin irritants . Mineral makeup is made from, what else? Minerals! Minerals come from the earth, so they are naturally occurring. Cosmetic grades of these minerals are what mineral makeup manufacturers use to make them. Mineral makeup, is the makeup of tomorrow. No more long-term effects of makeup scare. Mineral makeup, is totally safe to use, and will not cause any problems in the future.

Mineral makeup is beneficial to the skin, and is even dubbed as “skin care makeup.” Surprisingly, mineral makeup has gotten nods of approval from dermatologists and cosmetic surgeons as safe-to-use healthy makeup.

To name some benefits, here are a few :

Mineral makeup does not contain presevatives.
Preservatives, such as the parabens, have detrimental effects not only in the skin, but the body as well, in the long run. .

Minerals are inorganic substances, and contain no moisture, and with that, bacteria will not be able to grow, or thrive in them. So, mineral makeup do not contain, or need preservatives because they will literally last forever! With this, we have preservatives out of our makeup routine.

Mineral makeup is finely milled, so it won’t clog your pores. Mineral makeup is non-comedogenic.
A plus of mineral makeup being finely milled is that it won’t look cakey on your skin. It would look as natural as possible, even with coverage. Mineral makeup does not have ingredients that would clog your pores such as traditional cosmetics do.

Mineral makeup has natural sunscreen - titanium dioxide.
You need all the help you can get to protect your skin from the sun, because wrinkles, skin damage, and skin cancer don’t sound good.

Mineral Makeup is safe to use for sensitive, acne prone skin, or people with rosacea.
Mineral makeup is not comedogenic, and is all-natural, so it won’t irritate or aggravate present skin problems such as acne, rosacea, or skin allergies. It lets the skin breathe, and would not clog pores. Mineral makeup helps acne and rosacea sufferers with ample coverage that would help them conceal their pimples, inflammations, scars, and other imperfections. Some users of mineral makeup even claim that mineral makeup helped heal their acne condition.

Mineral makeup can be used right after dermatological procedures
Traditional makeup can be heavy and make the skin hard to breathe, thus, it is being avoided to be worn after facial procedures. With mineral makeup, this can be worn right after the procedure to camouflage scars or some redness. Mineral makeup is preferred by dermatologists because of the absence of common irritants and preservatives.

Mineral makeup has great skin-nourishing ingredients
Zinc oxide, a key ingredient in mineral makeup is beneficial for acne prone and inflammed, irritated skin, as well as titanium dioxide, which provides sun protection to the skin.

Mineral makeup looks great, and gives you the ultimately natural look.
The main goal of makeup is making us look good and feel good about ourselves. As they say, when people notice that you are wearing makeup, that means either you did not do a great job in applying your makeup, or the makeup brand you are using is not good enough to make your skin appear flawless and natural. The goal of makeup is concealing your flaws, and enhancing your natural appearance. Mineral makeup provides good coverage that allows you to hide away your complexions, as well as achieve a totally flawless, smooth finish that no one would ever notice that you have applied makeup on. Instead, they will compliment you on how good your skin looks, instead of how great a makeup job you’ve done.

Mineral makeup also has light reflecting properties that help minimize large pores, and fine lines. Thus, mineral makeup is “hope” in a pot that gives us our “second skin.”

Now that it is clear that mineral makeup is the new hope for achieving close to perfect skin without the “side effects,” I think everyone should try mineral makeup and see for themselves the results that they would get. Based on my research, the best judge for choosing your “Holy Grail” mineral makeup brand would be your skin - how it reacts to it. Almost every popular and good brand in the market have their own shares of rants and raves from clients, because everyone has different kinds of skin. I would also suggest to pick carefully their mineral makeup brand because some mineral makeup brands include ingredients that are not “mineral” in nature, that defeats the purpose of the concept of mineral makeup, that brings us back to traditional cosmetics again.

About the author : The Mineral Makeup Girl is the resident blogger of The Mineral Makeup Blog ( http://www.themineralmakeup.com )