Bad and Good Mineral Makeup

    Mineral makeup boasts of being au naturelle and safe for all skin types but that is not necessarily the case. Before you buy mineral makeup, make sure that they do not contain any of the following:

    Bismuth Oxychloride is responsible for producing that pearly shine/glow that mineral make up gives to your skin. However, some people suffer from break outs and skin irritation (which includes rashes and itchiness) after using products which contain it. Why is this the case and what exactly is Bismuth Oxychloride? This ever-popular ingredient of mineral make up is actually a by-product of copper and lead refining and it shockingly resembles arsenic in its chemical make up. It won’t stick to your skin unless you force it into your pores (break out alert!) so this, on top of its crystaline molecular shape, causes irritation of the skin. Bismuth oxychloride is also used as an inexpensive filler.

    Talc has been linked to lung cancer, which is pretty scary if you think about it considering that most body/baby powders and cosmetics contain this ingredient. The particles of talc are very small, and when inhaled, can cause inflammatory effects in your lungs. Used as a filler as well.

    Other ingredients you should watch out for are cornstarch (used, again, as a filler. It has a shelf life so make sure to check out the expiration date. Causes irritation in some) and parabens (unfortunately you can find this ingredient in most bath and body products. It can cause hormonal imbalance and is linked to breast cancer).

    These are some of the most common ingredients in drugstore mineral make up brands such as L’oreal, Avon, and Neutrogena to name a few. Bare Minerals and Bare Escentuals also contain some, if not all, of these ingredients. So does that mean that we should not consider using mineral makeup at all? Not if you know where to look!

     I stumbled across Signature Mineral Makeup online while I was scouring for safer mineral make up products. Signature Mineral Makeup boasts of being bismuth, talc, cornstarch, parbaben, and dye-free. It’s also much cheaper compared to all the other high-end stuff which contain those harmful ingredients. Check out their ingredient comparison chart where they pit different mineral makeup brands against each other in terms of their composition. Bear in mind that the less number of ingredients there are in mineral makeup, the better and safer it is for your skin. It also has gotten some pretty good reviews online as well.

They even give out free samples! You can choose up to 6 makeup samples of your choice for free and all you have to do is pay for shipping. I’m only interested in checking out their foundation. Of course, to apply mineral makeup foundation you have to get yourself a Kabuki brush. Their Baby Buki Brush is as cute as a button and only costs $10.00. They ship to the Philippines and I’ll try it out once I fix some issues with my credit card.

    So there you have it. Other brands that do not have have harmful ingredients are:

• Afterglow Mineral Cosmetics: They give free samples as well but only ship within the United States.
•  Barefaced Beauty: Based in the UK, they also accept international orders

(Note: Ok. I caved in and I placed an order for their sample pack and bought their kabuki and concealer brush)