About Natural Mineral Makeup
As a cosmetologist, I wanted to share some of my
findings/experience with you concerning natural mineral makeup.
Natural mineral makeup has been around a few years, but it seems
the average person either hasn't tried them, and many have never
heard about them. Basically, they are various minerals crushed
to a very fine powder and used as cosmetics. They are in a
powdered type form.
The main properties of mineral makeup are gentleness, long
lasting, pure, and many have almost a healing type of action to
various skin conditions. Of course you will have to experiment
to find which brands are your favorites.
Personally, I am hypothyroid which means I have super dry skin,
alligator skin. Doesn't matter what type of skin care products,
etc. I use, I have flaky skin. All my life, no matter what
makeup I used, it would be completely absorbed (thus
disappearing) after about only 2-3 hours of wearing it. I was
also very nervous about mineral makeup because with having super
dry skin I avoid powders of all kinds, plus I was worried about
it making the flakiness look even worse. I was SO stunned when I
first started using mineral makeup on my own skin. The first
thing I noticed was after 12 hours of wear, it was still there!
No makeup has done that in my entire life. The other thing I
noticed was it did not look flakey at all, but very fresh and
light. Another benefit of mineral makeup is truly it feels like
you are not wearing any cosmetics.
I also have the challenge now of rosacea (extreme redness due to
intense facial flushing). I have found the brand Aromaleigh to
be the best on my skin. It seems to be one of the gentlest of
mineral cosmetics as far as foundations are concerned. They also
carry a wonderful corrective color of green that you can use
under the foundation. Green cancels red, which is why it works
on rosacea skin to cover the redness, yet be very gentle at the
same time. I tend to prefer Bare Esenctuals however for their
blush & eyeshadow colors, they are very beautiful and perform so
well.
Whatever brand you go for, here are a few tips for using it. 1.
Usually less is better. They are very concentrated, so a little
goes a long way. It's common to use way too much at first. You
can always add another light layer on top if you go too light at
first. 2. Invest in some good quality brushes. They make all the
difference in the world, be sure to gently wash them regularly.
3. If after using small amounts, with good quality brushes,
things still don't look right, or you're not thrilled, next look
at the possibility that you're simply using the wrong shade.
Sometimes it takes experimenting to find what shade is best for
your skin. I found with Bare Esentuals, I wore a significantly
darker foundation than I ever thought possible, yet it was the
perfect shade for me. 4. Be sure to moisturize your skin
preferably about a half an hour before applying mineral makeup.
5. Apply all your makeup except mascara & lipstick. Spritz a
fine mist of water on your face, then finish your mascara and
lipstick. I find this "sets" the makeup and gives a very fresh,
young looking appearance. 6. Play with the colors and
applications. You can use blush colors as eyeshadow. You can
also brush on your lips, then apply some gloss over top. 7. The
eyeshadows will tend to look shockingly stark when you first
apply them. Don't worry too much about that. After you apply the
shadow, take a clean eyeshadow applicator and use it to blend
and soften the colors. They will soften right down to the
perfect hue in most cases.
Ebay many times have great deals on trying different samplers of
different brands and colors. You can have a blast trying. Many
different companies also sell small samples very reasonably
priced to try as well. Remember, a little goes a long way. Have
fun trying this wonderful category of makeup.