the B. spot

Can I ask you a question?  If I were to ask you to tell me the difference between mineral makeup and traditional makeup- what would you say?  Do you really know what mineral make up is and why it’s supposed to be better than traditional makeup?  If you answered “yes” then please explain it to me!  As a chemist, I compare ingredient labels and sometimes it’s really obvious and I say to myself, “oh, I can see why this is considered a mineral makeup- is it better for my skin- no, there is no evidence of that, but at least it supports the claim.”  Then I look at other products and think to myself, “WTH, this is such a joke- this is why the beauty industry gets a bad rap and someone needs to put them on blast- seriously!”  So right now, because I am just a bit agitated about this whole thing will do just that…

The most basic definition of mineral makeup are products that only contain minerals- plain and simple.  Many companies do a great job with this and others play on the words and consumer ignorance (not B. spotters of course, I’m talking about the other consumers who don’t read this blog:-).

Max Factor ColorGenius Bronzer Mineral Makeup

Ingredients: talc, mica, avena sativa kernel flour, zinc stearate, calcium silicate, titanium dioxide, mineral oil, glycerin, BHT, quaternium 15, methylparaben, sodium dehydroacetate, methylchloroisothiazolinone, propylparaben, isopropyl myristate, iron oxides, carmine, yellow 5 lake, ultramarines

WOW! Really? I mean really?  Are you kidding me?  Mineral oil in a mineral makeup?  It’s so ridiculous it’s almost funny- I really can’t believe the guts of these people to put mineral oil in a mineral makeup- I guess it makes perfect sense.  Mineral oil comes from petroleum and petroleum is fossil derived so why should anyone have an issue right?  Sigh… they really should have stopped at talc and mica then threw in the iron oxides, yellow lake and ultramarine blue for color- why not carmine?  Carmine is not derived from ores but insect scales so I guess you can call it natural- not mineral but at least natural.  Zinc stearate is a binder used in many color cosmetics- if you use the term “mineral” loosely then ok- its cheating but its far better than mineral oil.  Calcium silicate is ok too- it’s a safe material so it’s no biggie.  I am surprised to see parabens, I like it but I’m surprised as most mineral makeups contain no real preservative system at all- I am more concerned about the methylchloroisothiazolinone which is a preservative that has caused a few problems for me (stinging eyes and slight irritation during a Human safety test for a finished product) and it is not the wisest choice for a product such as this (although there really is nothing wise about this “mineral” formulation**sigh- mineral oil, I still can’t believe that one).