Mary Jane asks…Have you published your report on mineral makeup and I just missed it? If so, how do I find it? If it is still in the works, when can we all learn more about this revolution in face products? Really looking forward to this one!
The Right Brain responds:
No, Mary Jane, you didn’t miss anything. We’ve been promising you a report on Mineral Makeup for over a year! All the research is done and we assigned our intern, Mid Brain, to turn the info into a PDF that we could email to our readers. Unfortunately, Mid Brain was not really up to the task, so all that research has just been sitting on the shelf. Until now. (By the way, don’t think Mid Brain is getting off the hook for letting us all down on this assignment. Stay tuned for more on Mid Brain’s punishment).
Rather than waiting until we can figure out the best way to publish the entire report, we decided that today we would just blog about one of the top rated brands in our study. But first, we’ll tell you about our rating scale.
Mineral makeup research
We surveyed 75 of the top mineral makeup and rated them on the following criteria:
Mineral Purity
Do they truly contain minerals only or are they diluted with other materials? We ranked all the brands on an A, B, C scale with A being the purest mineral quality.
Talc and Bismuth Free
While technically talc and bismuth are safe materials, many women are concerned about these chemicals and would prefer minerals cosmetics that are talc and bismuth free. To make the top of the top, mineral makeup brands had to be formulated without these ingredients.
Price
We found that brands claiming to contain pure minerals that ranged in price from about $0.30 per gram to over $8.00 per gram. That means you could be paying more than 25 times the price that you should be! Our top rated brands had to have high quality as well as affordability.
Which Mineral Makeup Brand is best?
In our research, a few rose to the top. And today we’re featuring Mineral Hygenics as one of the best of the best. Here are our ratings:
Mineral Hygienics Mineral Makeup
(Score based on their Foundation)
Mineral Purity: A
Talc and Bismuth Free: Yes
Price: $1.60 per gram
The Beauty Brains bottom line
If you’re looking for a mineral makeup, this is a brand that we recommend based on our technical assessment. You can find it by clicking on any of the links in today’s post.
Has anyone tried Mineral Hygenics? Leave a comment for the rest of the Beauty Brains community and let us know, or just tell us about YOUR favorite brand.
{ 33 comments… read them below or add one }
Great tips and information on Make up,It is useful for all women.
I’m disappointed that all of the mineral make-ups out there are too dark for my pale skin.
What about color changes through out the day? Every woman I know who’s tried mineral makeup – any brand but especially Bare Minerals – all say the same thing. After a couple hours of it mixing with the oils and sweat on your skin it turns orange.
I have been using Bare Minerals for a couple of years now, after having tried some other brands. I find it ideal for my skin, which is on the dry side. I have never had it change on my skin, but that might be because it is dry. I love it because it seems to hide fine lines instead of settling into them. I have thrown out all of my liquid makeup.
I’ve been wearing Mineral Hygienics for a couple of years now! They are the best with out a doubt, Great job Beauty Brains!
Sarade: Give them a try, My daughter has really pale skin! Works great for her!
Jami: I had that same problem with bareminerals as well. MH still looks awesome when i go to bed!
I highly recommend this product!
I’ve been wearing Mineral Hygienics for a couple of years now! They are the best with out a doubt, Great job Beauty Brains!
Sarade: Give them a try, My daughter has really pale skin! Works great for her!
Jami: I had that same problem with bareminerals as well. MH still looks awesome when i go to bed!
I highly recommend this product!
OH! You’re my new favorite blogger fyi
Sarade–
Larenim makes a shade that is very white (Porcelain?) and a goth shade that is blue white.
K
I love orglamix. It’s a new brand, but she’s had over 800 sales in last month or so. It’s honestly the best minerals ice used. Its handmade in small batches which I think makes a huge difference. The colors are beautiful (and so are her swatches), very pigmented and the textures are creamy.
I’m slightly biased, simply because i have my own mineral makeup line, but there are a few things that I don’t agree with. One, they use a synthetic dye in their colored cosmetics- prussian Blue, aka Ferric ferrocyanide, not the most natural colorant. Ultramarine blue is a mineral pigment. Also they do not use any blue in their foundations which means it will be difficult for them to have foundation colors that truly match a several skin tones. often without blue the colors are too pink (which very few people are true cools) or too orange. And you can not achieve a truly accurate olive shade without blue.
In this post: http://thebeautybrains.com/2006/09/18/is-talc-bad-for-you/
You stated that:
“…talk is not bad for you…”
Yet here you listed, as a factor of your comparison, “Talc and Bismuth Free”
You explained here that many women are concerned about talc but I literally send women to your website to get educated in what is real in science; not to get their unwarranted fears bolstered.
I take issue with your including this as a factor in comparing products. It has degraded your scientific image for me. If its not a health concern then why make it an issue at all?
I have many clients who love MK’s Mineral Powder Foundations and I would caution consumers that technical excellence ought to be a VERY small consideration (other than where it might impact safety.)
How foundation WEARS on you is the key for my clients.
How does it feel? Does it stay? Does it absorb oils? Etc.
Everybody’s skin is different and different formulas will wear differently on every individual regardless of what its made from.
You guys are giving the $ per gram price of this product forgeting they include the weight of the actual jar! That makes their ratio instantly much lower than other brands!
I took this from their website:
Q: How much product is each jar?
A: Traditionally cosmetic products are measured/weighed by the amount of product in the actual container. Since the weight of our mineral weights can dramatically vary it makes it very difficult to give the weight of each color. Due to the popularity of the mineral makeup jar sizing system our measurements are given in this system to give a more accurate weight/volume of product in our jars. The Products and corresponding jar size are listed below!
* Starter Kits: 20 Gram Jars
* Foundation: 40 Gram Jar
* Finishing Powder: 40 Gram Jar
(…)
@Ines: Legally, companies are not allowed to count the weight of the package as part of the product, but just to make sure, we wrote to Mineral Hygenics to ask them to clarify their net weight statement. We’ll post something as soon as we get a response.
@Tony: We totally understand where you’re coming from on the talc issue. We struggled with how to cover this topic. As you pointed out, we firmly believe that there is no data to indicate talc poses any danger in a foundation product. However, as we also said, we get many questions from our readers about products that are talc free. So, we tried to have our cake and eat it too by pointing out the scientific truth while also listing products that are capitalizing on the talc-free craze. We’re sorry that the way we handled this disappointed you but at least we had the chance to explain. Thanks for taking the time to comment!
Thank you for your answer and hope you hear from them soon.
I just started using mineral foundation and I love it, so I’m very interested in knowing your opinion on the numerous brands.
Thank you for your good work and hope to read soon your other reviews!
Ines (from Portugal)
I have used Signature Minerals and liked it a lot. I recently purchased Everyday Minerals (at an excellent price) and I love it! Not only do they make foundation, but also eye shadows and blush. I am loving the colors and the price!
Ok, i am totally confused after reading Mineral Hygenics website. They have a full page on the evils of bismuth oxychloride, then they have a page listing the ingredients in their mineral make up (http://www.mineralhygienics.com/store/index.php?main_page=page&id=80 ). Their “Mineral Pure Lips” lists the following ingredients… note the bismuth oxycholoride :
Mineral Pure Lips:
Ricinus Communis(Castor) Seed Oil, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Lanolin, Euphorbia Cerifera(Candelilla) Wax, Lanolin Oil, Mineral Oil, Copernicia Cerifera(Carnauba) Wax, Ozokerite, Ceresin, Tocopheryl Acetate (Vit. E), BHT.
May Contain: Mica, Titanium Dioxide, Iron Oxides, Bismuth Oxychloride, Carmine
Additionally, ALL their non-powder cosmetics contain the very bismuth oxychloride that they advise people not to use and also demonize.
So, what is the deal? This is not congruent marketing at the very least, and does not seem true to their mission.
@Kelly: You raise a good question about the bismuth oxychloride. As I tried to make clear in my post, I was only reviewing their foundation which is free of Bismuth, not all the products in the line. Still, this seems like a significant issue. I’ll try to get a response from the company. Thanks!
I love silk naturals. u guys should check it out. it also involves you manually mixing your own shade starting with base colors, white and depending on what tone of skin you are, a color base. there are also different levels of coverage. talc free bismuth free… samples are cheap. =D
I have been wearing mineral makeup from LaurEss for many years. I have tried all of the different brands and found LaurEss to be the best. I get great coverage, quality ingredients, and it is very affordable. I am curious if the Beauty Brains included this brand in their research. I really love it!
I’ve been using Bare Minerals for a couple years now, but I like just about any type of mineral-based makeup. For one, it’s very light on my face and doesn’t even feel like I am wearing makeup. Not to mention that it is good for the skin.
Ah, I love mineral makeup!! But Everyday Minerals is way more affordable than this Mineral Hygenics thing.
I happen to really like Lauren Hutton’s Aqua Elements mineral makeup. I used to use Bare Minerals, but I was turned off by it over time. The Aqua Elements is so lightweight and is very natural looking on your skin. Not too pricey either.
http://www.laurenhutton.com/aqua-elements
WOW! I am so disappointed to see that you rated this company so high. They sell private label Ladyburd! There are so many hard working women out there actually creating new products from scratch and trying to use ingenuity to support their families and you choose this bogus company. Sad.
We can only go with what the science says. What about the company makes it bogus? We ignore the Marketing story and just look at the chemical components of the product.
My favorite mineral makeup is Everyday Minerals. It does not irritate my sensitive skin and covers beautifully. There are four formulas to chose from and I use the intensive because of some discoloration and old acne scars that this formula covers beautifully. I have never found a powder foundation that covers this well. It doesn’t contain irritating unnecessary ingredients and it is very affordable. I love this makeup!
I have been searching for a mineral foundation for quite a while. I have looked at so many sites both selling them and rating them. Sadly, it’s difficult to find a product that even MOST people agree on.
One note I did want to put out there is that there is a company called bareFaced Minerals. The woman who owns the company was supposed to be very helpful, even to customizing shades. People raved about her foundations on a number of makeup sites. I placed an order for a bunch of samples and eagerly waited…and waited…and waited.
I sent three emails via her website – no reply. I called Rhonda (the owner) three or four times – spoke to her twice. She kept telling me she would send my order. 7 weeks and it never came. I ended up disputing the charges and getting my money back. Buyers beware.
EverdayMinerals vote here! I’ve been using it for… gads, 4 years I think? Great stuff. Check out the youtube.com reviews.
I’ve never tried Mineral Hygienics (in fact, I’ve just heard of them here…), but I have to say that I’ve had mixed results with mineral makeup generally. The key issue for me seems to be an allergy/sensitivity to bismuth oxychloride. I cannot TELL you how itchy Bare Minerals made me. It was fine for the first couple of days, but then it triggered eczema on my neck and around my eyes. (I’ve never had eczema, neither before nor since, so this was weird.) It then took about a month to clear up, which was less than fun.
On the other hand, Everyday Minerals has been awesome for me. Never an allergy problem, and it does seem to balance off my oily skin. Their products don’t contain bismuth, so I’m guessing that’s what makes them work for me. (I’ve also had luck with eyeshadow/blush from companies like Aromaleigh and Lumiere, who AFAIK don’t use bismuth either.)
I am wondering if you published further ratings, later on. I’ve searched the blog and haven’t found any other reviews related to your report. What are some of the other top rated brands?
Thanks for all your excellent work on the blog… Love it!
Where are the updates…what are the OTHER top rated brands? Please advise.
I highly reccomend Bella Terra Cosmetics’ mineral foundation. I got it for Christmas as a gift a year ago and till know I buy it regularly for myself. Worth the price!
Many people have said they recommend Everyday Minerals. I also use and recommend Everyday Minerals! It covers well, does not irritate my sensitive skin and it is very affordable. The range of shades is great too.
I highly recommend M*A*D Minerals, been using them for 9 years. They are primarily a mineral makeup company, but added traditional cosmetics by customer request in the last few years or so. Customer service is top notch and the mineral foundation is fabulous!
{ 13 trackbacks }