Anderson - Make your own pure mineral makeup: 75 easy, skin -nourishing recipes for radiant beauty

This book is dedicated to my two sweet girls, who are the definition of beauty and goodness, and to all the unique unexpected beauties of the world.
Thank you for your inspiration.

For many years, I struggled with acne. I tried every home remedy, diet, over-the-counter spot treatment, and topical gel I could find, and even a few prescriptions. Nothing seemed to help. After seeing several dermatologists, I was diagnosed with perioral dermatitis and told that I would have to stop wearing any makeup containing chemicals or bismuth oxychloride, a common cosmetic ingredient.

My only makeup option was mineral makeup. I soon learned that mineral makeup can be rather expensive to buy, and many brands even contain bismuth oxychloride, so I searched for ways to make my own. I stumbled across a few blogs that listed recipes for organic homemade mineral makeup. There wasnt much to the recipes, just combining a few spices with cornstarch. I mixed up my first batch and was excited to see that it looked just like store-bought mineral makeup. Then I smelled it, and tried it, and was immediately discouraged: the makeup was simple in theory but lacking in performance. These powders offered no coverage, and instead of blending into the skin to look natural, they created a powdery mask.

Eventually I found a company that sold not only mineral makeup products but also kits to make your own. I got an eye shadow kit and used up all the ingredients in the same week. I started creating my own recipes, experimenting with colors, and pressing my own eye shadows. When I shared pictures of my creations online, friends asked if they could buy them. I sold to friends and family for a year or so, then decided to expand and sell online. Investors and a crowd-funding website helped me start my company, Kaleidoscope Cosmetics. From there I started selling online and in a local boutique.

Because of the lack of information available on creating mineral makeup, I eventually decided to write a book, sharing my recipes and knowledge with those interested in crafting their own. I hope you find the result educational and fun!

Be sure to read all the instructions thoroughly before undertaking any of the projects in this book and follow all the safety guidelines provided. Please consult with your doctor before use. The makeup made using the recipes in this book is for personal use only; commercial use of the recipes is forbidden without permission of the author.

Some of us get dipped in flat, some in satin, some in gloss.... But every once in a while, you find someone whos iridescent, and when you do, nothing will ever compare.

Wendelin Van Draanen

Makeup is not a modern novelty. People have been decorating their bodies with clays, paints, and dyes for centuries. Mineral makeup as we know it today, however, is a more recent innovation. In the early 1970s, after shopping at a small body-care shop in Rice Village, a trendy outdoor mall in Houston, kindergarten teacher Diane Richardson Ranger was inspired to start making her own body products. She had no experience formulating cosmetics, but her enthusiasm and commitment led her to open her own body-care boutique in Northern California. Ranger saw a need for more natural body-care products and wanted to create makeup products free of what she called the seven deadly skins: perfume, talc, alcohol, mineral oil, preservatives, emulsifiers, and dyes. In 1976 she founded Bare Escentuals, the first modern mineral makeup brand. In the four decades since, she has started several more mineral makeup companies, and still others have popped up around the globe.

At the same time that Ranger was starting Bare Escentuals, the fields of dermatology and plastic surgery were evolving. Invasive treatments like chemical peels, microdermabrasion, laser skin resurfacing, and waxing became routine. These procedures can diminish signs of aging and treat some skin conditions, but they also can leave patients skin raw for a couple days to a few weeks. Any makeup worn while the skin heals must be very gentle. Free of chemicals and irritants, mineral makeup can camouflage bruising from surgical procedures and redness or irritation from peels, burns, and waxing. Because mineral makeup was the only safe option for women who wanted to wear cosmetics while healing, dermatologists and plastic surgeons played an important role in its rising popularity.

Interest in mineral makeup grew even more when the new CEO of Bare Escentuals began selling her products on a popular home shopping television network in the late 1990s. Soon she was selling $1.4 million worth of products an hour. Drugstores and department stores quickly joined the movement, creating their own versions of mineral makeup.

Not all mineral makeup is created equal, however. Many large-scale cosmetic brands sell mineral makeup lines that include irritants, synthetic and petroleum-based ingredients, and inexpensive fillers that create bulk but can also irritate the skin. Many of these products also contain waxes, oils, dyes, and preservatives.

The more ingredients a product contains, the higher the risk of it causing a skin irritation or allergy.

Susannah is wearing

eyes: Cream Soda shadow; Chimney eyeliner; Blondie eyebrow powder

lips: Orange Sherbet

face: Vanilla foundation; Sun-Kissed bronzer; Sugar Peach blush; Wonderland highlighter

What distinguishes mineral makeup from most mainstream makeup is what is left out rather than what is added. True mineral makeup has fewer ingredients than traditional commercially produced makeup and all of those ingredients are derived from naturally occurring materials. Today many of these ingredients are formulated in laboratories to ensure consistent colors and textures and to keep them free of potentially harmful impurities. They are chemically identical to whats found in nature, though, and makers of pure mineral cosmetics are careful not to add perfumes, dyes, or fillers that can irritate the skin and clog pores. Mineral makeups oil-free loose powders sit on top of the skin instead of soaking in, as creams and liquids do. This helps keep pores unclogged and reduces the chance of irritation, which most often occurs when an ingredient is absorbed into the skin.

Benefits of Mineral Makeup

Safe ingredients can be used on sensitive skin, acne-prone skin, injured skin, perioral dermatitis, and rosacea.