All Entries Tagged With: "mineral makeup"

You have allergies, what brands of mineral makeup and skincare can you use?

Your skin is itchy, or irritated, red and flaky, with blemishes. You are tired of this, as it’s been going on for years, so you’ve begun looking for ways to relieve your symptoms, which may be respiratory, or manifest as skin irritations. As part of your search, you my be invetigating a natural diet, fragrance-free home care products, and less irritating personal care products. You are not alone; allergies are on the rise in the U.S, and theories abound. It’ often attributed to diet and environmental pollutants, which may cause toxins to build up in your system. Theories state that a toxic body leads to multiple allergies.

Here at Monave mineral makeup, we get many calls from women looking for products and food sources that they can trust to either alleviate their allergies, or prevent further acceleration of the symptoms. When it comes to makeup and skin care, we have some suggestions for what to avoid.

It may sound obvious, but for starters, we suggest avoiding long ingredient lists. This includes long lists of natural ingredients, such as extracts, and essential oils. A long (we’re talking in excess of 10-15 ingredients) list of ingredients means more probability of something in the bottle being an allergen. It also increases the possibility that one or more ingredients in the product can react to each other and create toxins or allergens. When it comes to actives, such as extracts, and essential oils, your skin benefits from limiting these to the more soothing ones, such as rose, lavender and chammomile.

In general, women overdo it, and apply much to many products on their skin with multiple possible allergens in each product, fragrances, preservative etc. We suggest shopping at your natural grocer for starters. If you don’t have one in your town, you can browse online. What you want to look for is at the minimum a mission statement from the company whose products you buy, that emphasizes that it is specifically designed for people who are sensitive to possibly allergenic ingredients. It should state on its website, and/or packaging, what is not contained. Look for these key points: free of fragrance, dye, petroleum products, carmine, sodium laureth, and sodium lauryl sulfates. These are the heavy hitters. In addition for mineral makeup brands, beware of bismuth oxychloride and talc, as they are minerals, but can trigger itching, redness, and bumps, especially in hot weather.

Another trick, very inexpensive, is to create a single-note routine. Single-note means picking one whole food item to use to clean and moisturize your skin. This is a great way to start the process of determining what your skin likes. The problem with products in bottles is that you may be allergice to one item on the list. Here’s an example; virgin organic coconut oil. Another one; cold pressed olive oil. These oils are rarely, if never, cited as allergens, and as long as they are cold-pressed, and organic, you’ll be avoiding synthetic chemicals. Simply rub the oil onto your face until all of your makeup is dissolved, and use an organic, chlorine free tissue to wipe it off. Do this until all of your makeup is gone. Follow up with a warm, wet wash-cloth to hydrate your skin, and use some of the oil as a moisturizer. Oil, wax and water are the basic components of a moisturizer. This may seem too simple to be effective, but try it for a few weeks. If you have oily skin, you can apply hazelnut oil on your skin after cleansing with one of the other oils and water.

When you hunt for makeup, moisturizers, cleansers, and toners, look for simple. Look for a company with a commitment to your issues. And finally, avoid soy, corn, and products with gluten (wheat, oats, barley, and rye). Gluten is another common ingredient that many people have a sensitivity to, but are not aware of.

For your makeup, stick to mineral makeup that is loose, not pressed, and that has only iron oxide, zinc oxide, or titanium dioxide, mica, and ultramarine blue. There are many myths on the internet about mica and titanium dioxide being allergens, but this is only in industrial settings. Make sure to use the softest brush to apply your mineral makeup, or mix your loose mineral makeup foundatin into a light moisturizer to avoid brushing dry, or irritated skin, especially if you have rosacea.

Try some of these tips, and you may be able to start determining which ingredients to avoid. It’s a process of educating yourself, and listening to your body.

Popularity: 41% [?]

The Search for…….Black Mineral Makeup

Finding Black Mineral Makeup has been a problem for women of color ever since the mineral makeup boom. The skin tones of Black women span a variety of shades and most mineral companies tend to ignore these differences. Finding the right mineral foundation and mineral colors that suited my skin tone has always been a problem and I have thrown out many a mineral lip color because it didn’t look right after I bought it! Mineral eye colors always looked too light when they got in contact with my skin tone losing its’ impact. That being said, I was ecstatic to finally find Monave Mineral Makeup. The colors were vibrant and the choices for mineral foundations were staggering, I quickly dived in, not only finding my own personal mineral foundation but mineral eye shadows that were just as beautiful in the jars and on my eyes along with mineral lip colors that suited my big beautiful lips!

Working at Monave enables me to get first run colors straight from the lab and last month was no exception when the new Crystal Collection came rolling out! Mineral eye shadows with names like Tourmaline, a rich green, Carnelian, a vibrant orange and Peridot, an apple green were a sight to behold! Not far behind were two new mineral lip colors, Crimson Agate and Rose Quartz. I have been wearing both the Tourmaline and Peridot mineral eye shadows non stop since I’ve gotten them. Tune in next week when I give a tutorial of two of these fantastic new mineral eye shadows and the mineral lip glaze I pair with it!

Popularity: 34% [?]

Monave Memorial Weekend Sale

Hi Everyone

Monave Mineral Makeup is having a Memorial Weekend Sale! Sale starts on Friday May 28th to Sunday May 30th!  So if you have been putting off getting your mineral foundation or trying a color from our new collection of mineral eye shadow now is the time to do it! The sale is 30% off the entire retail site, only retail customers are eligible not wholesalers.  To take advantage of the sale input MONAVE30 in the Promo Code box when placing your order! Have a safe and wonderful weekend!

Popularity: 30% [?]

Hop into Spring- Monave Style

Spring is HERE! I’m so excited! To me this means…. makeup room time picking out our Spring palette! Spring 2010 makeup is a smorgosbord of  colors from the bold and daring  to the soft and feminine!  Last seasons’ 80’s look is still evident but for the more subtle woman the prerequisite Spring pastels are here. Two uber feminine colors that are hot right now are pink and lilac! Coral, along with soft pink are big for lips. Shimmer for cheeks and eyes make mineral makeup a must have for the season. Monave Mineral Cosmetics will be debuting  their Spring Collection with some limited edition mineral eye shadows in a few weeks so stay tuned. This limited edition will be a trio of lilac, pink and sea foam green for our pastel palette and turquoise, navy blue and copper for our disco palette. So get ready to hop into Spring….Monave Style!

Popularity: 30% [?]

Understanding the Information on Campaign for Safe Cosmetics

I’m writing a brief note to try to help mineral makeup users understand the data that they are seeing on the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. It is very confusing, even for those of us who have been doing this for years. If you’re not familiar with the Campaign, it was designed to create healthy standards for cosmetics in the U.S., since our industry is underegulated. Unfortunately, the information and studies used to create the hazard ratings are oftentimes wholly unrelated to the usage of the ingredients, thereby making the data completely useless, and actually faulty.

Many of the studies quote animal testing, which I find painful to read at best. The Campaign states that it does not support animal testing, yet it quotes study after study in which very tiny animals (rats, mice, and rabbits) have ingredients injected or fed to them, that then make them sick. I believe that quoting these studies in and of itself, is an implicitly implied support of animal testing, in complete opposition of the Campaigns public statement against such testing.

Here are some specific errors that I find in the tabulation of evidence. I used zinc oxide as my example:

1. Inclusion of other minerals in the list: Several of the quoted studied referred to ‘zinc compounds’, instead of zinc oxide. Zinc compounds are not the same as zinc oxide and should not be included.

2. Tacking manufacturing practices onto the end user (end user being Monave in this case): This is especially evident as it relates to ecological concerns that are raised, ie, that if large quantities of zinc oxide are dumped into waterways, that contamination and degradation of wildlife occurs. This is the case with any ingredient dumped into waterways. For example, in Baltimore, there is runoff from yards, and farms into our Bay, and that runoff includes fertilizers. It doesn’t matter if they’re natual, or synthetic, the concentrations of fertilizers, combines with warm water in the summer, creates an overgrowth of algae, called an algae bloom. Then all of the fish go belly up, because there isn’t enough air for them to breathe. Is the fertilizer at fault? No, it’s a multitude of factors that cause this problem. So people fertilizing their lawn, and the manufacturers are not at fault, it’s lack of public legislation that would prevent and control these factors. So, back to zinc oxide, what would prevent contamination of aquatic life would be legislation prohibiting manufacturers of mineral compounds, and mining companies, from having access to waterways for waste removal.

3. Testing that uses routes of entry unrelated to normal consumption of end product: One of the studies quoted this as a concern

Developmental/reproductive toxicity
type of concern product conditions reference
One or more animal studies show developmental effects at high doses

It begs these questions:

How was a high dose administered? Was it injected into a rat? Was it fed to a mouse? Do we eat it, or inject it into our veins? It’s placed on our skin, and doesn’t absorb. That’s the beauty of minerals is that they don’t absorb, as do carbon-based ingredints. That’s the main reason why mineral makeup is easy on people with allergies, because it sits on the skin as opposed to entering into it.

So if a poor mouse in a lab who weighs a few ounces developed problems from high doses of zinc oxide injected or fed to it, how high of an amount would you have to consume to have those results, and if you apply a mineral makeup with zinc oxide in it to your face, does that have anything realistically connected to such data?

4. Quoting industrial inhalation risks as a concern for end users: This relates back to point number 2, in that industrial inhalation can cause cancer. As far as I know, any large inhalation of dust particles will cause lung disease. There is a litany of them. Again, this points back specifically to the regulation of the chemicals production industry itself. There are strict regulations concerning allowable levels of particulates (dust) in a workplace. Proper ventilation is required, as are personal items, such as masks. If a company is not following these procedures, there are consequences that can be enforced by the regulating agencies, whose job it is to check on manfucturers.

So, the documentation in the Skin Deep database implies that if Monave Mineral Makeup contains zinc oxide, then our products are connected to cancer. No so. You cannot get cancer from putting your makeup on each day, and my lab has an industrial ventilator that control our particulate levels to maintain a healthy work environment.

That data needs to be tacked onto the manufacturers of said minerals.

If you’re still reading this, you are a dedicated learner. Please feel free to comment. In summary, while the goal of the Safe Campaign and Skin Deep are laudable, the data base itself is faulty, and many of the small companies that were with the campaign from its inception have signed off, and will no longer support the efforts. I for one, hope that someone knowledgeable in this industry, will begin to sift through the data, and either explain it to the cusomters browsing the site, or remove erroneous, or unrelated studies.

Deb

Popularity: 35% [?]

Monave’s Take on New Fall ‘Trueblood’ Makeup

Every season there is a new challenge where mineral makeup is concerned and I always look forward to it as it gives me a chance to go play in the makeup studio! This Fall/Winter makeup was no exception with the  runways depicting looks from Trueblood, a popular vampire series in cable.  Vampire?? Yep,  the pale monochromatic complexion with deep red/black lips and mysterious looking eyes.

Armed with this mission, I skipped with glee to the makeup studio! Now being a woman of color, I decided the pale complexion would not be a part of the look…ashy is not my favorite look. Sultry is the name of the game. So the eyes and the lips would be the main focus as I wanted to translate the look to women of color.

Since the eyes had to have a smoky eye effect with a matte base and shimmer overlay I looked to the Ultra Mattes and the Sultry Collection in our Versatile powders. For the matte color I chose the Charcoal Satin #120 and for the shimmery overlay in mineral eye shadow I chose Hypnotic#78. Moving on to the lips, I went to a color that is rarely used in our line but has its moment to shine this season, Hoochie Mama #155. This color is remniscent of Mac’s Vamp but with a darker edge to it. Lipsticks are the rage this season too, so go retro!

Now that I had the colors that I needed to achieve this look  I proceeded to apply. First the eyes, Charcoal Satin #120 is applied to the lids on the outer corner up to the crease. Hypnotic #78 is then applied to the inner corner pulled to the middle of the lid and up to the brow bone. Everything is then blended to achieve a uniform look with no lines.

 For the lips, line with Lip liner Blackberry, then apply mineral lipstick Hoochie Mama#155 Wow, now I was ready for a night on the town!

I’ve been wearing this look for a couple weeks now at night and I never fail to get compliments. If this look is too bold for you,  just rock it for Halloween night! Happy Halloween!

Popularity: 43% [?]

Monave gets Beauty with a Conscience Award….Again!

Monave strikes again! Monave’s Moisture Mousse foundation got Editor’s pick as the best liquid foundation by the Natural Solutions magazine. Natural Solutions Magazine is a great magazine that is always chock full of information on health and beauty issues. For the past two years the Natural Solutions magazine has held their annual Beauty With a Conscience Awards, where natural and organic cosmetics and skin care companies are judged on various categories within the beauty industry.

The Moisture Mousse foundation is formulated for women with normal to dry skin, handmade with ingredients such as organic shea butter, organic jojoba oil and rose hydrosol it glides on the skin for a weightless feel and total absorption. Unlike other liquid foundation the Moisture Mousse gives excellent coverage and comes in all shades of our regular loose foundation with no color differentiation.

Last year, Monave racked up awards in three categories: Best Eye Shadow with our Versatile Powders, Blush with our Matte blushes and Cleanser with our Honey Clay cleanser , which they loved as a three minute mask too. We were so excited as we work so hard to get quality products into the hands of women who want natural beauty products that are beneficial for them. The Beauty With a Conscience Awards feature will be in the October 2009 issue of the Natural Solutions magazine…..don’t forget to pick it up!

Popularity: 59% [?]

Monave New Economy Line

With Monave closed this week giving the hard working shipping, production, and billing departments a well earned vacation, Deborah has been working feverishly.  I mentioned the new line in our last wholesale newsletter, and now it’s becoming a reality.  This great new line will be in addition to the current line, and not a replacement.  It’s just a great way for anyone including wholesalers with an ebay or home party business, to a high volume wholesaler, to a makeup junkie, or just someone watching the bottom line.  The concept is an economy based, problem free, line of powders including foundation, blush, and eye shadows.  There are no nanoparticles, mica’s (except serecite), or titanium dioxide.  It is more matte, and feathery offering a light to medium coverage.  We are still offering a great quality, just at a better price!  We will have samples available for FREE online in about a week.  If you just can’t wait send us an email to information@monave.com and we can take your request right away.  This line is going to be sold strictly in bulk, and open to everyone including retail and wholesale customers.  I just got a sample of my shade and I’m already loving it!  We can’t wait to hear your feedback!

Popularity: 40% [?]

Monave at Baltimore Fashion Week

I am so excited!!! This year Monave was approached by Sharan Nixon, the organizer of Baltimore Fashion Week, to be the official makeup line for the shows! This is a momentous occasion for us as this exposure will showcase our product line as a being home grown. Monave will be used by 21 makeup artists from around the Northeast Coast. They’ll be using the entire line along with a  mineral glow moisturizer which we made especially for the show!

Baltimore Fashion Week runs from Monday, August 10 to Friday, August 14th15th at the War Memorial Building and Plaza, 101 North Gay Street, Baltimore MD. The theme of the show is ‘Once Upon a Fashionable Dream: A Fashionista’s Fairytale’. There will designers from as far away as Africa and Paris to New York and of course Baltimore. Each night has different themes from eco-conscious on opening night to couture on closing night! It’s going to be a great show this year and Monave will be there!

Popularity: 44% [?]

Why Monave Mineral Makeup is made without Bismuth Oxychloride

There is a lot of controversy surrounding the ingredient, ” bismuth oxychloride “. It’s in many brands of mineral makeup, including Bare Escentuals, Youngblood, and Jane Iredale.  At Monave, we have opted not to use it in our formulas, the primary reason being that it is commonly known to be an irritant, especially for women with sensitive skin.

I am not going to engage in a scientific conversation here, but rather, base my information on the unending reports from women using mineral makeup containing bismuth oxychloride, of itching, redness, bumps, and irritation. They state that the condition is more pronounced when the weather becomes hot. For anyone wanting to delve into the scientific arguments surrounding bismuth oxychloride, simple google a question,  such as, ‘is bismuth oxychloride irritating to the skin?”. I guarantee that any line that uses bismuth oxychloride, and any supplier that sells it, will defend its use, stating that it’s approved by the FDA, and not a known irritant.

I read one blog that had a comment written by a supplier stating that it is indeed, cheap animal hair brushes that cause the irritation, not bismuth oxychloride. That would imply that all mineral makeup users use cheap animal hair brushes, which clearly is not the case, especially with high quality synthetic brushes now available.  From the Green Beauty Guide comes this statement as to the allergenic nature of bismuth oxychloride:

 ” While bismuth oxychloride has proven antibacterial properties, it can irritate sensitive skin like mad.  “Bismuth oxychloride can aggravate acne, resulting in flare-ups upon use, and even cause the appearance of acne cysts,” says Manhattan-based dermatologist Judith Hellman, MD. “In addition, it may be the source of rashes in patients sensitive to it, especially those with delicate and easily irritated skin, such as rosacea and eczema patients.” No wonder many mineral makeup manufacturers are now eliminating bismuth oxychloride from their formulations “.

So, to put it simply, our customer base at Monave tends to be women with sensitive and problem skin. I’m one of them. We, as a consumer group, like to see simple ingredient list. For myself, I wash my face with warm water, and use moisturizing creams with as little as 5-6 ingredients. It’s the same approach that I have with my food. I look for birthday cake that has flour, sugar, eggs, milk, baking powder and natural flavor. I remember going to Safeway once to get a birthday cake for my son’s party. I asked them for the ingredient list, since it wasn’t on the box, and what they brought to me had about forty ingredients on it. I went back to Whole Foods, and spent more per inch on the cake, and felt totally comfortable with my choice.

So, I naturally extend this philosophy to my makeup and skincare, as do many Monave customers. There are a few other ingredients that we could include in our mineral makeup, but choose not to, not because they’re going to kill us slowly, or because they are horrible ingredients, simply because they cause irritation, and are unnecessary!

mineral foundation without bixmuth oxychloride

The other really obvious issue that is brought up by many customers who have worn mineral foundation with bismuth oxychloride in it, is that it’s shiny! Now, in my estimation, after having applied mineral make up on thousands of women over the years, there are very few who want ” shine ” on their face! A little dewy glow maybe, but the phrases that I’ve seen used by women who use foundation with bismuth oxychloride in it run along the lines of, ” It makes my face glow like a light bulb “.  So,  in terms of foundation alone, bismuth oxychloride does not appear to be a good choice for inclusion in a formula, with or without  the other concerns mentioned above.

So, why is it used then? Bismuth oxychloride has a smooth, silky, creamy texture. Using raw minerals, such as iron oxides and titanium dioxide to create skin tone colors for mineral foundation is a challenge when it comes to providing a good texture. They are very thick and not at all easy to spread. (Think cold butter on soft white bread). So to temper this unweildy texture, a formulator looks for a silky mineral that will add silkiness. Bismuth oxychloride provides silkiness and also adds creaminess, so the powder doesn’t feel as dry to the touch. It also breaks up clumpy pigments so that the finished mineral powders will have an even consistency.  There are other silky, soft minerals that can achieve the same effects as bismuth oxychloride without the irritation. It just comes down to the formulator’s choice in terms of what their customers needs are.

In conclusion, if someone doesn’t find bismuth oxychloride irritating, then she has many options to choose from in mineral makeup brands. But for women who want the simplest ingredient list possible, and who are faced with sensitive, blemish-prone skin, mineral makeup brands without bismuth oxychloride are a better choice. That’s who we cater to. That’s who we are at Monave!

Popularity: 98% [?]