Let’s talk about makeup, before we move forward with mineral powder makeup. Makeup as it is used today really didn’t get started until about 1937. Although women (and men) had used facial coloring since the dawn of time, it sort of fell out of fashion during the Victorian era – Queen Victoria frowned on it, and so for decades only prostitutes work makeup. And actresses, of course.
Once silent movies and then sound movies roared onto the scene, men and women needed to wear makeup to look their best under the hot lights, to mask any facial “imperfections” such as freckles, rosacea, and so on. Women loved this makeup so much that they began using it off-set as well, and the average woman soon followed suit. (Lipstick, blush, and nail polish were in use for decades, but not an overall facial makeup.)
The first commercially available foundation was Max Factor’s Pan-Cake, patented in 1937. With its success, other companies sprang into production, and today cosmetics are a multi-million dollar industry, and its advertising campaigns are aimed at younger and younger girls. (Indeed, it probably won’t be too long until they try to get babies to start wearing makeup.)
Makeup has been formulated in a variety of ways throughout the years, but the newest rage is mineral powder makeup, because it offers several distinct advantages over its competitors. Mineral powder makeup is not especially new. One brand got its start way back in 1976…but it has only been in the last few years that these startup companies have had the wherewithal to go toe-to-toe with the titans in the market. But because of the superiority of the product, they have been making inroads in the last five years or so.
Mineral powder makeup has no talc, no chemicals, no fillers and no dyes. It doesn’t dry out the skin, and it doesn’t cake or crease. It also does not clog the pores, and there’s little risk of allergic reaction.