All Jayme

Natural mineral makeup

Some people may think that I was born a kikay baby. But make-up did not come naturally to me.

I used baby powder on my face until college. I only learned to use a compact, cheek tint and lip balm when I started working. Even then, I loved the simplicity of just having a bare face after applying moisturizer.

I had this impression that applying make-up was tedious and it hid the natural beauty of my face. Besides, with the type of work I had, I’d rather sleep than spend precious minutes doing make-up.

Of course, as my spending power and “Cosmo Chick” mentality grew, I slowly embraced the kikay girl routine. At the very least, I would have face powder, cheek tint and lip gloss on. But for special occasions, I would apply liquid foundation, curl my lashes and add some mascara.

I’ve heard the buzz about mineral make up just last year. It’s amazing claim: it’s make up that does good for your skin.

MMU Demystified

Mineral Make Up is composed of minerals finely ground from the earth such as mica, titanium dioxide and zinc oxide. It’s considered a pure type of make up because it is said to be free from fragrance, dyes and preservatives common in most commercial make ups today. That is also why a lot of MMU fans claim that it’s good for their skin even if they have acne or other skin problems.

I found an article from the WebMD site discussing the lowdown on mineral make up. It seems dermatologists have opposing opinions about MMU.

Some say it’s just a clever marketing ploy since most MMU ingredients have been present in traditional make up products anyway. But other dermatologists like Kathryn Frew from MediSpa New York says MMU may be a bit better than traditional make up.

“Makeup sensitivity is often the result of synthetic dyes, fragrances, and preservatives, so any makeup that eliminates these is going to eliminate some of the related problems,” says Frew.

Moreover, she adds that because titanium dioxide [and zinc oxide] have anti-inflammatory properties, certain mineral makeups can also have a calming effect on the skin, particularly important if you suffer from inflammatory problems such as rosacea or acne.

Monave MMU

I searched online and read some threads about MMU. I saw some photos of women who have tried MMU and I was amazed by how natural it really looked.

Among the many brands available abroad, one brand stood out for me because it got some pretty rave reviews among MMU fanatics: Monave.

According to Deborah Belizikian, maker and President of Monave cosmetics, Monave stands for modern, natural and versatile. The store is based in Baltimore but they have online shopping available.

They have a wide array of products and the prices seem to be pretty reasonable. They even offer samples at low prices so you can roadtest their products first. I wanted to try their samples but the only glitch is I don’t have the patience of waiting for international shipping.

It’s a good thing I chanced upon a local seller of Monave cosmetics through the Beauty and Minerals site. Sophie, who is also the writer behind the popular Mineral Make Up Blog, was kind enough to recommend colors based on my skin tone.

I placed an order online and got my samples within three days. I also ordered a cute pink kabuki brush, one of the main tools for applying MMU.

The package contained 1/8 tsp sample sizes of 2 foundations, 1 setting powder, 1 blush, 1 multi-purpose minerals and 1 illuminizer in mini zip lock packets. Sophie even threw in a three-stack mini pot for my samples.

I read some MMU tutorials before I received my order and the process seems pretty easy: tap-swirl-buff-and sweep.

I was careful to tap only a small amount of powder on the pot cover, swirled my brush on it, buffed the brush and swept it all over my face. I repeated the process until I was satisfied with the coverage I had.

MMU felt light on my skin and looked really natural. When I asked my friends, they thought I didn’t have any makeup on.

I liked the way the foundation enhanced my skin tone and blended perfectly on my face. The blush also gave me just that natural flush.

At the end of the day, of course, I still had the oilies but the foundation stayed on. The blush faded a bit but I didn’t really mind.

Surprisingly, my seemingly miniscule samples have lasted for two weeks now and it’s cool how just a pinch of powder can do the trick. Application got a bit tricky with my first few tries but it gets easier.

After a few tries, I couldn’t say MMU helped to heal any skin problems or made my skin better because I think I have pretty okay skin to begin with. One good thing though is it hasn’t caused any pimple breakouts which usually happen when I try something new that is not hiyang to my skin.

So will I convert to MMU?

I’ve been loyal to Maybelline for years but I’m really loving Monave now. Unless Maybelline comes up with their own mineral makeup line, I’ll be stashing my old makeup away and stick to MMU.

I also plan to try other MMU brands and see which one will be my Holy Grail. If you know of any other great MMU brands available locally, do let me know.

***Photo from Monave site

Posted in: Beauty

Tags: Beauty, makeup, mineral makeup, MMU, Monave, natural makeup

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 27th, 2008 at 9:51 am and is filed under Beauty. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.