Why pure mineral makeup rocks

SAN FRANCISCO, California — These days, beauty and science are no longer distinct from each other — they blend into one beautiful shade, like two primary colors dissolving into one.

Such is the promise of the revolutionary mineral makeup and skincare brand Colorescience.

“We’re blending in the line between makeup and skin care,” says Crystal Grynuik, vice president for marketing and public relations of Colorescience during an interview with Allure at the Moscone Center in downtown San Francisco. “Those things always competed, now they come together with Colorescience, something that no other line can do.”

“Colorescience is an extension of your skin care because we are believers in ‘health as more,’ not health as less. You can use science to your benefit.”

Because busy women have little time to spare as they prepare to conquer the world each morning, Crystal thinks a makeup brand that doubles as a skin-care product is a gift from beauty heaven.

“Women have long said that if they could just put one thing on their whole face as makeup and skin care, it would be perfect. And so that’s what they really saw in Colorescience because they could put one thing on and it gave them their color, it gave them skin care and it gave them their sun protection,” adds Crystal.

Crystal reveals that Colorescience manufactures everything in-house in their plant in Houston. “So our eye is on the ball all the time. We don’t outsource so therefore you get the highest quality for the lowest price because there is no middleman. And we make sure we’re the most tested.”

“We formulate it, we make it, we test it,” adds Cindy Duncan, international development and US regional manager of Colorescience.

Colorescience was founded by Diane Ranger, who also formulated the makeup brand Bare Escentuals, in, of all places, her kitchen! Ranger, who had a master’s degree in education, was a kindergarten teacher. But she just had a passion for lotions and potions and became one of the best formulators of cosmetics. With the help of a professional chemist, she came up with Bare Escentuals, and now Colorescience.

 “Diane, in her kitchen, invented mineral makeup. And her first company was Bare Escentuals. And that, in it of itself, was a revolution. Because before, women could only use things that were heavy on their face, they could feel the makeup on. But with Colorescience mineral makeup, it’s all the fun and prettiness of makeup but it’s also the science of skin care. So color and science come together to extend your skin care. What we notice is that women spend all these money on skin care. And ultimately what happens is they put on makeup that undoes everything that they just did. So in Colorescience, you’re able to work on it for a longer program.”

In the beginning Colorescience only had a staff of five in an office above a Thai restaurant. “So every day, when I would clean up my desk, the scent of basil chicken would come through the floor. And here we are six years later, and we’re definitely the brand that is leading the way for the evolution of mineral makeup. And what’s also amazing is how we were this little brand saying ‘please pay attention to us,’ and now we’re working with people like Cameron Diaz and Mary Louise Parker and Paula Abdul. Now we have a huge celebrity contingency that really loves us. We now also have grown to a hundred people, including the distribution.”

Crystal warns of the “seven deadly skins” — seven things that should not be in mineral makeup. The seven things include talc, perfumes, mineral oil, harsh preservatives, alcohol, emulsifiers or dyes.

 “So the first thing that women should do is they should turn over their mineral makeup and look for the seven deadly skins. If it has any, it is not an authentic mineral makeup. So they don’t even need to go to the next step, they know they are being fooled.”

But to take it a step further, Colorescience created this water test.

“Minerals are just rocks, so authentic mineral makeup should have nothing in it but just rocks,” she points out and asks me to participate in an experiment that reminded me of my fourth grade science lab class. She puts two beakers in front of me, and puts Colorescience in one beaker and another brand in the other. The Colorescience product does not dissolve while the other brand muddies up the water. According to Crystal, pure mineral makeup does not dissolve in water. It stays afloat. It is the talc in the makeup, she says, that makes it dissolve in water.

“What’s great about this is two things. That means that it offers sun protection because the sun doesn’t go through it, it’s a rock. It’s like an umbrella. The other thing is this other one will evaporate quickly and grow molds. Colorescience will evaporate at half the speed because it is locking in that moisture under that layer, but the skin can still breathe. Just remember that pure mineral makeup is just rocks. Rocks don’t grow mold. They’re anti-bacterial, anti-microbial, they’ll just be rocks on the bottom of that beaker when the water evaporates. You’d still have makeup there.”

“But it will take a long time, though, for the water to evaporate,” points out Cindy.

“The only thing that will take it away from your skin is when you use a cleansing agent and then that washes it down,” adds Crystal.

Crystal claims that Colorescience’s core products are, “what you need to have that flawless skin.” Their minerals include zinc oxide (as sunscreen) and iron oxide (which they use for color, instead of dyes), which you may check on the label and discuss with a skin care expert or dermatologist.

The first mineral makeup purchase of 90 percent of the women is always foundation for the face. It’s not makeup for the eyes or lips. “You see, if you’re going to see a difference, it’s not on your eyelids. It’s going to be on your skin.”

 “And if you don’t cheat on this, you will see results. We’re working with clinicals but I can just tell you anecdotally that people will tell me, oh my God, I used this for two weeks and my skin is completely changed. And people who had problem skin and people who thought what they have was beautiful skin has gone even better. What’s also powerful is that people come up to them and they do not say, ‘You know what, you have beautiful makeup.’ They say, ‘You have beautiful skin.’ And that is the difference. We’re not trying to have people say you have beautiful makeup, unless you are really trying to doll yourselves up. What we want to provide people with is a way to have radiant, flawless looking skin.”

Cindy and Crystal say pure mineral makeup is so light, it doesn’t look like a layer of paint on your face, eyelids or lips. And trust me, when you’re wearing makeup and people say you don’t look made-up, it’s music to your ears. It rocks.

(Colorescience is available at Beauty by SM at SM Megamall, SM Makati, SM Fairview and Watsons Greenbelt1 and soon at Beauty by SM at SM North Edsa. It is also available at all House of Obagi branches (TriNoma, Alabang Town Center, Greenbelt 5, Landmark TriNoma and clinics of affiliated dermatologists nationwide.)