Something Old…

Mason Pearson Mixed Bristle Brush	Everyone knows the evocative quality of scent – one sniff can cause a whole landscape of memories to come crashing down on us. Ask anyone what were the scents of their childhood and you’ll receive a whole list of products, perfumes and places reeled off within seconds, and you’ll be left with a misty eyed companion totally lost in times past for minutes afterwards. The scents of my childhood were: Chanel No. 5, Estee Lauder’s Beautiful; freshly cut grass; apples; hay; wool; dogs; new book smell; musty old books; strange attic smell; pond water; roses; damp logs from the log bin; pipe smoke; bonfire smoke; rotting leaves; the strange feral smell of the bog and on and on.
Nivea Creme	However, I’ve found – that the memories that cut right through one, the type that leads to story telling, does not stem from a wiff of you’re mother’s favourite perfume but from personal products. Take a Mason Pearson hair brush out of your bag and you’ll hear a gasp of in-drawn breath, and a teary eyed story of how the on-looker’s Gran was never left without hers; while Nivea Creme leads to stories of mothers (and sometimes fathers) dolloping on the cream before they went to bed (not surprising this happens so often – Nivea has sold 11 billion of these tubs). So what other products out there have stood the test of time? My two clear favourites are products that I use every day: Pear’s Transparent soap (£1) with it’s woodsy smell, and solid moisterising feel, aged to ensure it doesn’t go soft with use – the liquid version is fantastic for keeping your makeup brushes clean; and L’Oreal’s Elnette Satin Hairspray (£2.30) of which 20 are sold every minute – gives my poker straight fringe lasting bounce with a quick spritz after using a wide barrelled curling iron – without causing the dreaded helmet hair. Think bronzer is a modern invention? Think again. Guerlian first started producing their Terrocotta bronzers in 1906 (£27.50) – when creamy pink and white skin was still considered de rigeur. They must have had one heck of a marketing campaign because it’s still going strong, selling 2 every minute.
Revlon’s Fire and Ice	So you vintage gals, no need to avoid the brown stuff, you’ll still be ultra authentic – but for really respectable authenticity try using a cake mascara. First invented by Maxfactor in 1914, mascara started its life as a black wax that needed to be heated up before it could be applied. No wonder those WW1 girls tried to recreate the effect with boot polish. Too messy? Try out a dry cake formula like that of La Femme – wet a clean mascara wand (or for the more authentic touch try the brush end of a lash separator) rub into the cake and then work through your lashes. You won’t get as much volume as you may be used to – but a pleasingly smoky natural blackness. If you want to go for more drama, try using the powder dry in between layers of your usual mascara – you’ll be able to build up massive volume without the usual clumped together lashes that are caused by re layering wet mascara.
Pears Soap	What would we have done without Mr Factor eh? Other items we must credit him for are: foundation (1914); false eyelashes (1919); lipgloss (1930) and concealer (1954). Though I think you’ll agree his best invention was the kissing machine in 1939 which was used to test the indelibility of lipsticks. Lipstick is quite possibly the most evocative item of makeup a women can own – most girls can remember illicitly trying on their mothers signature shade, sneaking up to the vanity and swiveling up the waxy bullet. Although red lips are not as ubiquitous as they once were, having bowed to the sticky horror that is lipgloss, the sheer power of the rouged pout is still apparent to us. It is strange to imagine that only 100 years ago only prostitutes wore lipstick, and was considered utterly taboo for a full 500 years before that for any respectable women to wear makeup – what a way to travel to the WWII message ‘put their best face forward’. Quite possibly the most famous lipstick of all time is still in production – Revlon’s Fire and Ice was first launched in 1952 and proved to be a clamourous success. It’s mixture of bright yet soft colour seems as fresh and modern as it must have done in its infancy.

The Powder Room

Mineral Makeup seems to be a trend that goes from strength to strength. More traditional liquid and powder products are shunned in preference to what we are told is a pile of crushed rocks. With each of them claiming to be the greenist, most eco friendly, the best for your skin, the cheapest and provider of the most flawless complexion – how is one to step through this quagmire of products? Last Wednesday I posted the top 100 products of 2008 here and to look at that list you would never believe that mineral makeup has reached the heights that it clearly exists on. Not one mineral makeup product or brand was mentioned. However, if you were given a chance to see the individual results (as I have, while collating them) they tell a quite different story.	Lily Lolo Foundation
Nearly half of the voters claimed their holy grail powder foundations were of the non-traditional type – yet the reason that none of the mineral makeup brands made the top spot was a lack of consensus. There are just too many mineral based brands out there, and every person seems to have their own favourites. However, there were clusters of people voting for the same brands. If one were to remove all non-mineral makeup products there are three stand out winners – Everyday Minerals, Alima and for the Brits (or I presume the Brits – the proportions seem right based on the proportions who visit this site) voting for our own home-grown Lily Lolo (my own, personal fave). So what about the giant in the world of minerals? The formidable Bare Escentuals – well, I hate to tell tales, but lets just say the number of votes was between 0 and 5. Though ‘BE’ is the best seller in the mineral makeup world – it clearly doesn’t have such a great following with the makeup addicts that voted within this poll. There could be any number of reasons for this but I’m guessing that it is one of two factors: Price – BE is a staggeringly expensive brand in comparison to other ‘MMU’ companies out there. Bismuth – the dreaded bismuth oxychloride, which is the ingredient in BE’s foundations that give that glow of radiance, it also makes even the hardiest skin itch like crazy, I cannot imagine what people with sensitive skin go through with this	Everyday Minerals Pressed Powder
So, if not BE – where is a girl to go to find these lean green foundations? Of the the three brands I have mentioned above that got the thumbs up within the Top 100 pole I have loved two of them (Alima and Lily Lolo) – both are comparable in quality (amazing), but Alima has the edge on the huge selection of skin tones they cater for. This is hardly an issue though as MMU is so forgiving, and Lily Lolo’s selection is highly comprehensive and all of the colours are bang on (none are too yellow, too pink and most importantly not too orange – eek!) Everyday Minerals however does one amazing thing – which anyone who has used a MMU will understand, and that is offer a pressed powder. I’ve emailed Lily Lolo a while back asking whether they will ever offer a pressed version of their foundation and I was assured that it was forthcoming – yet I have yet to see it.	Alima Foundation
These brands are all on the more well known side of the mineral makeup market. Type in mineral makeup into google and you’ll get countless companies all trying to sell their wares. Beauty of the Earth and Coastal Scents have recently got a lot of publicity within makeup circles due to their team up with the wonderful Pursebuzz of pursebuzz.com – however there are countless examples of minerals which are mixed up in people’s kitchens and sold over the internet (primarily through ebay and etsy). As mineral makeup is such an easy item to make on a small scale (as minerals can be bought ready ground and pounded from wholesalers and merely need to be mixed up at home) – it seems to have become the new money spinner for stay-at-home mums (in a few years I dare-say it will match with soap and lipbalm production on etsy). So what’s in these ‘natural’ powders – most mineral makeups keep their ingredients lists fairly short and include the following: Mica – this adds colour to the mixture without using synthetic colourants, some brands also use Ultramarine which is also a natural colourant. Zinc Oxide – this is a natural mineral and is added the the mixture in order to boost sun protection and aid with adhesion to the skin. Titanium Dioxide – Although this compound can be found in nature and used safely within cosmetics, it is just as likely to be produced in a lab with a combination of Titanium and Oxygen. Titanium Dioxide adds sun protection. Iron Oxide – Whatever the mineral makeup brands say, you better hope that they didn’t get this ingredient naturally, in order to be graded as safe to use within the cosmetics industry they must be synthetic. (Natural iron oxide commonly contains impurities). Iron Oxide adds a resitance to water and sweat etc.	Bare Escentuals BareMinerals SPF 15 Foundation
More adventuress brands may add: Kaolin clay (China Clay) for oily skin due to its natural absorbance powers Silica to aid absorbance of oil, provide slip to the skin and blur imperfections Silk Powder aids dry skin with its moisture-adjusting properties Bismuth Oxychloride is a salt which adds ‘glow’ and ‘radiance’ to foundation, but also aggravates acne prone and roseaceaed skin – so why do they use it? Well, the aforementioned glow is a good selling point, and it is also a very very cheap filler. As Bismuth is such a heavy element, wearers have to use the ‘buffing’ technique – whatever they may tell you, this is not to create a flawless canvas without brush marks – but instead is to force the foundation into the pores, as the Bismuth would otherwise slide off the face….Mmmmm…nice(!) Incidentally, Bismuth Oxychloride is not a natural mineral, but a byproduct of lead and copper processing. People with problem skin be warned – a foundation without Bismuth will reduce aggravation and will require less ‘brush-time’ to put on.