Side-by-Side Mineral Makeup Comparisons

How Do the Popular Brands of Mineral Makeup Stack Up Against Each Other?

Each company has many different products, and to compare each would take up too much room, so I just chose one product carried by all mineral makeup lines: loose powder foundation. This is also the most common product purchased, making it the most useful to look at. It is a safe assumption that however a foundation compares, their other products will follow in a relative manner. After reading through many forums, questions asked on blogs, and large search engine advertisers, I've compared what I believe to be the most popular names on the market to the same loose mineral foundation powder offered by PurelyCosmetics.

If an ingredient is in bold, it's not a natural earth mineral, and usually a skin-irritant or something else you don't want on your face. Some of these ingredients need a chemist to understand! Note that many of these products contain several different types of parabens. Parabens are preservatives, and appear to have a link to breast cancer as well as excessive aging of the skin. Some of these non-earth minerals aren't as bad as they sound; just fancy names for Vitamins E, K, C, & B (tocopheryl acetate, retinyl palmitate, ascorbyl palmitate, panthenol). Wax... well, do I need to say more?

Here's how they stack up:

PURELY COSMETICS:

Net weight: 6gm Cost: $22.00 Cost/Gram: $3.67

Ingredients: Mica, titanium dioxide, iron oxides, zinc oxide. May contain ultramarine.

BARE ESCENTUALS:

Net weight: 2gm Cost: $25.00 Cost/Gram: $12.50

Ingredients: Titanium dioxide, bismuth oxychloride, mica, iron oxide, zinc oxide. Products have expiration dates.

JANE IREDALE:

Net weight: 10.5gm Cost: $42.00 Cost/Gram: $40.00

Ingredients: Titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, mica, bismuth oxychloride, zinc stearate, dimethicone, boron nitride,stearic acid, pomegranate extract, may contain iron oxide, carmine, ultramarine.

GLO MINERALS:

Net weight: 10gm Cost: $37.00 Cost/Gram: $3.70