Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Why Choose Makeup without Bismuth Oxychloride

By Marilyn Etzel

Mineral makeup is popular today for many reasons. For one, women want to healthy natural look to their skin when they wear makeup. Using minerals from the earth is one way to accomplish that. But, these helpful minerals are not the only ingredients in some mineral cosmetics.

One filler that is commonly used is bismuth oxychloride. The main component, bismuth, can be located on the periodic table squeezed between arsenic and antimony. From the former, you can guess that it keeps quite toxic company. As a standalone element, bismuth gives off unhealthy fumes when it is burned.

As filler, bismuth undergoes a refining process to become bismuth oxychloride. The first step involves combining it with another element, chlorine. Hydrochloric acid is produces which is still no good because it is a strong acid. Further addition of oxygen results in a harmless compound used as filler for cosmetics. Bismuth oxychloride can show as diamond or pearl in texture.

Bismuth oxychloride appears as a white crystalline powder when ground. To touch it, the powder feels silky. Adding the substance to makeup provides good adhesion with the other makeup ingredients. It applies easily to the skin for a smooth appearance.

In mineral makeup, the filler bismuth oxychloride adds shine to the makeup when applied. Wearers talk about the glow they get to their skin. Using the pearlesque form provides a matte look, while the diamond variety adds a gloss or shimmer to the makeup wearer.

While some of the qualities of bismuth oxychloride may seem not so bad, your mineral makeup doesn't need this filler to still provide good flawless coverage to your face. In fact, many mineral makeup manufacturers have omitted it from their list of ingredients.

Why you are better off without bismuth oxychloride

1. We mentioned the fact that bismuth oxychloride provides a shine to the face. While it can look natural if you want to appear sun-kissed in the summertime, most women want to wear makeup that avoids the shine effect. If you have oily skin, you already shine a bit and a mineral makeup that adds to the shine is not that appealing.

2. How do your pores look? If they tend to be large, you'll look to your makeup to conceal them. Bismuth oxychloride does the opposite and with the added shine, those pores will seem even larger to your eyes.

3. Bismuth oxychloride is not a naturally occurring mineral. The basis of mineral makeup is to use natural products to enhance the look and health of your skin. Traditional minerals blend into the skin when it warms and do no harm even to people with skin issues. As a manufactured compound, it can cause problems.

4. As we alluded to, skin problems can be caused by bismuth oxychloride. Who wants to ruin healthy skin? For women who are affected, they develop breakouts, itching, and rashes. There is no way to determine if your skin will be the one experiencing the adverse effects.

Want to try mineral makeup? Use as natural a formulation as possible by checking the ingredient list for bismuth oxychloride. - 15438

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