We receive a generous portion of emails daily regarding why Bismuth Oxychloride, Biron, and other synonyms for bismuth as a mineral makeup ingredient are bad for the skin.

For those of you that are new to RAESIN IMAGES Natural Cosmetics - Colour ID Minerals Mineral Makeup, we would like to let you know that we have 2 Cosmetic Chemists on our staff.  One full time cosmetic chemist, that would be Rae Kat Switzer our owner, and one that we consult with if we have questions that we want verification or references to mineral makeup cosmetic formula’s etc.

Let us get down to the nitty-gritty here of why some consumers need bismuth free mineral makeup foundations, blush, and/or mineral eye shadows.

Bismuth in mineral makeup brand products first made a debut in the the bare Mineral/s Makeup Brand (sorry they leagally threatened us so we cannot use their real name, but you all know who they are.  Sad they threaten small business' if we have mineral makeup sales it's not because we use the bare/minerals name, it's because they use Bismuth and it's not good for the skin according to Webmd.  We wonder did they threaten Webmd too?

Other mineral makeup cosmetic brands of course use bismuth in their makeup products not just the above company so make sure you read mineral makeup ingredient labels and if in question of INCI’s ask the makeup company your considering trying products from whom their bulk manufacturing company is.  There are unethical companies out there that may finagle their way out of answering if they are embarrassed they don’t make their own mineral makeup, or they may claim they do make their own, but less than 3% of mineral makeup brands worldwide factually make any of their products. (We’ll get to real private label mineral makeup companies at a later posting so you can verify makeup brand companies yourself so you’re not wasting a lot of money on samples etc.)

From a physician’s stance, Dr. Dave our on call Derm, (see web md) says that bismuth in general offers good and bad effects, dependent upon individual skin types and what the consumer wearing the mineral makeup brand with bismuth is expecting out of the product.

He offers that bismuth in mineral foundation may carry some anti-inflammatory properties; though no mineral makeup cosmetic brand company or manufacturing company has ever done clinical studies to prove this.  Bismuth, Biron and other synonyms of same ingredient have sheen so offer a light glow as some call it to the skin.  On this same note, the main color of bismuth is not white, but black.  This is why if you take most mineral foundation makeup products containing bismuth in their first 4 ingredients you will find that by rubbing it on the back of your hand, it will start to get very shiny and turn a black/grey hue.  This rubbing will dry out the back of your hand surface so make sure you wash well afterwards and use a nice lotion to bring back oils.

Mineral makeup foundation with large amounts of bismuth, first to fourth ingredient can also be damaging to the skin since the particle size and makeup of bismuth itself is a earth element substrate with jagged edges.  The jagged edges of bismuth can rip and tear skins delicate surface and adjoining dermal layers, thus allowing for bacteria to enter the skin, causing cystic acne lesions, staph infections, and other problems that will lead to you seeing your dermatologist for help to clear up the infections.  Around 60% of users from recent poles using mineral makeup with bismuth and mineral makeup without bismuth found their skin to have some adverse reaction that they didn’t find with mineral foundation makeup without bismuth or mica. (Mica can cause the same effect on skin when used in mineral foundation)

Bismuth As A Mineral Makeup Foundation Ingredient Overview:

• ·         Bismuth Oxychloride Can accentuates lines and wrinkles

• ·         Bismuth Oxychloirde Can be drying to the skin causing skin to look aged

• ·         Bismuth Oxychloride Can cause rosacea for some users

• ·         Bismuth Oxychloride Can cause rosacea prone skin to have flare ups

• ·         Bismuth Oxychloride Can cause cystic acne for some users

• ·         Bismuth Oxychloride Can cause acne by clogging pores

• ·         Bismuth Oxychloride Can cause bacteria to enter skin’s lower dermal layers

• ·         Bismuth Oxychloride Is Shiny when applied without a setting or veil over

• ·         Bismuth Oxychloride Is very ashy undertones since black is the main element color

• ·         Bismuth Oxychloride Can cause other skin allergies and flare ups

 

The choice of using a bismuth or biron mineral makeup foundation product will be trial and error for the wearer but as you may already known dermatologists highly suggest using a mineral foundation free of bismuth, mica, silk, biron, talc, dyes, and any other chemical or paraban.