Is Your Mineral Makeup Really Mineral At All?

Is your mineral makeup really mineral makeup at all? I found an interesting test for determining whether your mineral makeup is “true” mineral makeup — though the definition of that term is somewhat nebulous. Still, I figured I’d give it a shot with all my different mineral makeup, and got some revealing results for you guys! Check the below list for your mineral makeup and see how it performed.

Here are the steps of the mineral makeup test we used, provided by Color By Camille founder Camille Meyer:

1. Scrape 1/4 tablespoon of mineral makeup powder into 1/2 cup of water.
2. Mix the powder into the water for 5-10 seconds.
3. The makeup powder mix should float on top of the water. If the powder mixes with water and transforms into a milky substance or sinks to the bottom, it’s not true mineral makeup.
4. Insert your finger into the water. If the powder mix on your finger goes from gooey to powdery when you rub your fingers together, you’ve found a true mineral makeup.

And here are the results!

Pur Minerals Mineral Makeup Test Results

Pur Minerals foundation is one of the best mineral foundations I’ve ever used, so I was surprised to see some of the powder float to the bottom — but then I realized because it’s a pressed powder, it might not work the way this test expects loose powder to work. Hmm. Still, most of the water stayed pretty clear despite my efforts at grinding the powder up and stirring it in. And when I wet my fingers in the water, the makeup did return to somewhat of a powdery texture — which as you read on you’ll realized was a rarity indeed.

MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Mineral Makeup Test Results

This was a surprising one. The water got awfully cloudy with MAC Mineralize, which the test suggests is not good. However, it wasn’t milky, and this powder is very fine and comes in a pressed format, so maybe it’s not the optimal makeup for this test. I made sure to grind it up extra well though. When I rubbed it between my fingers, the makeup felt more like clay than powder; but again, this may be due to the extra-fine powder.

RAW Minerals Mineral Makeup Test Results

Does it say something about RAW Minerals that I chose to use an eyeshadow rather than my RAW Minerals foundation to do this test because I didn’t want to lose a quarter tablespoon of it? At any rate, RAW Minerals performed very well on the first part of the test, with almost no powder floating to the bottom. However, this also felt like clay when I rubbed it between my fingers — but like MAC Mineralize, this powder is very fine. Could this be normal for certain textures of mineral makeup?

Bella Terra Mineral Makeup Test Results

Yes, this is that brand they sell at the little kiosks in your mall. I was mesmerized by their massive stack of eyeshadows (which I do NOT regret buying, by the way) so the foundation was a natural extension of my shopaholism. However…this foundation did not perform well, as you can see. The water is straight up milky and it felt like paint on my fingers. I don’t know what this test’s results really mean, but that can’t be good.

Mineral Essence Mineral Makeup Test Results

You may not be familiar with Mineral Essence, and their foundation’s results in this test probably won’t encourage you to become familiar with them. As you can see from the above photos, they failed this particular test horribly. (But again, what value this test has I’m not sure.) The water became entirely opaque and milky and the stuff acted like paint on my fingers. Ewie.

So sorry for not having included Bare Minerals, by the way — I just ran out! Honestly though, I don’t know how accurately this test works for all mineral makeup — there are so many different types these days, and really, is synthetic all bad?