My Experience With Natural Mineral Makeup

This post has been a long time coming! Natural mineral makeup was a bit of a final frontier for me when it comes to personal/body care products.

For whatever reason, I avoided taking the leap. I’ve written about ditching coconut oil for moisturizing my face (and what I use instead), what kind of soap I use, experimenting with giving up shampoo for a while, going natural with my menstrual care with cloth pads and sea sponge tampons, and even tried family cloth for a period of time while our babies were in cloth diapers.

But makeup?

My makeup routine is tied loosely to my inner dialogue of self-confidence (I always feel more put-together when I’ve taken the time to care for my physical appearance), and it also affects how others perceive me in my daily life (yes, I get asked if I’m sick when I’m makeup-free because I’m super pale. It is what it is.)

Also, I have been using the same makeup routine for about twenty years, and have grown pretty comfortable with my “look”. (Which may be a polite way of saying that I was in a total makeup rut.) Mascara, eyebrows, a bit of foundation or colour corrector to hide the dark circles and blotchy tones. Maybe a lip color if I’m feeling fancy.

Finally, earlier this year, I emailed Emily of Redeeming Beauty Minerals and asked if she might want me to try her makeup and share my thoughts with you all.

She ever-so-graciously agreed, and sent me an eye-candyful (let’s pretend that’s a word) selection after working with me to determine which products and shades would be best. She was really helpful at that – she even had me send her a photo of myself in natural lighting so that she could make recommendations.

Let me tell you: getting a package in the mail of a fabulous selection of brand new natural makeup is pretty much the best. There are good mail days, and then there are good mail days, right?

Now, you’re all smart cookies, and your little intuitive hearts are likely predicting right now that this is about to be a glowing report because that’s what bloggers do.

True story: I adore the products. But I do want to make it clear that when I review stuff, if I don’t like it, I don’t publish anything at all. Otherwise this site would easily turn into a big pile of negativity and blah. My INFP optimist nature can’t handle that. So if you read my positive review of something, you know it’s genuine. I turn down lots of opportunities that I wouldn’t be able to speak about in an authentically positive way.

Okay, now on to the love! Here is exactly why I have adored my foray into the world of natural mineral makeup, and why Redeeming Beauty Minerals has impressed me so much.

Let’s start with the obvious: the products are totally natural and safe, and avoid the toxic ingredients that mainstream brands use freely (thanks to almost no regulation into what goes into personal care products.)

In an RBM product, there is no:

• bismuth oxychloride
• talc
• fragrance
• parabens
• dyes
• petroleum
• allantoin
• preservatives

The ingredients are minimal with no fillers or extras. Just pure, hand-made makeup with an array of gorgeous shades to choose from.

I’ll be honest: I was a bit worried about the learning curve since the products are powder-based, and use brushes (like I said – I was in a rut.) But… now that I’m used to it, it’s just as easy and user-friendly as the makeup I used to have.

Learning some new ways (two shades of powder for eye shadow at the same time! lip powder instead of lipstick! blush – ohmagosh the BLUSH. life-changer right there) was actually intensely fun in a way I had never expected.

As weird as it is to populate a post with big close-up shots of my own face, here I am, doing it anyway. I figure you want to see how it looks on, right? Also: those who know me most can totally tell that I feel most peaceful and confident when I take a little extra time and effort with my mineral makeup. I’m worth the extra effort, you see. Plus, it’s just a lot of fun. Disclaimer: I was still experimenting/learning the technique in some of these!

I recently went through a total revelation regarding how I approached skincare, and my physical appearance. In a post on that topic, I wrote:

“I never felt lovely because my light was being snuffed out by options I saw before me: either stop caring about what I put on my skin, the products I used to nourish it, the style I felt good about, and the time I took to care for it… or care for what seemed to be the wrong reasons. 

During the time I was a slave to my cheap mascara, I never once treated my skin to the benevolence it deserved. Instead I treated it like a liability to my social life, and a burden.”

I’m all-in when it comes to self-care in mind, body, and soul. Using natural mineral makeup that I can feel good in and good about is an integral part of that revelation.

I’m thankful to Emily and her natural makeup passion for kickstarting this shift in my consciousness, and for the killer recommendations on blush, lips, eyes, and beyond.

The honest truth is that I’ve been wearing Redeeming Beauty makeup every day for about eight months straight, and I’m 100% in love with it!

Expanding my makeup world by finally using high-quality, natural makeup that my skin loves and that looks amazing on has been deeply cathartic. It has been my antithesis to the tired old notion that physical self-care is pointless or vain.

It’s a lovely form of self-expression and art, and now – it’s all natural, too.