I've got the look. And the hookup.

May 25, 2008

When I first got into mineral makeup, I bought Bare Escentuals. It was there, I was familiar with the store and the brand (having bought some of their essential oils several years ago), and if I was going to pay that much for makeup, I wanted to know that I was getting it from a source that I trusted...somewhat. When I finally ventured onto Ebay, I stuck with BE. I could walk into a store, see the colors right there in front of me, and know (for example) that Bamboo was far too yellow, that Azure actually was less intense on the skin than it was in the jar, and that Silk Rose was prettier than it sounded. I am also lucky enough not to have reactions to bismuth oxychloride (a form of lead arsenic), so didn't have to go searching for something like Aromaleigh, KmS, Earth Daily, or any of the other brands formulated for sensitive skin. I was attracted to mineral makeup because of its claims not to clog pores, and the fact that it contains no preservatives or artificial chemicals. Thus, the standard rule-of-thumb that you should throw out your makeup after three years does not apply here. Mineral makeup is inert - bacteria can't grow in it - it will conceivably stay good for 10 or 20 years, perhaps longer.

Nice as it is, BE's eye color line lacks a good selection of blues and greens, and doesn't have many bright colors. I saw several dozen cottage-industry mineral makeup alternatives on Ebay, and tried out a few. One was priced nearly the same as BE, and the seller used misleading advertising. Another used the same color names as BE, and while their quantities and pricing were better, their product quality and their packaging needed some work. Then I found a particular seller that seemed to have a good selection of colors, no bismuth oxychloride, good quantities, and an excellent price. I ordered a few to check them out...and thus began my latest collection.

Simply Naturals mineral makeup can be used as eye color, face color, body color, even for decorative highlights and streaks in the hair. They have recipes on their site for mixing your own lip balms, and their reds could easily be added to those. However, since I'm not a huge lip balm user and since I have troubles making a batch of tollhouse cookies competently, I'm not mixing my own makeup — I'm only using the colors as eye makeup. When I first wanted to explore mineral makeup, I needed a safety net: I needed to go into a store, see what I wanted to buy, and test it out before plonking down my money. I know that others may need this reassurance, too...so I've compiled a long list and review of Simply Naturals' mineral makeup colors. (I'll be honest: part of my reason for doing this is that it gives me a chance to organize, compare, catalog, and organize some more - and I absolutely love doing that. I don't think I could be weirder unless I found photos of appliances highly interesting.)

I've compared the wearability of Simply Naturals to BE, as well. I have problems with eyeshadow creasing and not staying on for more than a few hours...unless I put down some mineral veil first. (The cornstarch in the mineral veil absorbs the oil, letting the eyeshadow stay in place longer without creasing or folding up.) I literally spent a few days with BE on one eyelid, and the closest-matching Simply Naturals on the other lid. Simply Naturals' powders stayed on as long as BE, looked as good...and are a fraction of the price for just a tiny bit more product.

Simply Naturals sells through their online storefront as well as through Ebay. If you want to sample a few colors, go ahead and order directly from their website. If you'd like to buy several colors, though, order through Ebay: they offer discounted multipacks of 5, 7, 12, 20, 50, or 100 colors in your choice. You might also want to buy separate sifter jars, since Simply Naturals doesn't include a sifter...with nearly 1 gram of loose-powder product in a jar that holds 5 grams of pressed powder, there's no room. (I found that two of Simply Naturals' jars will fit into one 10-gram jar with a sifter, with a small amount of overflow that sits on top of the sifter - approximately 1/16 of a teaspoon or slightly less. For comparison, two .57 gram quantities of Bare Escentuals' mineral makeups will easily fit into one 10-gram jar with a sifter with no overflow at all.)

Summary

• Quantity: each jar contains 1/6 teaspoon of loose powder...or approximately .791 grams. Compare that to Bare Escentuals's .57 grams per jar.
• Price: each jar is $1.99 when purchased singly. The price per jar goes down if you purchase one of their multipacks through their Ebay storefront.
• Wearability: same as Bare Escentuals...literally. I spent several days as an eye-makeup harlequin to prove this to myself. (If you have oily lids, put down a coat of mineral veil first and you'll need fewer touchups throughout the day.)
• Selection: they have more colors than Bare Escentuals — over 200 as of May 2008 — and since they make this themselves, they have the ability to make custom mixes. (Prices on those vary, though.) Several of their colors are what I call "transformatives": they look like one thing in the jar, but have iridescent highlights that are only visible on the skin and/or when applied heavily. Some examples are Plum Tree, Persian, Black Cherry, and Tumbleweed...and of course their Fantasy colors, which look nearly white but have colored highlights.
• Ingredients: individual colors may contain any combination of mica, titanium oxide, iron oxide, or authenitc pearl powder. Simply Naturals does not contain any bismuth oxychloride.
• Customer service: outstanding. I've had one package that was lost in transit, and they sent out a replacement very quickly (thank goodness for insurance). I've ordered items from Bare Escentuals directly, as well as from their reseller Sephora — and Simply Naturals has always shipped faster and arrived within 7-10 days, even when shipped first class rather than priority.
• Other: several samples come with every order, allowing you to test out different colors. The samples seem to change on a regular basis, so if you place one order in July and another one in August, you will get an entirely different set of samples.

Be Aware

• They don't seem to have too many bold, vivid, really strong colors in their line - colors which would show well on deeper skin tones. From what I've seen, this problem is present in nearly every mineral makeup line. I'm very fair, so this doesn't affect me personally...but people with darker or deep olive skin tones should be aware of this. I've noted the stronger, more opaque colors in my personal catalog.
• Like many other sellers of mineral makeup, Simply Naturals does not accept returns. Again, like many other mineral makeup sellers, this is done for hygenic reasons. (The good side is that they provide several samples with every order - allowing you to test the colors before you buy them.)
• A small selection of their mineral makeup is a little too grainy for me - specifically, the colors containing pearl powder. The pieces are a little too large, and so those colors aren't as silky-smooth as most of the rest of their line. When I placed my first big order, I was able to ask them which of my potential choices contained pearl powder...and so was able to choose alternates. (Though I do admit that I really like Diamond Pearl, even with the pearl powder.)
• Their photography doesn't always represent the colors well. The photo of Gypsy makes the color look medium-light orange/tan, while the color itself is actually a rich burgundy-brown very similar to BE's Here Kitty. I don't know if this is because of the photography, or because my monitor is miscalibrated. When in doubt, ask if you can get a sample baggie. (Or read my amazing descriptions. Aherm.)
• Because they mix the colors themselves, there may be delays in fulfilling your order - especially if they need to mix up a new batch. They state this clearly on both storefronts. This has never happened to me, but the possibility exists.
• Some of their color names are spelled differently: Sandlewood instead of Sandalwood, Westeria instead of Wysteria, Saphire instead of Sapphire. I know this could very well be branding, but one of my jobs is freelance editing...and unofficial spelling variants make my teeth itch.

Personal Tips

• For your initial order, get three or four jars, and choose different colors and types. They don't divide their colors by finish, but you can figure that out by reading their descriptions. (Or you can check back in a day or so and read my exhaustive catalog.) For example, my first order was for Viridian (green, sheen), Creamsicle (peach, matte), and Diamond Pearl (white, shimmer).
• When you order your packages, get insurance. The postal folk near Simply Naturals don't always scan in the packages when they're shipped...so you won't always receive up-to-date tracking information. Insurance protects you in case the postal folk lose the package. This happened to me once, and because I had insurance, Tina was able to replace the entire order very quickly.
• If you want to order more than 5 colors, order through their Ebay storefront. You'll pay less per jar...and on a truly large order, this can be a significant savings.

I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of two of their colorshifting "Solar System" colors: Earth, and Venus. From the descriptions, I think these might be very much like Christian Dior's Moonstones, or like Bare Escentuals' eye quickies. They're more costly than Simply Naturals' other colors, but they still cost less than Bare Escentuals' eye quickies...and if they do what I think they'll do, they'll be amazingly versatile and fun.

Disclaimer: While this is a review, I'm not getting any special deals or incentives to write this up. I just really, really, REALLY enjoy Simply Naturals' mineral makeup. (And organizing.)

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