Does this scenario sound familiar? You’ve worn traditional makeup for years with little to no irritation. Upon hearing about the benefits of mineral makeup, you decide to give it a try. After all, it claims to be better for your skin and healthier overall, so what have you got to lose? And if you’ve never been able to wear traditional makeup without irritation, mineral makeup sounds like the answer you’ve been looking for. You buy your first jar and begin wearing it immediately.

Except… you’re having a reaction you’ve never had before to makeup. Your skin may be red, irritated, itching, having small bumps or pustules, burning or looking swollen. What is this? How can mineral makeup cause such an extreme reaction?

That reaction is likely caused by the ingredient bismuth oxychloride. While bismuth oxychloride is a common ingredient in traditional makeup, as well as mineral makeup, it is used in much higher concentrations in mineral makeup. There are no fillers in mineral makeup like there are in traditional cosmetics (talc, mineral oil, aluminum powder, alcohols and parabens), so the few ingredients left, including bismuth oxychloride, make up more of the recipe.

Why Is Bismuth Oxychloride Used In Makeup?

Is it used in makeup because it gives the makeup a silky feel, good slip (this means it applies well to the skin and doesn’t drag or grab on the skin) and good adhesion, which helps it stay on your skin. It feels smooth and silky when rubbed between the fingers. It is often described as a lustrous crystalline powder.

It is not the most expensive ingredient, nor is it the least expensive. It is, however, an industry standard and very common. It also gives a visible sheen to the makeup, so it’s good at refracting light and that helps draw attention away from, and camouflage, fine lines, wrinkles and minor discolorations. That’s a great selling point for makeup.

What Is Bismuth Oxychloride?

Bismuth oxychloride is an inorganic white pigment, and usually comes in two forms: diamond and pearl finishes. The diamond is shimmery and the pearl is more matte. It’s formula is BiOCl.

If you look on the periodic table of elements, you’ll notice plain old bismuth at atomic number 83, with the symbol Bi. It is the least toxic of it’s periodic table neighbors like lead, tin, antimony and polonium. Bismuth in itself is not safe for use in cosmetics, and must be refined and combined with other elements to produce bismuth oxychloride.

Bismuth occurs naturally, but in very small amounts. Most of the bismuth produced in the USA is as a by-product from refining lead, tin, copper, silver and gold ores.

Once the bismuth has been harvested, it is further refined through several processes to remove dangerous elements like lead. Then it is chlorinated, which gives us bismuth chloride (BiCl3). It still poses a severe risk at this point, smelling of hydrochloric acid. When bismuth chloride is combined with water, it starts to decompose and part of the chlorine is replaced by oxygen from the water. This process is called hydrolysis. The remaining compound is bismuth, chlorine and oxygen; Bismuth oxychloride.

Is It Safe To Use?

Bismuth oxychloride is a product that is FDA approved for use in products for the face, eyes, lips and nails. It is a very common and popular ingredient in both traditional and mineral makeup.

However, skin irritation from bismuth oxychloride is not unusual. According the MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) for bismuth oxychloride, there is a risk of it being a potential irritant to humans when it comes in contact with the skin or eyes.

It is also imperative that bismuth oxychloride be free from toxins when it hits the market. The FDA does have standards outlining this, and in their Electronic Code of Federal Regulations they dictate the composition must be free of impurities except lead, arsenic, volatile matter and mercury in specific amounts and must be 98% bismuth oxychloride.

Buying bismuth oxychloride from countries with less stringent laws may result in increased health risks, so it is wise for companies to buy from highly regulated countries, like the US and Canada.

Should I Use It?

This is a very personal question to answer. Are you are happy with your current makeup and are suffering no ill effects? Would you feel more comfortable using makeup without it? Do you find that you have to buff minerals with bismuth oxychloride into your pores or they are more obvious, and this is irritating your skin? Have you found using mineral makeup without it causes your skin relief and the reaction clears up?

These are all questions to ask yourself when deciding to purchase a brand with bismuth oxychloride as an ingredient. There are many good products available, offering the same benefits as products with bismuth oxychloride, but without the ingredient itself.

Makeup

This makeup palette has highly pigmented shades; all shadows can also be applied wet for a deeper longer lasting effect. The compact case makes it easy for storing and traveling.

The case has a matte surface and measures 9″ x 6.5″ (23 cm x 16.5 cm) closed. The pots are Dime Size around and contain plenty of powder for many uses.

The colors do not have a ton of shimmer in them: if this is what you are looking for, you can always dust shimmer over top as I did in the above photo. It is nearly a 50/50 mix of matte and satin with slight shimmer.

Makeup Pic

Makeup Image

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Most helpful customer reviews

168 of 175 people found the following review helpful.
Great but..
By Bigslacker666
I was hesitating to buy this palette for few weeks. I liked the colors but I was afraid of the quality due to the low price. I finally bought it and was suspicious about number 1 ingredient talc as it makes eyeshadows, powders etc chalky. Here’s the full list of the ingredients: mica, mineral oil, kaolin, titanium dioxide, magnesium sterate, isopropyl palimtate, lanolin, methylparaben, propylparaben, BHT. May contain :mica and titanium dioxide, iron oxides, manganese violet, utramarine blue, chrome oxide greens, hydrated chrome oxide greens, FD&C red no.40 Al lake, FD&C Yellow no. 5 Al lake, FD&C blue no.1 Al lake. Made in China.
The whole palette is very light and portable. It was shipped the next day via USPS Priority Mail, wrapped carefully in a lot of bubble plastic. I received it in a perfect condition. When I opened palette I was positively surprised-the colors are more vivid than on the picture. I used fingers and applied few colors on my hand and they looked awesome, very bright. Than I used my brushes (not those 2 included but professional ones) and unfortunately eyeshadows were very chalky (the chalkiest I ever tried), basically the whole application looked like I was using colored flour and the colors didn’t transfer in full. I was so disappointed. I liked the colors though and didn’t want to give up and next day I applied some colors on eyelids with my fingers, and that was a brilliant idea-no chalky mess at all! Colors so strong like Makeup Forever or MAC eyeshadows. I blended at the end and the colors lasted all day, they actually stained my fingers a bit. So they are very pigmented and easy to blend. If they would be chalky even with the fingers they would go back with no question.
I always use primer so there is no crease and eyeshadows can stick better to the surface.
I took 1 star for this talc, also mineral oil is used in cheap cosmetics, but the price, fast and secure shipping plus great pigmentation easily made 4 stars.

UPDATE: both included applicators work great, and application is not chalky, but they are not meant to blend, so blending brush will be handy.

46 of 47 people found the following review helpful.
5 star palette
By Jessica J. Zavala
So I also hesitated to buy this because I had never heard of the brand and the price was WAY too good.
But I gave in and don’t regret it AT ALL!
It was received quickly, very padded, no damage at all.
The colors are extremely vibrant and VERY pigmented,and a few are glittery. BE WARNED the colors are more pigmented than they look in the picture, i’m not the kind to wear some of the colors in it since I did not know just HOW pigmented they were. BUT that does not take from anything from the quality itself, the actual case and applicators aren’t the best but it’s very portable and functions. That’s ALL that matters, and you probably HAVE applicators and or brushes laying around anyway. I know somebody commented that these are very chalky but honestly it’s not as bad as she/he made it seem at all!
i’m a dog groomer so finding an eyeshadow that can stand up to moisture and eye rubbing…well it doesn’t really exist unless you can fork over big bucks. BEING a dog groomer I cannot. Therefore this palette went above and beyond, did not crease. even when I didn’t use primer,it outlasted my other shadows, and still looked amazing after 7 hours of washing and grooming pooches. This collection of colors is gorgeous and blend well! I would recommend these to anyone, and I actually plan on getting the flashier colors for my best friend!
I believe in giving credit where credit is due, and this was completely worth my money. I’ll be ordering more shades from them!

38 of 39 people found the following review helpful.
LOVE IT
By VB
After contemplating for the longest while whether or not to purchase this palette, i finally did , and i LOVE it. No regrets on purchasing it!
Took a while to arrive (7days), but when it did it was packaged with alot of bubble wrap to ensure that the palette wasn’t damaged. Upon opening the pallet i observed none of the shadows had cracked and the condition was brand new.
The colours are highly pigmented and they blend very good. All the colours are gorgeous and with 88 different colours, your imagination can run wild.
I would highly recommend this pallet to anyone!

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