Mineral makeup - is it time to cut out the middleman?

A few years ago, the internet exploded with mineral makeup companies. Their product was natural, inexpensive, easy to wear and came in a huge range of shades. To me it seemed like the perfect solution for acquiring lots of amazing shades on a budget, without putting my skin in danger from iffy cheap ingredients, and my drawers swiftly filled with lots of little hand-labelled sample pots. It's very cheap and it's a fun way to try out colour. Plus, mineral shadows are easy to blend and hold tight in place over a layer of UDPP.

Anastasia of Lipsticks and Lightsabers has a newsflash for me however - it seems many mineral makeup companies frequently just repackage wholesale micas at a hugely inflated price. And those wholesale pigments come from just one of two suppliers, whose prices are absolutely tiny in comparison. Claims of uniqueness, hand-blended-ness, exceptional quality or in fact any USP seem pretty flimsy in the light of this revelation. It's the same stuff, in a different jar, and it's five times the price..?

Is it money for nothing? Widespread outrage at LimeCrime Cosmetics' prices and suggestive website copy suggests so. After testing the prettily packaged vibrant shades sold by Doe Deere, Anastasia is pretty sure she's been duped.

Since these products are all sold online in any case, it does seem to make a lot more sense to go straight to the source for your mineral colours if you're going to be cranking up the ol' Paypal account. And maybe have a go at mixing your own shades into the bargain. After all if so many small internet "companies" are doing it, it can't exactly be rocket science, can it?

TBK Trading's kits (see pic above) provide everything you need to get started. Their EZ Eyeshadow Kit costs around the same as a single high-end eyeshadow ($19) and allows you to mix over 25 of your own custom shades.