First of all, sorry if I sound dumb and/or clueless. I just discovered the wonderful mineral make-up and worked my way to the forums to find out more..

I started using eye make-up daily when I was 14 or 15. I used to love blue eyeliners. The bluer, the better! Until one day when I was about 19, I had a major allergic reaction. The blue liner practically started burning my lids. The skin with the liner just peeled off and my face was a mess for quite a while. It took a long time before I was able to use any kind of eye-make up aafter that. I felt naked and was devastated..

Little by little I was able to find mascara that wasn't triggering any reactions. For eyeliner, I eventually had to use just charcoal. I moisten a brush with distilled water, dip it into a charcoal tablet and line my eyes with that, and it was the only thing that hasn't made my lids itch or peel.

Later on I also noticed that toothpastes give me problems. If they are blue, they make the corners of my mouth open and cause painful sores. Obviously I have problems with Blue1.. Perfumes with blue or purple also make me itch like heck..

Then I discovered Pure Drama eyeliners, ordered 'cocoa' and so far haven't had any problems with it. Also, when I apply it wet, it just stays, and it is gorgeous!! My lids are very oily and most normnal eyeliners just smudge away in a few hours, and I have bene VERY frustrated with trying to find some make-up that sstays put and doesn't irritate me!

I would love to try more mineral make-up - the pure eyes - line has some nay wonderful shades! I haven't had an actual allergy test to figure out what exzctly I am allergic to. But is mineral make-up generally safer? Do the blue shades have ingredients that you'd find on 'normal' blue eyeshadows (or toothpastes)? Can one still have an allergic reaction to minerals?

I'm sorry I am clueless, but I simply love the shades I see you have here, and I would love to be able to wear non-pure-black make-up safely again!

Like I said, so far the 'pure drama cocoa' eyeliner hasn't given me any problems, and I am thrilled with that!

Thanks,

and love your make-up!


- Mia

This is a question best answered by Kristen I think!

One that I would avoid until you hear from her is the bluebird pure hue (its the only one that is safe for lips) because I think it is the only one that perhaps has a FDA color included. The other pure hues that are blue are only for eyes and I don't think they had FDA color added. There used to be a listing of color descriptions that outlined the ingredient # of the minerals and the bluebird was I think the only one that I saw that had something extra.

Hi, Mint -

Welcome to Aromaleigh!

Allergies and sensitivities to ingredients can be really tough! I'm highly sensitive to a particular red pigment, that I can thankfully avoid over here at Aromaleigh. One would think it would be easy to avoid anyplace, but it is used in nearly every single brand, including hypoallergenic ones, and it's the sort of pigment that makes peach, pink, plum, purple, brown and such. Hard to keep away from it!And oddly, although the natural pigment gives me troubles, I can tolerate the red dyes used in the Rocks! line with no problem at all. Basically, one can be sensitive to any ingredient, for any reason, at any time at all.

In looking at the Pure Eyes frost and matte shadow ingredients, Ultramarine Blue is one of the pigments used - it is a mineral pigment, not a dye. The Rocks! line avoids Ultramarine Blue and instead uses FDC Blue #1. The Lustres line uses neither ingredient in Nanette or Lillith (both beautiful blues). The Drama Liners likewise don't contain Ultramarine Blue or D&C Blue #1, but do contain a mineral pigment called ferric ferrocyanide (also present in the Lustres mentioned.

From your experience, can you tell if one blue source is easier on you than the other? Or have you had problems with other color families? We might be able to narrow down the culprit - ultramarine blue is commonly used in commercial blue cosmetics, while toothpaste would be colored with the FDC dye. Not much that I know of is colored with the ferric ferrocyanide, so that *could* be a safer family to try.

I don't wish you to guinea pig yourself to death, but the samples make it easier to play a bit with a color and see if it will be ok or give you problems. You could try one of the Lustres or a Drama Liners (Blue, Teal or Violet) and see how it is, first in just a patch test on the inside of your elbow - apply and then cover with a bandaid. Check after 12-24 hours. If no irritation, try a patch test behind your ear - do the same process. If no irritation, then consider trying on ONE eye only, in one very small spot. You might look odd for a while, but it's better than having TWO very swollen, distressed eyes.

I have had good luck testing colors for sensitivity on myself this way- ifthe arm and ear are fine, I'll try some on my lid. My crease is highly sensitive. I'll start to feel some tingling and itching within a very short while if I'm going to have a problem. Then I just wash well and apply an OTC cortisone cream and know that I just can't use that particular color.

I hope this helps a little bit, and I hope even more that you find a blue something that you both LOVE and that you can USE with no trouble at all!

-b.

Hihi, thanks for quick responses!

I will try to test with some blues as you suggested. I received a sample of 'amethyst, pure eyes frost' - that's one of the reasons why I went 'Omg, I so want to be able to wear blue eyeliner/shadow again!' It looks just gorgeous when I tried a bit on my wrist.. My eyes look pretty much just grey without make-up, but if I wear green liner, they look kind of blue. And when I wore blue liner, people used to say 'Your eyes are so green! They are gorgeous!!' So I want to be able to wear blue liner again!

I think that since I can wear black mascara and black liner, my eyes are not allergic to all make-up. I might have to give up blue shades - Though I am going to try to test them and see if I can tolerate them.. maybe not for every day use, but at least for weekends every now and then!

Another thing I am curious about is that IF all blue shades give me problems, should I also avoid purples and greens? (Green = blue + yellow, purple = blue + red) Is this the case with mineral make-up too? Do green and purple shades contain blue? And if so, what shades do? I am also very fond of soft pinks and light purples .. OK, I am very ffond of most shades I see on your web site, and if I could wear them all, I probably would!!

Thanks again, I will ask more as soon as I figure out more things to ask

- Mint

Mint, do you use an eyeshadow primer before you apply your eyeshadows? AL's primer is very nice and you use just the tiniest amount. I am thinking this would be a good barrier from the irritants of certain colors for you. I heard the purple eyeshadows are the ones that are most likely to cause irritations. I had quite a reaction from another company's purple eyeliner but it also had chunky glitter in it that could have been the culprit.
Bridget's suggestions with taking precautionary steps in testing sound quite safe. I had a terrible reaction to something that only effected my eyelids. I couldn't stand to put even the mildest oitment on them. I was so miserable for 3 weeks. I never want to go through that again. Our eyelids are so delicate. Kathy

Mint -
Allergies are interesting challenges. For myself, I can't use frosted shadows (even AL's, for some reason), and forget pinks on my eyelids - which also affects some purples! The AL samples will help you a lot with this -- no need to buy full sizes to see what's what. Good luck in your search.

Pinkydinkydo