Mineral make-up has been labelled the 'new craze in town', the ' latest revelation in make-up' and the ' trend of the year'.

In actual fact, mineral make-up has been around for about three-thousand years, dating back to the Egyptian Pharaohs.

It was worn by men, women and children, with eye colour being thought of as the most important application. They usually used vibrant green and blue coloured eye shadow with Kohl eye liner, believing that it protected them and kept them safe.

The materials were ground into a powder, which was then mixed with an oil to produce the eye colour. Using small sticks they would apply the product on a daily basis. Red ochre clay was finely ground and mixed with water to produce lipstick and blusher for the cheeks. Henna was applied to the nails, giving the nails an orange / yellow colour. Everything was natural, no harsh chemicals were added, resulting in a non irritating, breathable, natural product.

Nowadays, women (and men) from all over the world are throwing away their clumpy old fluid foundations and opting for what has proven to work better in the past. As a race, we are foolish to think that we have invented the wonder of mineral make-up.

We are simply learning by our mistakes and going back to basics, mirroring the actions of our ancestors. With no talc, perfumes, alcohol, dyes, mineral oil or preservatives its no wonder dermatologists, beauty therapists and individuals from all over are please with and happy to recommend mineral make-up to clients, friends and family.

Even the most sensitive skin types can wear mineral make-up, feeling no irritation on their skin.

We are constantly reminded what is omitted from mineral make-up, but what exactly is in it? Realistically, you can make your own mineral make-up foundation at home, it's that basic. You will need;

• 1/3 tsp. Titanium Dioxide
• 1/3 tsp. Zinc Oxide
• 1/3 tsp. Boron Nitride
• 1/3 tsp. Facial Silk
• 1/2 tsp. Chamomile Matte Mica
• 1/8 tsp. Chestnut Brown Mica
• 1/16 tsp. Red Oxide #150
• 1/32 tsp. Brown Oxide
• 3 tsp. White Matte Mica
• Mortar and Pestle

As I mentioned before, you will have to adjust the recipe to match your skin tone. This may take a lot of mixing and wasting of time and money. For this reason, it is far better, far easier and almost the same price overall to simply purchase a product from your local salon, store or online store.

Each and every brand carry a variety of shades, offering the correct shade for all skin tones. Even though we choose to purchase mineral make-up as opposed to creating it ourselves, we are still guarenteed that it consists only of  basic, natural, earthy ingredients.

History give us direction, advice and leads us the way. We learn and are guided by our ancestors and their actions. This too is demonstrated in the beauty industry.

Opting to omit harsh chemicals and use only natural, basic ingredients is not something which we can take credit for, but we can by all means enjoy the feeling of barely there make-up, with the same amount of coverage. Mineral make-up has always been here, but now its here to stay.