Cosmetics

Looking for makeup to help your skin, not just mask its problems? With a minimum of ingredients and no irritating fillers, natural makeup made from minerals and fruit pigments gives a safe and healthy glow to any complexion. The idea has quickly become a mainstream sensation, with brands from Cover Girl to Clinique creating “mineral-based” makeup lines.

When former model Blaire Kessler began treatment for breast cancer at age 31, her hair looked like a Brillo pad, her skin scarred badly, and her body became an early-menopausal mess. Well-meaning friends brought her skin creams that to her looked, smelled, and felt medicinal. Even the packaging depressed her—it seemed so drab and sterile.

Lipstick, eyeliner, mascara, perfume—Jessica Assaf applied them all, and more, before she hit 12. And by her mid teens, she estimates she was using 15 to 20 beauty products a day. Like many girls, Assaf was indoctrinated into the beauty culture at a young age, with makeover-themed birthday parties as early as kindergarten and trips to the nail salon starting in grade school.

Women who decide to use bleaching agents (often hydroquinone) on their skin—to counter age spots, freckles, or a dark complexion—might want to pause before they lighten up. Last year, the FDA declared that products containing hydroquinone are potentially carcinogenic and proposed a ban on selling them without a prescription.