Mica - is a pure chemical substance that is mainly popular in make-up products and even some beauty products. Mica is an ingredient in our products that gives us glow in our looks after we apply the products. It is a shiny-like substance in our palettes and many other make-up products.
Mica is mainly used in the beauty industry as it is safe and delicate to our skin; it is a harmless pure compound. During this high demand for a natural glow in our beauty products, mica is greatly popular. However, do we know the real torture of mining for mica?
Mica is usually mined in India as it has the most concentration of Mica from the 19th century up to date. Since Mica is popular today, there is a high level of child labour in India to mine Mica.
Many children have died from the fall in underground tunnels and some have injured themselves from the falling debris. It is illegal for children to be mining, however, due to the state of some parts of India, many adults are pushing these children to work for them., decreasing their work labour and increasing their income.
As a woman who loves cosmetics, I am guilty of being indirectly torturing these poor children. if only I had known sooner, I would have looked out for products that do not contain Mica. You too should be aware of such products. It's disappointing to know that many of our popular brands contain Mica and do not source their mica.
I cannot say that I will stop using makeup, but I will, of course, do my own research and try to find products that ethically source out their mica.
Fear not! There are brands that try not to contain as much Mica or none at all in their cosmetics such as blushes, eyeshadows and lipsticks.
These are the brands that are part of the Responsible Mica Initiative :
- Burt's Bees
- L'oreal companies (Urban Decay, Maybelline, NYX and Essie)
- Estee Lauder companies (Bobbi Brown, Becca, Smashbox, Mac, Tom Ford Beauty, Clinique and Too Faced)
- Coty companies (Covergirl and Rimmel)
- Shiseido companies ( Nars, Bare Minerals and Laura Mercier)
- The Body Shop
- The Face Shop
- Sephora Collection
- Revlon
- Almaty
- Elizabeth Arden
Brands that are Cruelty-Free:
- The Face Shop
- The Body Shop
- Urban Decay
- NYX
- Becca
- Smashbox
- Aveda
- Too Faced
- Bare Minerals
- Anastasia Beverly Hills
- Tarte
- Cover FX
- theBalm
- Lush
- e.l.f
There are many more brands that are organic and cruelty-free. Doing your research is the first step to being a well-educated beautician and a human being. Let us all stand up to any sort of cruelty and save humanity!
Comments