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MARCH

So many fabulous claims are made about skin care and makeup products, that when a range comes along which truly is what it claims to be, I think we should celebrate it. Such a range is Jane Iredale's Skin Care Makeup. Jane Iredale, who created this remarkable range of cosmetics which actually benefit (yes, I really mean that!) your skin while you are wearing them, is British by birth. She founded Iredale Mineral Cosmetics and was the first woman to supply the beauty industry with a complete line of makeup based on minerals. She is also the first to understand what these nonreactive elements - like titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, bismuth oxychloride, have to offer in terms of ultraviolet protection and nonreactive skincare.

Jane began her career as a casting director on television commercials with models such as Lauren Hutton. Later she moved onto television and films and formed her own production company in the United States. She produced over 50 programs for PBS and HPO there, winning an Emmy for a film series which she wrote. Later on she moved from film to theatre where she was nominated for a Tony award.

Jane has to be one of the most creative women of the 20 century. Her Skin Care Makeup comes out of the kind of endless creativity that I admire so much. In her own words, "All our makeup is designed to help your skin reach its optimum health while enhancing its natural beauty." Her products are completely different from any other that you have ever tried before - so different that it takes a little education to learn how to use them. Most of them are the best I've ever seen. They give unsurpassed coverage, protection from the sun, and are genuinely hypoallergenic - so much so that they can be applied even after laser resurfacing or to someone whose skin is as sensitive as an acne sufferer, without causing any problems. Her Amazing Base, based on micronise minerals, is applied over whatever moisturiser you use. It’s both a foundation and a powder in one. You brush it on and apply it to the skin in layers. It carries an SPF 17 to 20, with one light coverage providing a physical sunblock that is water resistant and perspiration resistant. The product is full of concentrated pigment which gives complete coverage and looks absolutely natural. Both Amazing Base and its easy to carry form PurePressed base are non drying. They also adhere to the skin better than any makeup I have ever seen and and remain sheer and natural all day. I recently used PurePressed base when photographing a young man who had highly sensitive acne skin. As you know that kind of skin reacts to just about everything. He wore the base all day long even after the photography. It looked perfectly natural and not only did it cause no reaction, it actually calmed his skin. Amazing Base and PurePressed base comes in many different shades, each one acts as a concealer, foundation and sunscreen all in one.

The pigments contained in Jane Iredale cosmetics such as titanium dioxide, act as a mirror reflecting back the sun's rays. They are made from micronised mineral elements only. Other cosmetics often contain fillers like talcum powder used to stretch small quantities of pigment to make them go a long way. Such fillers tend to be drying and cheap. They also tend to fall into cracks and accentuate lines. Not so with these cosmetics. Under a microscope the minerals out of which they are made look like overlapping fish scales - crystals which create a filter allowing a free exchange of oxygen and preventing damage by ultraviolet light. Minerals in such tiny particles have a superb surface-area-to-volume ratio, which means that they hold firmly to the skin, so they don't run, crease or smear. You can even go swimming in them. Yet they come off easily with a cleanser.

The pressed blushers and shadows are similar to the bases. Colorants that are used in them are inorganic except for carmine. You can use the eyeshadows wet or dry. Her LipColors and LipSheres have been created without any chemical dyes, preservatives or animal products - not a bad idea when you consider that a woman wearing lipstick every day ends up devouring 2 tubes of it a year and most lipsticks contain cold hard dyes and synthetic preservatives which you won't find in any of Jane’s products.

Another notable product in the range is CoverCare, which is a camouflage product which plastic surgeons recommend highly as it enables them to cover up bruising on patients after plastic surgery. It is also useful in covering scars, birthmarks and high pigmentation as well as dark circles under the eyes. This highly pigmented oil-free cream you put on with a small amount of moisturiser to help it slip on the skin - best applied with a brush. So pure are these longlasting cosmetics that the eyeshadows, blushers, LipColors, LipSheres can be applied anywhere on your face, you can use the blushers in eyeshadows, wet for lips and liners and dry for eyeshadows and blush or any other way you please. There is a good under eye concealer called Circle\Delete which acts as a treatment as well, it contains vitamin K to help fade dark circles and comes in packages of two colours which complement each other.

So often when looking for good skin care products one has to sacrifice the aesthetic look of something in order to avoid using chemicals you would rather not use on your face. In the case of Jane Iredale Cosmetics, no sacrifice is necessary. In my opinion as a range they offer the best cosmetics on the market which also happen to be the best for your skin. Ever since I started using them, I use virtually nothing else. Naturally, all Jane Iredale Cosmetics are very low risk when it comes to allergy as they contain no sensitisers such as chemical preservatives, perfumes or dyes. Because the pigments are so concentrated yet in the form of tiny fragments of minerals they offer complete coverage and can be used to advantage to camouflage large or small blemishes in colour on the skin. And because the materials from which they are made are inert - in effect inorganic - they don't support bacteria which is one of the reasons that they are so benign even to troubled skin, provided of course that whatever it is you use to apply them is scrupulously clean. They are non drying and they stick to the skin, like fine artists’ pigment perfectly designed to work with skin that you can use to make whatever magic you like. I'm particularly fond of her 24-Karat Gold Dust, which you can brush on eyes, cheeks or shoulders, even in your hair, for a subtle glimmer that is impossible to get with any other glimmer product and even works on mature skin.

Equally, well designed are the brushes to use with these products. Their Handi, which is made from squirrel and pony hair is a flat based brush, ideal for applying pressed powders. I use it also for blushers. They do a WhiteFan made of boar's bristle that enables you to put on bronzers, blush and shimmering powders with skill and subtlety. They do a CamouflageBrush which is synthetic so it can be used wet or dry - an ideal tool for under eye concealers, it lets you smoothly apply colour in difficult to reach areas such as the corners of the eyes and underneath the lower lashes. Finally they do a 'flocked sponge' which lets you pick up powder, Amazing Base, PurePressed base as well as blushers and eyeshadows and apply them either moist or dry over the skin spreading the minerals evenly. The flocked sponge is enormously soft - this is particularly important when applying anything to very sensitive skin or skin after laser treatment - washable, dries quickly and virtually lasts forever.

It is little wonder that plastic surgeons, dermatologists, and beautiful women of all ages sing the praises of these natural mineral cosmetics. It would be difficult to praise them too highly. With the exception of the mascara and lipsticks, of which I have my own individual favourites from other companies, I don't imagine that I will ever use anything else, that's how terrific they are. Jane Iredale Cosmetics are available throughout the world. Check her website www.janeiredale.com

Book Focus!

Leslie Kenton's exciting Cook Energy was released in January 2001. It celebrates the life-enhancing power of living foods. Wild crafted herbs, fresh organic fruits and vegetables, fish, meats and poultry are prepared in surprising new ways in menus for every occasion. Cook Energy shows you how to use food to enhance your energy, alter your mood, strengthen your body, protect yourself from aging and degeneration and is out later this year in paperback. More info.

Leslie’s Healing Herbs was published in January 2000. It is a beautifully illustrated book photographed in macro (very close up to try to capture the spirit of a flower or plant) by Leslie herself. Healing Herbs aims to help every reader rediscover the joy of working with, playing with, growing and healing with herbs in the most delicious way. The book is rich in information and a great joy to behold and use for every reader. More info.

Leslie’s book Journey to Freedom - 13 Quantum Leaps for the Soul, published by HarperCollins is a marriage of the most ancient technique for accessing power and expanding awareness - shamanism - together with tools from cutting-edge science-of-consciousness research. It has come out of Leslie teaching workshops on shamanism throughout the world. Leslie claims she feels much like a midwife - a witness to the unfolding of people’s own individual selves, their creativity and their joy, and she loves it! More info.

She also teaches Journey to Freedom workshops in the UK and other countries. More info.

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