Jane Iredale in her element explaining her mineral makeup collection
Planet Beauty in Newport Beach was packed on a recent Tuesday evening, as Jane Iredale, founder of the eponymous original mineral makeup category, regaled some 40 guests with stories about her colorful life. And, by evening’s end, customers were all carting off plentiful purchases of the popular line.
“People are looking for things that work,” said John Dick, director of store operations for Planet Beauty, which carries the Jane Iredale collection across its 35 stores. “Mineral makeup has been hot for us for several years. People tell us when they use Jane’s products they notice a difference in their skin.”
This year, Iredale celebrates her 20th anniversary in the business, having landed in New York from her native London in 1972 “on an adventure.” She took some time out of a hectic national anniversary tour to talk about minerals, Moonglow and why labels are a girl’s best friend.
Did you always know you wanted to get into the beauty business?
I came here in 1972 and didn’t know what I wanted to do. I ended up as a casting director at J. Walter Thompson for film and television before getting into production. I worked as a writer and producer in Los Angeles and New York. It was clear that makeup was playing havoc on ... women from job to job. I started thinking about makeup that is good for your skin. I found a chemist that could make a loose mineral powder that was foundation, sunscreen, powder, with no talc or fillers. Something that would give a lot of coverage without harming the skin and would calm down inflamed skin. People break out a lot from makeup.
In the beginning, did people get what you were trying to do?
I had moved to Massachusetts and was literally making the products in my kitchen. I spent a year not knowing what to do with it. Then I went door-to-door to spas and salons in Manhattan. I sent a sample to someone at the Oaks spa in Ojai, and a client there was the wife of a plastic surgeon ... who started using it on clients who had just had laser resurfacing. It was a boon in those days. It helped people with rosacea and acne. It took off from there.
It’s been 20 years. Clearly minerals are not a fad then?
Definitely not. [But] it’s a mixed bag. The mineral makeup category has been one of the fastest growing. Every major player has some sort of mineral offering. And I love what brands like Bare Escentuals have done. But some of the other lines have talc, which you don’t want in a product. You have to read the labels.
What should consumers be looking for?
On our website, all the ingredients in each product are listed. We are very transparent. Titanium oxide, zinc oxide, mica, boron nitride. The titanium and zinc oxide offer UV protection. We include some antioxidants, botanicals and algae, and radish root extract is our preservative. Synthetics are just too hard on the skin.
Your latest collection for spring-summer, Magic Hour, is based on one of your enduring favorites.
Yes, it is inspired by our Moonglow Quad Bronzer, one of our consistent top sellers. It gives off a beautiful golden shimmer, which is great for summer. In the new collection we have a Jelly Jar inky gel eyeliner and Lip Fixation, a dual-ended stain and gloss. For fall-winter we are continuing with the Jelly Jar, adding two more colors in purple and green, and a beautiful sangria lip gloss.
Do you see yourself branching into other categories?
One area we’ve started to dabble in is vitamins. There are no nutritional supplements specifically for the complexion. The skin gets everything last, after all the other major organs. I saw research that a compound known as DIM — diindolylmethane, which is in cruciferous vegetables like cabbage and broccoli — is enormously beneficial for the skin. We combined it with vitamins like D and E into a product called Skin Accumax, which we just launched.
If there was just one thing someone should buy from your collection, what would it be?
The pressed powder. It’s a foundation, sunscreen and concealer and heals the skin at the same time. You don’t need anything else.
