Common sense tells us slathering our skin with make-up is doing it no favours: think clogged pores, premature ageing and no chance for cells to breathe.
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But a new report suggests that actually, wearing make-up is beneficial for the skin – in an anti-ageing, anti-pollution, barrier-against-all-bad-things kind of way.
Dermatologist Dr Phillip Artemi presented on the benefits of cosmeceuticals (aka functional coloured cosmetics) at the Australiasian College of Dermatologists’ (ACD) Annual Scientific Meeting (ASM) in Sydney last week.
According to his research, make-up like foundation, powder, blush, eyeshadow, eyeliner, mascara and even lipstick were all shown to be the second most important anti-ageing products in your arsenal, after (of course) sunscreen.
They were also found to reduce the incidence of skin cancer, particularly around the eye area.
“The notion that not wearing make-up makes for healthier skin is no longer a valid one,” says Dr Artemi. “A combination of sunscreen, foundation, eye shadow and mascara can reduce the incidence of skin cancers around the eye better than the use of sunscreen alone.”
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“Whilst sunscreens do a lot, they don’t do enough and should not be relied on solely for skin health,” he adds. “Now we can advise that functional coloured cosmetics should be added to this long standing advice to further reduce the risk of skin cancer and premature ageing, as well as protecting against the increasing danger of air pollution.”
He also had some scary findings on the impact air pollution has on our skin. After the effects of the sun, pollution is the biggest cause of facial skin ageing.
So continue to slip slop slap – your foundation as well as sunscreen.
