Chances are, you'll feel like you're not wearing a lick of makeup and hear plenty of comments about your healthy glow. "Mineral makeup is the closest I've seen to wearing no makeup," Dr. Katz says. "My patients who use it can't stop telling me how wonderful it is.

The Beauty of Mineral makeup products is that your skin looks like your skin. The products feel light on your skin are healthy and non-irritating, and create a fresh, youthful look. The beauty of the layering is of course being able to cover imperfections and even certain skin disorders such as rosacea.

Mineral makeup in itself is healthy for your skin because of the natural minerals and elements in the formulas used in these products to replace talc, dyes, oil, perfume, and alcohol that clog pores and pollute the skin.

The best mineral makeup does not contain fragrances, dyes, mineral oil or preservatives, common causes of allergies, said Dr. Hema Sundaram, a dermatologist who is the author of "Face Value: The Truth About Beauty-and a Guilt-Free Guide to Finding It." That makes them good for both plastic surgery patients and women with sensitive skin, she said.

Wendy Lewis, a plastic surgery consultant in New York, "Back then, you were red for three months while you healed, so you were a slave to the camouflaging makeup," she says. "I always recommend it after surgery, as it's nonreactive."

Enter mineral makeup -- it's all-natural, light, and effective. With benefits ranging from a natural look and feel, long lasting application, ideal for sensitive skin, doesn't contribute to the aging process, and contains no harmful ingredients.

It's something that a lot of my patients use and love, and I use it myself. It's also the product most patients ask about," says Kathryn Frew, MD, a dermatologist at Juva Skin and Laser Center and MediSpa in New York City.

Many dermatologists report that because mineral makeup frequently eliminates classic "irritants" - like fragrances, binders, synthetic dyes, and preservatives -- it is considered "purer" and can be kinder to the skin. She adds that because titanium dioxide [and zinc oxide] have anti-inflammatory properties, certain mineral makeups can also have a calming effect on the skin, particularly important if you suffer from inflammatory problems such as rosacea or acne.

Dermatologist Francesca Fusco, MD, agrees. "It's non-comedongenic, so it won't clog pores, and it's not going to aggravate an acne condition or cause a flare-up as easily as some traditional makeups can," says Fusco, an assistant clinical professor of dermatology at Mt. Sinai Medical Center in New York City.

Extra ingredients aside, it may seem as if all mineral makeup should be pretty much the same. But WebMD discovered that's far from the truth.

Although you can weed out at least some of these brands by reading the ingredient label, Adams cautions not to let the term "all natural" or "all mineral formula" fool you.

That's because within the brands that claim "pure mineral" formulations, there is still another category breakdown -- those that contain an arguably "natural" mineral known as bismuth oxycholoride, and those that do not.

A pearlizing agent that gives mineral makeup that "candlelight glow," bismuth oxychloride is a mineral, but it's not found in the earth. Bismuth is a byproduct of lead and copper processing. Bismuth oxychloride is also frequently used to fill or "bulk up" or bind products, says Adams, and some say it comes with a heavy price.

"Bismuth oxychloride is considered a skin irritant and can cause itching and rashes and in large amounts it can cause cystic acne as well - it's one of the ingredients you should try to avoid if you have acne or rosacea or sensitive skin," says Frew, who also reminds us that some products in a line have this ingredient, while others do not. "Some products also contain very little, so it doesn't act like an irritant, but you won't know until you try it."