RMS Beauty

Rosemary Swift spent 30 years as a top editorial makeup artist, before being diagnosed with heavy metal toxicity, her doctors attributed to conventional cosmetics pigments. She retired from session work and launched her own brand using only raw, unrefined food grade ingredients. Blood tests in 2004 showed elevated levels of lead, mercury and barium. She linked the exposure to years of hand blending makeup on herself and models, and launched RMS Beauty in 2009 with a collection of cream based products formulated with organic coconut oil, raw cocoa butter and mineral pigments that had not been irradiated, a common cosmetics sterilization step. The raw non irradiated positioning was unusually restrictive commercially, because almost all cosmetics pigments are routinely irradiated to reduce microbial load and extend shelf life.