Ms. Riley is a cosmetic chemist whose part-Choctaw grandmother taught her about botanicals used by American Indians to beautify and heal the skin.

-Jim Hammer, a cosmetic chemist in Easton, Massachusetts Rediscover mousse.

That they may be little more effective than their drugstore counterparts in the view of some dermatologists and cosmetic chemists seems almost beside the point.

Some also have proteins that are absorbed by the top layer of the skin and attract water, causing the surface to look plumper, cosmetic chemists say.

During this period this magazine has gradually meant more and more to the cosmetic chemist and pharmacist, as these specialties became the major customer for fragrances.

"I think mineral makeup is marketing hype," says Ni'Kita Wilson, a cosmetic chemist at Englewood Lab in New Jersey.

I cannot say," said a cosmetic chemist with 45 years of experience, the last 17 of them at the the agency.

"The natural source is often hinted at in the name," says Jim Hammer, a cosmetic chemist with and product-development manager at Pharmasol Corp.

But thebeautybrains.com, written by authors who describe themselves as professional cosmetic chemists, critiques the science, or lack thereof, behind products.

In the early 1990s, Begoun began work with a team of cosmetic chemists to develop her own line of cosmetics and skin-care products.