I knew the day would come when I would take the huge leap into purchasing higher-end makeup. I have been searching for a while for the perfect foundation. I need for a foundation to be: lightweight, moisturizing, light-coverage, and give a natural/dewy finish. Is that too much to ask for? While in my search, I came across reviews for Mac's newest foundation, the Mineralize Moisture SPF 15. This came out in 2013 and I think it is one of their least-known foundations. I chose it for my reasons above and I decided to review it for two reasons. One being, there aren't many reviews online for this foundation. My next reason is because while I was researching this product and what shade to buy, there were so little swatches and pictures of this shade. So let us read what I think about this foundation.
The foundation comes in a glass bottle with a pump that can be locked. It contains the standard 1 ounce or 30 milligrams of product.
Okay so shade matching was stressful because the non-existent swatches online didn't offer much help. I had to go into my local Mac counter to match myself, and then I purchased it on the Mac website (amazing return policy) in NW50, the deepest shade the foundation comes in. It matches me nicely, but it is darker than my all time favorite Iman BB Cream in Earth Deep. Despite this, it blends out nicely. The coverage is light to medium and evens out my face without covering up too much.
I use about 1 and a half pumps to cover my entire face. I pump it onto the back of my hand (it is a bit runny, thin) and blend it onto my face using a flat top kabuki brush. I use a primer under it becuase it glides better onto a smooth face. When blended onto the face it leaves a very dewy finish. At first it doesn't feel light but rather sticky, this went away after wearing it more often for me. I was taken aback by this when I first applied it. Looking closely at my face I see it leaves tiny sparkles on my face. Real sparkles! I hope the pictures I took shows them clearly. The dewy-ness and sparkles look nice on my cheeks but on my forehead and nose, it looks strange. To combat this I use a mattifying powder only on these areas.
During the cold weather, my nose and chin are are dry. Therefore I am happy for the moisturizing formula. It contains Shea Butter, Vitamin E and Mac's 77-Mineral Complex.. I don't find that I need to apply a powder all over because my skin rarely gets oily. I apply this foundation at 8 in the morning and wear it until about 4 in the afternoon. My skin seems dewy but not oily or greasy looking. Upon checking myself in the mirror at about 1 p.m my face looks great. Glowy yet natural and healthy looking.
Overall if I had to rate this foundation, I would give it a 7 out of 10. The sparkles were a real surprise for me and the initial dewy-ness looked "off". I would have preferred it to initially have a natural finish and then get dewy minutes later and throughout the day. The sticky feel to my face after applying was also a downside to me. I love that it is moisturizing and contains SPF 15. I spent $35 on this foundation, my first Mac product. I would say that this foundation takes some real getting used to. Would I purchase a refill of this foundation? That is yet to be determined, but I will keep using it especially through the warmer months to see how it holds up.
