Mineral Makeup - Friend or Foe Part 1

Let me say upfront....I have a tough relationship with mineral makeup. I want to love it and when it comes to eyeshadow and blush I do, but my consistent issue revolves around the foundations.

I have oily skin. As I have gotten older it isn't the oil slick of my teenage years or early twenties, but oily it still is. I do battle with what my dermatologist calls the triumvirate! Combination skin with occasional breakouts, sun damage and fine lines, yuck!

Mineral foundations claim to soak up oil like no other but I don't find this to be the case. During my average day they perform just fine for the first half, but the rest of my day is spent keeping makeup melt down at bay. The oil in my skin takes over and the minerals are transformed to soup, even with the use of primer.

My other issue is the amount of mica in most mineral powders. I just don't get this.....I would rather have a fairly matte, non-shiny foundation and be able to add highlighter at my discretion. So with nearly every cosmetics line making mineral makeup these days I figured I would venture out and see if these contenders are really an improvement.

First up is MAC's Mineralize SPF 15 in light/medium. This powder went on smoothly and was lacking the shiny quality of BE foundations. I also really liked the color selections for fair skin. They tended to be yellow based which is usually a good sign.

My only gripe was the spongy type applicator in the cap. I didn't like that it seemed to pick up a lot of product and even the MAC SA who applied it to my face did so with a big fluffy brush. Overall this mineral powder did well at soaking up oil, but I felt it got a little darker as the day went on.

All in all this is a good one to check out, but I would recommend using a brush for application. MAC has a few that I really like for powder application such as #182 which is a goat hair kabuki that is oh so soft and gives fuller coverage or the duo fiber brushes #187/#188 which provide sheer coverage.

Next up...Laura Mercier Mineral Powder SPF 15