The truth about… Mineral Foundation
June 2, 2008
This post is about the much talked about ‘Mineral Foundation’. It seems that just lately all the big cosmetics companies are jumping on the mineral band wagon and proclaiming this magic dust as the answer to all our deepest darkest desires. So after a brush with a very persuasive sales assistant and my continued quest to hunt out the perfect foundation, I found myself walking away with a pot of ‘custom blended’ Bella Pierre mineral foundation. (Custom blended meaning that sales associate tipped half a pot of one shade into the other and shook vigorously!)
The idea behind the mineral foundation is it uses 100% mineral natural ingredients, this means it is entirely hypo-allergenic and therefore does not contain the usual ‘bulking out ingredients’ that other foundations contain, such a talc, it also meaning you require less of the product as it is more concentrated. -Do check however, you are buying 100% mineral as I have noticed some brands marketing a ‘mineral’ foundation only use 60% minerals and the remaining 40% is back to that trusty old ‘bulking’ ingredients -sneaky!
With all this promise of goodness I really wanted to like my newly acquired pot of mineral foundation, but try as hard as I may, it wasn’t to be. My skin tends to fall under that slightly ominous category the ‘T Zone’ (oily skin on the forehead, nose and chin and drier skin on the cheeks) and this meant after a couple of hours the product on my forehead and nose had all but gone and the product on my cheeks looked took heavy and overly dry. Also after years of using liquid foundations that respond easily to my fingertips and are quick to blend in the areas that need extra coverage, using a brush to apply loose power to my face felt clumsy and awkward, and harder to regulate the amount of product on my bush at a time to work on certain areas.
As I hung up my brush I gave this foundation a sadly shameful 48%. Despite this I feel I cannot wipe out all mineral foundations based on one product and I’m sure it will not be long before I take up the quest for the perfect foundation once again and dive head first into the shimmering pool of mineral foundations all promising that ‘beautiful flawless look’.
Makeup and beauty illustrations: Illustrator Vicky Newman
