It sometimes seems that everyone has jumped on to the mineral makeup bandwagon except me. My friend
Nadine of Nadine Jolie is especially a fan of mineral makeup. It really works for her too, the girl looks airbrushed in person. Like, sitting a few feet away she is perfect. I can only aspire to such amazing looking makeup.
So, why haven't I just started using it? Unfortunately, pretty much every mineral makeup I've tried (especially that big brand with the stores in the mall, yes, you know the one I mean) seems to give me some sort of skin rash. I get hivey, itchy redness. It's not cool.
So, I was excited to hear about the new makeup from Napoleon Perdis. A mineral makeup that is in liquid form seemed to me like something that my skin my enjoy a bit more. With the time saving benefits of a liquid foundation (really, I think smearing something around with my fingers and then buffing a little with a sponge or brush is fastest), this foundation promises the great color matching and oil absorbing capabilities of a mineral foundation.
Advanced Mineral Makeup is the liquid foundation, really it is a thick lotion in consistency. It is insanely easy to apply perfectly. I put a few dots on the areas I want to cover (primarily my t-zone), smear with a few finger tips, then I grab a little triangle makeup sponge and blend around my nose for about 5 seconds. Overall, this is a light-medium coverage foundation. If I want more coverage I repeat this process in those areas. Done. The makeup looks flawless on my skin (Look 2 is a perfect match for me, most people are Look 3 according to my contacts at Napoleon Perdis). I found that the foundation does help my skin stay a bit more matte than it would otherwise, though alone it isn't quite enough for my combination skin mid-summer. It does last all day, I still look great when it is time to head to bed.
Advanced Mineral has a companion product, the Mattifying Mineral Primer. Yes, it is a
powder primer to go under your liquid makeup. I thought this was the craziest thing ever when the products first arrived at my home, but they do work together just fine. There is no resulting goopiness. None.
The first really cool thing about this primer is the dispenser. Instead of the typical sifter, the little contraption you see above is in the hinge area. When the lid is closed, the bottom oval is opened to the dispense powder. Shake, and 1 application's worth of powder will come up to be dispensed. Because of the way it seals you won't have excess powder released, which makes a huge difference over the typical sifter. I hate the sifter, I always end up with too much powder that goes everywhere. This is an amazing solution and I want this on every loose powder product I own.
The primer is a bit heavier than a typical powder. It has a yellow tint, what you see in my pic above in
not a trick of the lighting. That's the color of the product. I use a big kabuki style brush to apply the powder to my t-zone, buffing to ensure a light and flawless application. I can't tell that it is on my skin and the yellow tint does help to reduce any redness.
The primer helps quite a bit with shininess in my t-zone, though it wasn't quite enough to keep my matte. To be fair, I was testing during a very hot time mid-summer, and it would likely be great for winter. The primer can be used as a powder to help set the foundation and cut down on shine. I found that it is too heavy to work well for me this way. I have a hard time getting it to look flawless, it comes across as too heavy in different areas. The yellow tint is just too much for me to use over the foundation as well, so I've been using regular powder instead.
Overall I really liked this duo. I've found myself reaching for it in the morning, well beyond my testing period. I'll definitely keep using it!
The foundation has SPF 15.
Napoleon Perdis
