Mac Studio Fix Powder Foundation - review

It's Sunday video time again, where I post the blogginess relating to the video that has just gone up on my YouTube channel.

If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you'll know that I'm partial to foundation and trying to achieve a flawless finish for my face. It's not always a winning battle. I've posted on the blog previously about how the Mac Studio Fix Powder Foundation is not my friend, but I think that I have managed for us to be decent acquaintances.

This is my review of the product. For some reason, I decided that I wanted to do a video of it.

I hope there's not too much redundancy between the blog post and the video, and I hope you enjoy it.

Here it is:

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How to get glowy, dewy skin with a matte foundation

Recently, I went shopping to the new Sephora Australia store (Haul video to come!) with my mum and we spent hours browsing in there.

One of the things that mum lamented while we were in the store was that her current foundation made her look "dead". Well, she says "dead" but reality is that the foundation was very matte and for her mature skin (mum is in her 60s and still looking sensational) she needed a more glowy, dewy finish to her foundation so that her skin still looked like skin.

Isn't my mummy gorgeous?

We went through and looked at a numerous number of foundations and finally picked up the IT Cosmetics CC Cream for her as a new foundation since it has great coverage and it has a lovely natural finish. The deciding factor for this was the squeezy tube which makes it easier to travel with than a glass jar.

But what to do with her almost full bottle of matte foundation?

Well, the answer is a glowy, highlighting base or primer.

I suggested that she use a highlighting primer under her matte foundation, such as the L'Oreal Magic Lumi primer. Fortunately, Priceline (we went to Priceline after Sephora) was having a sale that particular day and all L'Oreal products were 30% off so I took mum there. When we got there, I showed her the difference between using and not using a highlighting primer underneath her foundation and of course, it made a huge difference to the look of the matte foundation. Suddenly, the foundation looked much more natural, skin-like and glowy. It was not an overly dewy or greasy look. Just lovely and natural. Mum fell in love with it immediately and bought a bottle. I got a message from mum the next day saying how much she liked it and how she got compliments on how her skin looked. I was over having lunch with her yesterday and she said to me "I love my Lumi so much!" :-)

Typo in message: nine = nice. LOL.

I have a very matte foundation that I have trouble wearing though I love the coverage and texture of the foundation. It makes my skin look very dry and the foundation does not look caked on. It's the Covergirl Outlast Stay Fabulous foundation. I really have trouble wearing that foundation because it just looks too matte on me.

With that foundation, I use the same technique but with an added step. I use a highlighting primer, but the one I have is the Body Shop Radiant Highlighter which I love. On top of that, I apply the foundation and after the foundation, I set it with the NYX Stay Matte But Not Flat poweder foundation, which has a very natural finish and slight sheen to it. (It doesn't need to be the NYX powder, but any powder that has a more natural or dewy finish). This combination works great for me and allows me to use a foundation that I am otherwise unable to use.

Mum doesn't powder but I'm thinking of getting her an illuminating powder to help set her foundation such as the Wet n Wild Reserve Your Cabana (even though that's technically a bronzer, but it's so light!) or the IT Cosmetics Illuminating Powder Foundation.

It doesn't matter if you have mature skin like my mum or you have normal skin like I do, if you have a foundation that is too matte and you want a more natural finish to your look, this is a wonderful way to get the results you want.

Do you have a matte foundation that is too matte for you? Give this a shot.


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I can't get Mac Studio Fix Powder Foundation to work for me

While I'm doing book reviews and other booky stuff, every now and then I like to throw in a non-book related post since this is Deanna's World and my world is much bigger than just books and this did start out as a makeup blog. :-) That said ...

Mac Studio Fix and I are not friends. Really, I've tried but we just can't seem to get along.

I have read reviews and watched Youtube videos about it and because of the hype surrounding it, decided to try it out. I have also watched numerous tutorials on how to make it work for you and for it to look great and none of the things I've tried have worked for me.

First off, I don't know why people keep saying it has great coverage. It doesn't for me and I've used a fluffy brush and a dense powder brush with it. The only thing I haven't tried is packing it on with the sponge that comes with it. Perhaps, that should be my next move.

Then, there's the fact that it just does not seem to like to apply well on my skin. I've tried it on bare skin after moisturizer and got barely there coverage. I've tried it with a BB cream as a base and it seemed to do okay but looked really cakey, although I have to say this time the coverage seemed pretty good though I still did not like the way it looked. Finally, I tried it with a primer and I have to say this seemed to have worked the best. I guess I just need to make sure I have a primer on before putting the powder on.

As to the finish, I find it very powdery and cakey looking. I watched a video by gossmakeupartist

talk about making it look like skin by spraying a makeup setting spray or something like Mac Fix Plus on it, but that didn't really work as well for me as I would have liked, though it did seem to help a bit. I have also tried dusting a thing layer of Mac Mineralized Skin Finish Natural on it and that seems to be the best result that I am getting.

After all that, am I going to keep trying with the product or am I going to chuck it out?

Well, I can't bring myself to chuck it out because that thing is bloody expensive and I paid a lot of money for it. It just seems like such a waste, so I think I will probably persevere with it.

I think the best technique I have found to work with it is to apply primer first, then buff it into the skin with a powder brush (like the Elf powder brush) and then apply a light dusting of Mac Mineralized Skin Finish Natural over it with a fluffy powder brush. It's not ideal, but that seems to be the best I can do with it.

I have yet to try the sponge that comes with it and perhaps I will. I'm going out tonight for dinner so I might try it then and see how it goes. Maybe, I will love with with the sponge. Who knows?!?

Do you have a product that just does not seem to want to cooperate with you but because you've paid a lot of money for it, you just want to try to make it work? Tell me about it in the comments below!

UPDATE: I've applied the Mac Studio Fix Powder with the sponge it came with, on top of a primer, then set it with the Mac Mineralized Skin Finish Natural. It looks decent enough but very powdery and slightly cakey looking but it's the best I've had in terms of application of it. I've included a photo I took of how I look with it on (no filter). You can see where a lot of the pigmentation on my cheek is still peeking through. I'm going to say this gives me light to medium coverage. I'm also not digging the powdery look although that doesn't come across as much with the photo. What do you think?

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