P100P #011 - MAC Rapidblack Penultimate Eyeliner

This liquid eyeliner in a felt tip pen style from MAC is horrible!  It is dry, and if you perspire or rub your eye at all this product will run.  When I got in the car in the afternoon, I had a black stripe where my eyeliner flick was earlier in the day.  Oh no!  I hope it had just happened and everyone didn't let me walk around like that all afternoon. 

I was going to bin this liner when a friend reminded me that I could Back2MAC it in exchange for a freebie.  Now all I need is another 5 empty cases to go with it!  Off to the bottom drawer it goes.

While I have some MAC blush, lipsticks, lipglasses and eyeshadows, I am not really a fan of the line overall.  They seem so focused on their limited edition lines at the moment.  I wish they would put some more effort into improving their foundations.  MAC has such a great colour range, but their foundations are below average.

Well that's enough of a rant.  Back to finishing off more products.

Contour colours

In one of my recent YouTube videos I showed my favourite contour colours.  Here are the swatches taken in afternoon light outside, no flash. These photos were taken with my ageing iPhone3.  Apologies for the knee shadows under the table! 

The very left blush, MAC's Strada is the coolest toned of the bunch. 

The middle blush, Giorgio Armani's Beige Violet #5 is my newest and turning out to be my favourite.  You have to love the additional touches like including a mirror, but beware the clasp to open the blush is not obvious if you have 'dodgy morning eyes' like me!

The square one is Ilamasqua's Rumour blush, which is the warmest and also the most pigmented.  

(Left to Right) MAC Strada, Giorgio Armani #5 Beige Violet, Illamasqua Rumour

(Left to Right) MAC Strada, Giorgio Armani #5 Beige Violet, Illamasqua Rumour  

(Left to Right) MAC Strada, Giorgio Armani #5 Beige Violet, Illamasqua Rumour

Contour colours

Here is a photo of the contour colours I use most often - depending on my mood!

The square blush on the left is Illamasqua Powder Blush in Rumour.
The round blush on the right is MAC Blush in Strada.

The depth of the colours are very similar, however the Strada has more of a blue or cooler undertone, where the Rumour is more neutral.  There may be a tiny bit more light on the MAC blush, as it appears slightly lighter in the picture than in person.

This MAC blush is my very first MAC purchase, and really should be thrown away due to it's very old age - but I just can't part with it!  I have heard people say that Strada has been discontinued, but others have said it is now available only in PRO stores.  You'll have to check out your local MAC hidey-hole to see whether you can find it.

Product Review – Mineral Foundations

A word of advice regarding pressed mineral powders... If you are going to use these products as a foundation product alone, you will have a much better result if you apply a primer first. A primer will help the product adhere to your skin, and will fill in any pores or lines before you approach with these multi-dimensional powders. I have chosen to look only at the pressed powder compacts in this review.

MAC - Mineralize Skinfinish Natural
The MAC website advises this product is a low coverage powder which can also be used to set and fix liquid foundation, or for touch ups throughout the day. Without doing my own research, I bought this product thinking it be a duplicate or perhaps an up-market version of the Pur Minerals range. The sales person at MAC sold it to me as a lighter coverage mineral foundation for days when I can’t be bothered to apply a full face. Follow the same rule of thumb as mentioned in the review below for brushes to use for the coverage you prefer.

In my opinion this product is a poor comparison to the Pur minerals pressed powder when used as a foundation alone. My complexion can be quite ruddy and this powder just won’t hide the redness or pigmentation no matter how much powder I apply. It is excellent when used for its intended purpose such as setting my Studio Tech or liquid foundation. No obvious shimmer in this product but the finish is not quite matte either. The powder is baked and I have barely made a dent in my product despite regularly attacking it vigorously with a MAC Kabuki brush.

Product size = 10 grams
AUD Price $46.00 ($4.60 per gram)
USD Price $25.00 ($2.50 per gram)

PUR Minerals – Pressed Mineral Makeup Foundation with SPF15
Includes a sponge & mirror well hidden in the base however the sponge is not really intended for applying the product, just touching up if required. For a light coverage apply with a fluffy powder brush, for a medium coverage try a Kabuki style buffer brush like the MAC 182 or the Sigma SS182. For full coverage apply with a dense flat top chisel brush, like the Sigma SS197. Pur minerals sell their own chisel brush but I find this a little scratchy on my skin. To cover spots or under eye shadows you can apply a little extra powder with a small fluffy brush however I prefer to apply a separate concealer to my trouble areas before applying the powder.

I use this powder on days where I don’t need a full face on, however this product gives excellent coverage and does cover my very red cheeks quite well until about lunchtime, and then needs a touch up. Its intended use is as a foundation / concealer / powder all in one however you can use it over a liquid foundation to set it too. The finish is quite matte so be sure to add a touch of blush.

Product size = 8 grams
AUD Price $49.50 ($6.19 per gram)
USD Price $24.50 ($3.06 per gram)
Buy online from TVSN http://www.tvsn.com.au/ in Australia or http://www.purminerals.com/ in the US.

BEFORE: Note the redness and freckles are very obvious















AFTER: Although the lighting is a little different you can see the redness and most freckles are well covered. I applied Pur Minerals in LIGHT using a flat top chisel brush - Sigma SS197. For this photo, I hadn’t even used primer, just threw it on my bare face at the end of a hot day!