MAC Unsung Heroes: Mineralize Skinfinish Natural

I’ve been wearing the MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Powders for years, and hands down, they’re one of my favorite things about the line.

MAC has a looot of face powders, and I think many of them are rock solid performers (see: MAC Blot and Careblends Pressed), but if you and I were at a counter at this very moment, and you asked me, “What’s your favorite, best-of-the-best, most natural-looking, comfortable MAC face powder available now?” I’d say one thing: the MAC Mineralize Skin Finish Naturals.

Depending on which color you choose, you can use the MAC Mineralize Skin Finish Natural line of baked pressed mineral powders for a number of different things, like cutting down on shine, evening out your skin tone, blurring pores, bronzing, and setting your foundation and/or concealer.

They have a semi-matte finish and a moderate amount of pigment, but they can be sheered down. They’re available in the permanent line in 15 shades for $32 each.

In MAC parlance, I’m an NC42, and I have combination skin that ventures between oily and dry. I wear the color Medium Tan as my face setting powder daily, and I also use Give Me Sun sometimes as a bronzer.

I love so many things about this powder! — but I’m going to try to keep this short (yeah right, Karen), because otherwise we’d be here ’til next Tuesday. 🙂

The gist of it is this: in powder-land, MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural is my current favorite powder across the board — not just from MAC — for casual, dewy, natural-looking skin.

I’ve worn it for everyday makeup looks, big events, pictures, HD video, daytime work meetings, dinner dates and taking Rosie out for her walks, and I think it looks just as good on camera as it does in real life. Unlike many pressed powder formulas, the Mineralize Skinfinish Naturals look more like loose powders than pressed powders when they’re sitting on the skin.

After having taken a zillion pictures over the years, I think that loose powders generally look better than pressed powders in person and in pics — softer, I guess. Less like makeup and more like real skin. But MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural bucks that trend. When I wear it, my skin looks even toned, smooth, and it doesn’t look shiny (nor does it look severely matte). The powder also doesn’t look super obvious.

The effect reminds me of Chanel’s Loose Powder, which is absolutely beautiful, but Chanel’s powder is also 1) much more expensive ($52 vs. $32 for this), 2) available in fewer shades.

With the MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Naturals, a little goes a long way. I’ve used mine almost daily for a year, and I’ve barely put a dent in it. It doesn’t oxidize either (darken) on my skin throughout the day, so the color stays true, and it blends beautifully. It also doesn’t emphasize any textured areas (damn those dry patches!) or trigger breakouts, while simultaneously managing to look amazing no matter what I wear it with.

When I first started wearing it, I was all about pairing Mineralize Skinfnish Natural with MAC Face & Body, but these days I like wearing it on top of MAC Lightful CC Cream, MAC Pro Longwear Nourishing Waterproof or Dior Diorskin Nude Air Serum. Seriously, I think you can pair it with anything.

Now, I don’t recommend it if you have extremely oily skin, because the finish may not be matte enough for you. If that’s the case, I suggest either MAC Blot, or doing a 50/50 blend of Blot with Mineralize.

I do think that packaging is kind of a pain in the @ss. I much preferred the older packaging with the clear tops, because I was able to see the color right away. Plus, my t-rex claws have a hard time opening the updated compacts! I think they use a magnetic closure, which isn’t easy to open when I have lotion or foundation on my hands.

In the grand scheme of things, however, these are minor quibbles. Overall, I love MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural to bits. Wearing it is almost like cheating! When I wear it, I get many more compliments on my skin, and I’m like, “Dude! It’s smoke and mirrors. MAC Mineralize is doing all the heavy lifting.”

You can find the MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural Powders now in the permanent line at MAC counters, stores and online.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

The MAC Unsung Heroes series (a subset of my regular Unsung Makeup Heroes series) features some of my all-time favorite products from MAC’s permanent collection