Wow, this is a post that has been long overdue. I actually had written some reviews a year ago, but never posted them. So now I have to update the contents again. Fiuh!
I actually had found my holy grail mineral foundation about two years ago, Adorned with Grace. It has perfomed as the best mineral foundation for me. The coverage is medium and buildable, really covers my discolorations, and the oil control is superb. It's by far better than Everyday Minerals (matte formula), Lumiere's veena velvet, Lucy Minerals' OCS, and even Meow Cosmetics' Pampered Puss in terms of controlling oil.
Unfortunately, AwG's webstore had been closed since Sept 2011 due to moving to another state or something, and they are still closed until today. I doubt they will ever come back again. I've been on a search for a replacement ever since, especially because my AwG Hope 4.2 foundation is now running low. :-(
Here are some of the brands I've tried in search for a new holy grail mineral foundation:
MINERAL HYGIENICS
Have you ever heard this brand before? The name popped when I read some reviews of another brand on Makeupalley. The reviewer said that this mineral foundation has THE BEST oil control compared to many other brand she tried already. I instantly googled it!
Mineral hygienics claims to have the longest wear, water and sweat-resistant and only uses 4 ingredients in their foundation. Yeap, only four! Titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, iron oxides and may contain mica.
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| Left: Medium Tan, Right: Dark Golden Tan |
Product Claim:
Longest lasting. Better coverage. Fewer ingredients.
Shade:
Based on the color description, I decided to choose Medium Tan-Warm Golden Undertones and Dark Gold Tan-Warm Brown Golden Undertones. Both seemed to be the yellowest for tan and warm (I think this means medium tan) skintone category.
Texture:
It's not as finely-milled as Adorned with Grace, Lumiere, Lucy or Meow. Looks a little grainy and when I swatched it onto the back of my hand it didn't blend easily. It's also rather hard to pick up using a kabuki brush. At first, I thought it was their kabuki brush that couldn't perform well, but my Everyday Minerals' Long Handled Kabuki Brush couldn't completely pick up the powder either.
Coverage:
Once applied, the foundation gives smooth and matte result. Coverage is medium, and it's buildable to full coverage. But, do be careful because you could end up looking really masky with this. I would stick to one layer to avoid the possibility.
Staying Power:
With a primer, it does last quite long, perhaps even longer than Adorned with Grace on my face. But I must say, I don't love the way it feels on my face after 4 hours. It feels sticky, though doesn't look cakey. I feel like I need to blot more often, even though I don't always get that much oil on the blotting paper. Every time I look in the mirror, it actually looks fine. I guess I just need to restrain myself from touching my face!
My Note:
They don't offer samples like other brands do, instead they offer mini starter kit, which includes 2 mini foundations and a full coverage kabuki brush, for $29.99. I personally think the price is rather expensive.
One more drawback from this foundation is, I find it hard to custom blend. Medium tan is too light for me and Dark Gold Tan is too dark. So, I thought I'd just mix the two colors and voila, should be perfect. Right? I mean, that's the idea of every mineral makeup, isn't it? Well, not with this. When I mix the two shades and buff them on my face, I can see redness from the darker color and the ashiness from the lighter one. My face become blotchy with some parts looking reddish and some other parts looking too white. It's just so strange.
MEOW COSMETICS
I have been using Meow's Foundation for over 3 years now, but never reviewed it. I have the Pampered Puss (pampuss) and Flawless Feline (FF) formulas, I never tried the Purrrfect Puss one.
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| Left to right: Flawless Feline Fierce Manx, Pampered Puss Slinky Manx, Blush samples Infatuation & Puss N Blush |
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| Top: Pampuss Slinky Manx, Bottom: FF Fierce Manx |
Product Claim:
Totally non-comedogenic
Won't clog pores
86 shades w/coordinating concealers!
Long wearing & comfortable
Layerable coverage without shine
Shade:
I match with 2 shades in Meow (pampuss), Slinky Manx and Slinky Abyssinian.
Looking at the broad shade offerings at Meow can be too confusing. Moreover with the names for each skin tone and depth. It took me several attempts before finding the right match. Also, if you were gonna buy the FF formula, I strongly suggest to try the sample first, even if you already try the same shade in another formula. Since it has full coverage, I find the shades aren't too forgiving. If you wear the wrong shade, it would be quite noticable.
Texture:
Meow's pampuss formula has the driest feel upon touching. Which is nice, especially for people with oily skin like me. Some other brands feel kind of creamy or sticky to the touch, making them sometimes rather hard to blend and can look cakey. The FF formula only feels a tad thicker to the touch, but still drier than other brands. Both are finely-milled.
Coverage:
Pampuss gives you sheer to medium coverage with a bit of glow, whereas FF gives full coverage with matte finish. The dryness of the powder does not give powdery look once applied, fortunately. The original formula, purrrfect puss, supposedly give sheer to medium coverage with youthful dewy appearance.
Staying Power:
If you have oily skin, I would suggest using primer beforehand. Pampuss lasts for 4-5 hours on me, and then I'll need a touch-up. The FF lasts a bit longer, up to 6 hours. I do need to blot every 2 hours or so with both formulas, but I consider it pretty normal in the hot humid tropical country of mine.
Using a mix between Pampuss and FF, I get medium-full coverage, which lasts around 5 hours before touch-ups.
My Note:
Among all the mineral foundation brands I've used before, Meow has the most user-friendly packaging. Even the munchkin (mini) size has wide lid, so easy to swirl using any full size kabuki brush.
What I like most about Meow Cosmetics Foundation is first of all the texture. It blends sooo easily and gives such a smooth coverage without cakey-ness. Next is the oil control. Though it does not last all day on me, but it lasts longer than most of other mineral makeups I've tried.
JOPPA MINERALS
Joppa Minerals gets pretty good reviews on Makeupalley, so I thought I'd give it a try. I didn't try the full coverage formula because I worry it would be too cakey for my oily skin. I ordered samples of the soft coverage formula and simple radiance.
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| Top: Soft Coverage Medium 2.5, Bottom: Medium Tan 1, Simple Radiance Khaki |
Product Claim:
Soft Coverage: For Normal-Acne Prone or Oily skin types. Medium - Light Coverage that is very adjustable, depending on the amount used. A super light weight formula, great for any skin type. This formula includes Kaolin Clay which draws out impurities in the skin, absorbs oil and dries up acne and other skin irritations.
Simple Radiance: For Normal - Dry or Aging Skin. Simple Radiance is our Silica Free formula (some may be sensitive to silica). This foundation formula has a creamier texture than out other foundations, making it very suitable for aging skin. A semi-matte formula that offers medium-full coverage.
Shade:
I was lucky to find the perfect match on my first sample order. Medium 2.5 in soft coverage formula and khaki in simple radiance. The two look quite different in the jar, bust they both match my skin tone perfectly. So I'd say the shades are very forgiving.
Texture:
The texture of both formulas are finely-milled, with simple radiance feeling a bit silkier upon touching. They also blend really nicely during application.
Coverage:
Both give smooth sheer to medium coverage for me, even though Joppa claims the simple radiance to be medium-full.
Staying Power:
I wouldn't know. Please read along to know why.
My Note:
I was so happy to find a perfect match on my first attempt, but it took me months after the samples arrive to finally try them. Why? Because the samples smell funny. I can't describe it, but the smell is not pleasant and annoying to me. The smell did disappear a few seconds after application.
Now here's the real deal-breaker. I don't know what's wrong, but right about one minute after application, my cheeks would start to turn into orangey-red blotches. At first, I thought my brush was dirty and leftover from another mineral foundation gave me this uneven orangey-red blotches. So I cleaned the brush and gave it another shot. The same thing happened again. It seems that one/some of the ingredients disagree with my skin. I wouldn't say I'm allergic to it, because it didn't feel itchy at all. So, a big bye-bye to Joppa for me. I never use these foundations long enough to see the staying power on me.
LUCY MINERALS
I posted my sample haul on Lucy last year. Back then, I didn't like it. I finally decided to give it another try and now I'm in love!
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| Top: Golden Medium, Olive Tan, Bottom: Medium Caramel, Caramel |
Product Claim:
Our foundation has a very creamy consistency. It is water-resistant and holds up well in humidity. It is free of waxes, harmful chemicals, preservatives, fragrance, and talc. Lucy Minerals Foundation is different than most other mineral foundations. It is very concentrated. Lucy has four foundation formulas: original, oil control with calcium carbonate (OCC), oil control with silica (OCS), and light formula (without additives, also good for those who are extremely allergy-prone and can't tolerate topical Vitamin C or Allantoin).
Shade:
One of the things that got me hooked to Lucy is how forgiving the shades are. I can wear a few different shades and still look good. For my NC40-42 skin, I match into Tan Olive and a mix of Golden Medium with Caramel (2:1).
Texture:
Annie, the owner, claims that her foundation has very creamy consistency. This was the reason why I didn't like it in the first place. It felt sticky and cakey, and it melted on my oily skin just before mid-day. Turns out I just need to let my moisturizer sink into my skin really well before using my primer and start buffing with the foundation.
Coverage:
I never tried the original, but the other three formulas have medium coverage. The foundation looks very natural, no matter how much I put on. But with just one layer, it covers my imperfections pretty well. I don't look completely flawless, because I have sun spots on my left cheek which are hard to cover.
Staying Power:
All three formulas last more than 5 hours on me, with the OCS lasting the longest. The foundation creates dewy finish after 1-2 hours and my skin would look really healthy. I'll need to touch up during mid-day by dabbing Ben Nye loose powder around my nose only.
My Note:
Out of all four brands, Lucy is my top candidate to replace AwG as holy grail mineral foundation. What I love most about Lucy foundation is how forgiving the shades are. Blendability is also amazing, and once you do it right (letting the moisturizer sink completely) it will never look cakey. I also noticed that I cannot use my Everyday Minerals long-handled kabuki to apply Lucy because somehow it made my pores look huge. I find using a denser buffer brush such as Sigma F82 works much better.
So, have I found a new holy grail mineral foundation? I can't say just yet. I am still waiting for samples from Signature Minerals, Buff'd and Lauress and we'll find out. :)
Edit:
I just read on Lucy's web that starting March 2013, they won't be shipping internationally anymore. Bummer! -___-
I panicked and ordered two more full sizes for back up.
