Does Mineral Make-up live upto the hype (Avon Personal Match Smooth Mineral Make-Up)

Member Name: sandra101

Product:	Avon Personal Match Smooth Mineral Make-Up
Date:	04/08/08 (298 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Inexpensive, good coverage, leaves a glow

Disadvantages: hard to colour match, can look cakey on dry skin

After seeing so much about mineral foundations and their amazing results on shopping channels I was dying to try them but didn't want to splash out £30 or more as I have dry skin and a lot of foundations just crack on me.

I began to check out the high street brands (nearly everyone has one now) and during my foray into the mineral foundation market I discovered Avon had one, reviews on this product have been pretty mixed but when it was on offer to get the mineral foundation and mineral blusher for £8.00, its normally £7 on its own, I thought what the heck and ordered.

Avon describes their foundation as full-coverage foundation that is 100% pure, with no preservatives, talc, oil, fragrance and other chemicals. SPF 15 in 7 shades, from Ivory to Beautiful Bronze it comes as a weight of 15g..

I ordered the bisque colour which my normal foundation from Avon would be but when it arrived it was much darker. I do find that is one of the drawbacks with the Avon site and books that colours can be deceptive. The mineral powder sits in the bottom of the jar and is dispensed through several holes on a clear barrier between the main tub and the lid. The instructions are to shake a little through and then brush it on to give you a flawless finish. The jar itself is not full on arrive I guess to give it room to sift through but you need so little I image it would last for months

I was dying to try it but there was no accompanying brush, what was I to do as I couldn't wait to buy a brush I attempted putting it on with a large blusher brush even though all the purists say you need a short stubbly kabuki brush. I shook some of the powder through the small holes into the top of the jar, admittedly probably more came out than planned, and swished my blusher brush around. The powder attached to the brush really well and I began sweeping and blending the colour around my face thickly. It was quite difficult to blend mainly due to the darkness of the foundation but as I checked myself out in the mirror I thought, brilliant coverage, nice glowy look.

When I emerged from the bathroom into daylight my husband and even one of my sons noticed the beautiful new me!!!! and remarks ranging from "What the heck have you put on your face now" and "You've been tangoed" rang out. When I inspected my face in daylight the foundation looked caked on and orangey, I didn't want to give up on mineral foundations on first attempt so looked up the internet for tips to discover that a very light touch and building up the foundation was the way to go oooops.

I went out the next day and bought the NYC mineral foundation £3.99 (will review) from Superdrug which included a kabuki brush just to get the brush (bad idea) this time when I used the foundation so many hairs came out of the brush I looked like I had a beard so back to the drawing board. The following day I went out and bought the Maybelline mineral foundation which included a kabuki brush and tried again.

This time due to a good brush and a much lighter touch I got a better result, I thought it would have been dry and cakey looking but there is a bit of a glow from your skin with this. I would say it looked better than my normal liquid foundation but staying power was the problem, to put enough on to last through the day made me far too dark but a light brush on left me bare faced by lunchtime. When it is on offer again I will contact them for advice on which colour I should get but I think if I had the correct colour and applied it properly this may work very well.

Recommendation - If you can get a good offer on this - try it to see if mineral make-up is for you.

Summary: Worth a try if there is a good offer on - seems to suit some more than others