MAC currently has two types of the Mineralize Skinfish powders available: Mineralize Skinfinish and Mineralize Skinfinish Natural. I'll try my best to review both since I do own both and they're quite different to each other!

MINERALIZE SKINFINISH NATURAL

"A luxurious domed face powder with minerals, slowly baked to provide a dimensional yet natural-matte finish. Provides perfect low coverage. Use to set and fix foundation or as a touch-up throughout the day."

My reasons for purchasing this were that I love to wear a powder to 'set' my foundation and mattify my face. For general every day wear I don't like shimmer, so was attracted to the matte finish offered here.

These are the colours available from MAC at present. They're listed in ascending lighter to darker shades.

Light
Light Medium
Medium
Medium Plus
Medium Deep
Medium Dark
Dark
Deep Dark

There are a few limited edition summery colours available too at present, these are more bronzey mattes, whereas the above colours are more natural.

Give me Sun (Limited Edition)
Sun Power (Limited Edition)

I have fairly light skin and 'medium' would probably be my best colour match. However, I wear 'medium deep' because I find this gives a healthy glow, but still looks natural.

MINERALIZE SKINFINISH

"A luxurious velvet-soft powder with high-frost metallic finish. Smoothes on: adds buffed-up highlights to cheeks, brows, anywhere on the body: provides an ultra-deluxe polish to the skin."

My reasons for purchasing one of these powders was simply down to how good they look in the pots! The way the different colours are swirled together. So pretty!

These powders usually feature a lot of ever changing limited edition colours. My favourite skinfinish is 'Red Head' which came out a few years ago and is no longer available. The nearest colour match to this at the moment is 'Semi Precious Crystal Pink' - another limited edition colour.

At present you can select from:

Gold Deposit - Soft Reflective Gold Bronze
Soft and Gentle - Gilded Peach Bronze

Limited Edition Semi Precious Collection:

Crystal Pink - Base: Beige Champagne. Innercircle: White, Plum, Bronze
Pearl
Rose Quartz - Base: Pink Champagne. Innercircle: Pink, Dirty Green, Bronze
Goldstone - Base: Rosy Pink. Innercircle: Silver, Lime, White pink, Copper

APPEARANCE / PRICE / AVAILABILITY

The Skinfinishes come in classic MAC rounded black pot, with the pan sitting firmly in place inside. The lid is see through so you can see what colour you're getting, and has MAC embossed in black. Underneath you can find the product details such as colour name, MAC address and batch code (made up of a letter followed by two digits).

The powder is solid, not a loose powder. It is peaked / dome shaped, rising up from the pan in it's pot.

The RRP for the Skinfinish Natural is £18.50 for 10g. For the Skinfinish it is £20.50.

You can purchase your MAC products from the MAC stores, Department Stores with a MAC counter (Selfridges and Debenhams), MAC online, or the Department Store Websites. Make sure you purchase from one of these approved suppliers to avoid fakes.

If you're put off by the price tag, bear in mind that these powders are long lasting. I've had my two favourites on the go for about 18 months now! And I wear one or the other every day pretty much. If purchasing from Debenhams, keep your eyes peeled for voucher codes online, as some of these will apply to the beauty section of the website too.

MY THOUGHTS ON 'MEDIUM DEEP' SKINFINISH NATURAL

I love the very natural tanned look that you can acheive from wearing a Skinfinish Natural a shade or two darker than your own skin. I wear heavy foundation and this powder sets the foundation beautifully, making it last all day and giving my face some of it's 'natural' look back. A heavy foundation can cover over every bit of natural colour contrast on your skin and without powders and blushes, can look mask-like.

I find that this skinfinish works best applied all over the face and neck very lightly. To acheive a light application, I use a huge powder brush. I alternate between MAC's 134 or 150 large powder brushes. Any big face brush will do a good job though.
I wouldn't apply this with a puff because I think it would sit too heavily on the skin. If you're using your perfect colour match this wouldn't be a problem, but if like me, you're going for a few shades darker, you'll need to keep things light!

This powder does apply really evenly, meaning you can't go too far wrong, even with the heaviest / clumsiest hands! Start cautiously and build up to the finish you desire.

The initially application will last for a good few hours. If you have naturally oily skin you will most likely want to reapply a few times during the day. So pop your brush and this little compact in your bag! It reapplies well over the top of the makeup you're already wearing. Ideal for on the go.

Over all, I like this powder mostly for daytime. It's so natural and perfect on top of foundation, without making you look like a) you're wearing a shimmery / glitzy bronzer or b) a caked on pasty pale face powder.

I'd recommend this to anyone, especially if you love your MAC products and also wear a heavy duty foundation.


MY THOUGHTS ON 'RED HEAD' SKINFINISH

Although this is a limited edition product no longer available, my thoughts will apply to the over all nature of a MAC Skinfinish.

The powder is made up of different 'stripes' of different shimmery reddy / pink / bronze tones. It would be difficult to pick out one single stripe, so I swirl these together with a big powder brush.

The payoff from brush to face is more noticable than with the natural skinfinish, so make sure you go gently. I think these shimmery powders work best on sunkissed skin, whether or not you're naturally tanned. If you have caught a bit of sun during the day and are going out for the evening, sweeping some skinfinish over your bare skin looks amazing. Therefore, I'd say this powder is a must have for a holiday evening.

If you sweep this all over your face with a big brush, the powder seems to settle naturally on the areas of your face that would most likely catch the sun anyway. So your cheekbones, forehead, nose... it looks great even if you're wearing no other makeup, and brilliant over any aftersun / face cream becuse it just adds to the dewy sunkissed look.
I like this over collar bone and shoulders too since there's no reason why you can't use this powder anywhere other than your face!

With 'Red Head' the colour you get is a subtle gold blend, but with other colours in the range you can go for something else shimmery, but either darker or lighter, or with different colour tones. So go for whatever you feel the most comfortable with.

As well as all over the face, you can use this one more 'concentrated', ie, with a smaller brush to highlight certain areas. Use it as a highlighter or a cheek colour instead of all over, and you'll still look lovely and glowing!

As with the other type of skinfinish, this is a good quality, long lasting powder. Ideal for wearing on it's own or on top of makeup / face cream.

A holiday essential in my opinion!