Liquid Mineral foundation... another Mineral make-up fad? (Maybelline Pure Liquid Mineral Foundation)

Member Name: Gemma_C

Product:	Maybelline Pure Liquid Mineral Foundation
Date:	16/02/09 (476 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good coverage, blends nicely and it's cheap.

Disadvantages: Made my pores stand out, wears off easily, still waiting to find out if minerals make a difference!

I was in Boots a week ago and as often happens I got a bit carried away and realised my basket was getting full of things I hadn't intended to buy, and I still hadn't wandered over to the Clinique counter to get my foundation. The Clinique foundation I usually use is £19 a bottle.. I decided that I really couldn't afford this at the moment, so I looked for cheaper alternatives.

Now I haven't used a 'cheaper' foundation by brands such as Maybelline, Rimmel, L'Oreal in a long time as I seemed to have moved towards more premium brands. As I wandered around this stands I noticed Boots had an offer on this new Pure Liquid Mineral foundation. It was supposed to be £7.82 but at the moment is only £5.82. This special offer wasn't the only thing that caught my attention though, the fact it's a mineral foundation did. I have heard alot of things about these new fad of 'Mineral Make Up' and how it's supposed to be so much more better for your skin. Having quite blemish prone skin I maybe should have looked into mineral make up already, but I just assumed it was another 'fad' in the world of cosmetics.

I picked up a bottle of this foundation and read on the back that it provides full and flawless coverage which got a tick from me. It also says it blends with your skin tone and again, this got another tick from me. Importantly it's Oil free which is a huge factor for me when picking out a foundation due to my blemish prone skin. It also has SPF 15 which is great, I do have very fair skin and I hate the thought of sun damage.

There were various shades of this foundation and the tricky part of buying a new foundation is always finding the right shade. I do have very fair skin so I immediately went for Ivory 010. I also tried Nude but looked a bit too dark for me. After dabbing a bit of the Ivory shade onto my wrist I picked up a bottle and hoped for the best!

The bottle itself is a heavy glass bottle which is tall and slim and it uses a pump dispenser, which comes with a clear plastic lid to protect it.

When using this foundation I have been using my fingers to apply it. With my usual Clinique and Mac foundations I use a sponge but I wanted to try out the fingers method again! The foundation itself is rather runny and a little goes a long way.
When I first apply some to my cheek it seems like it won't blend in, it takes a while of rubbing to get it to blend in nicely and I suppose that's because the foundation itself is rather runny.
Surprisingly the foundation does provide good coverage and feels really light. I still had to use my Benefit concealer with it for my various red marks but I have to use that with all foundations.
I did find however that it seemed to cake up slightly in my pores. I do have quite large pores but other foundations blend around them easily, this one seemed to make them stand out as small bright circles of foundation! This was a downside to this foundation but the powder helps cover these parts up well. I also bought Maybelline Mineral powder make up to finish it off but that's a different review.

During the day the foundation held well, however it had started wearing off around my chin and nose, and I wasn't doing anything that might wipe off foundation as I sit at a desk all day in the office!

For a cheaper foundation this is nice and does an alright job. It goes on easily and provides good coverage and blends nicely with my skin tone. However it also made my pores stand out and didn't last all day.

Since using it the condition of my skin hasn't improved or changed, so I'm still doubtful over the whole 'mineral' make up idea. Maybe I need to look further into this.

Summary: A good cheap foundation from Maybelline, but I can't see how the minerals side of it is important.