I've always struggled with my skin for as long as I can remember. Although my acne was never horrible, knowing it was there was enough for me to think that just about everyone was noticing it as well. I'm now 24 and my acne has yet to "go away" and my new job has only made it turn for the worse. Very recently, I decided to try my last hoorah by perfectly dictating what goes on my skin. This lead to a whole new skin-washing regime as well as a makeup makeover.
*For anyone who wants to know my current acne-fighting skin products, I use Carley's Clear and Smooth which I can write about separately.
My search for natural soap products soon lead me down the path for a more natural foundation to accompany my skin makeover plan. Mineral foundation has been all the rage for quite some time now, and after reading about it, I figured it has to be way better to put on a powder than the regular face paint I am used to wearing (I normally wear makeup forever matte velvet). So then I started researching brands. I didn't want to do Bare Minerals because it seemed like they had become to corporate and I personally feel like quality can start to tapper off once that happens. Luckily there are a ton of "mom and pop" mineral makeup brands.
- Youngblood - My first mineral makeup attempt was a full size foundation from Youngblood in Soft Beige after hearing such great things about it. The packaging is great, it has a sleek look and I loved that is was a wider container so that my kabuki brushes would have no issue fitting. Unfortunately, I could immediately tell it was too dark for me but I tried it on anyways. This was my first mineral foundation I had ever used, so it was definitely not what I was used to but it went on smoothly and surprising had good coverage. However, I just couldn't get past how off the color was for me, and the powder also left a bit of a sheen that I was not exactly a fan of. I ended up returning it and continuing my hunt.
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| Youngblood Mineral Foundation in Soft Beige |
My next time around, I decided I should stick to samples so I could better test out the colors. Lucy Minerals and Terra Firma both had the option to get color swatches from both of their versions of foundations.
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| Left - Lucy Minerals, Right - Terra Firma |
- Lucy Minerals - Lucy Minerals is like the indie cult favorite of the mineral foundations. They seem to have a huge following and their customers believe this is the best there is. I remember their website being a little difficult to maneuver but I thought it was cute and added to their indie cred. I had the hardest time deciding what my color should be, so I bought samples of light, cream, and creamy bisque, all three in their oil control foundation with calcium carbonate formula. I have extremely oily skin, so the calcium carbonate being a chalk-like powder is supposed to help absorb oils throughout the day. The strange thing about the colors is that all three of them seemed to work on my skin tone. I'd also like to mention that you can custom mix any of their available colors to make one that perfectly suits your own skin tone. The cream is my current go-to although I think its a little too warm for my already too-rosey skin. Upon application, it feel like its a bit dusty in consistency and it exaggerated my pores. However, after my skin's oil starts to seep through a little this foundation looks great. Unfortunately, this greatness doesn't last long. Like 5 hours in, I'd look in the mirror to find the foundation balling up on my skin and white spots clumping together. I was horrified that I had been sitting at work like that for however amount of hours. This led me to believe that the calcium carbonate is to blame, so maybe their other oil control formula with silica might be better suited for me. Have yet to try it, but for now I'd have to pass on Lucy :(
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| Lucy Minerals - Light, Cream, Creamy Bisque |
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| Lucy Minerals - Light, Cream, Creamy Bisque |
- Terra Firma - I didn't find a whole lot on this brand and the few reviews I did read seemed to be mixed. I decided to order some of their samples anyways since all their products are super affordable. I ordered two samples; one in the color Light Amber in their HydroSilk formula, and the other in #2 Neutral in their H20 formula. HydroSilk is supposed to be hydrating with a creamy finish and their H20 is supposed to minimize shine. I didn't really notice too much of a difference, but slightly favored the H20 formula in consistency surprisingly. The color looked a bit ashy in the container but when applied, it matched perfectly. Almost too perfectly, since I usually pick foundations more yellow than my skin to cancel out my redness. I might try their Light/Medium shade next. Upon application, Terra Firma has a powdery but smooth and buildable coverage. The color stayed on much longer without any embarrassing clumping. They even gave me a sample of their Hocus Pocus Under Eye Concealer, which had a perfect yellow-based eye-brightening shade that I loved. So far, Terra Firma is the winner.
I'm still getting used to the application of mineral makeup. It surely doesn't have the smoothness or complete coverage like my Matte Velvet does, but I think it's something I'm going to work on in hopes of my skin "detoxing" and one day becoming beautiful. If anyone has any tips or recommendations, I'd love to hear them.
