The Divine Night collection is full of golden tones and shimmer, so of course Mineralize Skinfinishes are one of the products featured in MAC’s holiday collection! Similar to the Mineralize Eye Shadows in this collection, all of these are duo-toned, with one large and one smaller section containing different colors that compliment each other. All of these are suitable for any skin tone and can be used for multiple things… I like using Mineralize Skinfinishes to highlight the face, as a blush (for some colors), or even as eye shadows.
Centre of Attention, Perfectly Poised, and Scene to be Seen
Mineralize Skinfinishes are “A luxurious velvet-soft powder with high-frost metallic finish. Adds buffed-up highlights to cheeks or an overall ultra-deluxe polish to the face. Pairs two rich, contrasting shades with the graphic impact of a luxe powder design”… As I mentioned, these are multi-use, but most people use these on the cheeks as a blush, or on different areas of the face as a highlighter. You can use these colors individually or swirl your brush over both to blend them together. Mineralize Skinfinishes can also be used as eye shadows. Whatever you use them for, they create a beautiful glow and make the skin look absolutely gorgeous!
To use as a highlight, I prefer a MAC 187 or 188 duo fibre brush… This is going to make it very easy for you to control just how much you apply and let you build up the product gradually. That way, you can apply this as a subtle highlight or more heavily as a blush. For a heavier application as either a highlight or blush, you can use a MAC 116, 109, 129, or 167 brush. These brushes are much more dense and will pick up and apply more product than the duo fibre brushes will.
For the eyes, I like to use a 239 brush to apply this on the lid… You want to pat and pack on the color with a flat brush. You can also dampen your brush with Fix+ Spray to get more color payoff and shimmer… I especially recommend doing this with any of the colors with larger shimmer particles to prevent fallout. To blend these into the crease, I like to use a 217 brush or 286 duo fibre brush.
These Mineralize Skinfinishes are all limited edition and are available now at MAC stores, counters, and online at www.maccosmetics.com. They sell for $33 and contain 7.5 g / 0.26 US oz of product. That’s $3 more and 2.5g less product than the permanent MSF’s, but with the special packaging and unique colors, these are worth it!
Centre of Attention
Centre of Attention
Centre of Attention
Left: Separate colors applied heavily Right: Both colors blended together
Photo taken outdoors in natural sunlight. MSF swatched on NC15 skin.
Centre of Attention: This MSF is described as a “pastel peachy pink with fine pink shimmer / 24 carat gold shimmer”. Blended together this is a light, warm, champagne-gold with a gorgeous golden shimmer. The color payoff is good and coverage is semi-sheer, as it should be with Mineralize Skinfinishes. I got about 6 hours of wear before this started to fade. Blended together, Centre of Attention works well as a highlighter on fair to medium-dark skin.
The larger outer area is a light, somewhat peachy-pink, champagne type of color with a soft, warm peachy-pink sheen. Although it’s light, it gives good color payoff and semi-opaque coverage. This color is soft, finely milled, and easy to blend out and apply. This wore well for over 8 hours. I love this color as a highlighter on fair to medium skin, or as an eye shadow.
The smaller inner area is a true 24 carat gold with larger shimmer particles. Color payoff is nice, but it’s not quite opaque. It doesn’t apply as smoothly as the lighter color, due to the bigger shimmery bits. That said, it’s still quite beautiful and I really like using this color applied damp on the eyelid. On the cheeks I only got about 4-5 hours of wear before this faded or moved around. As a highlighter, this is flattering on medium to deep skin.
Dupes:
– Blended Together: Whisper of Gilt Extra Dimension Highlighter is very similar, though it was limited edition. Soft and Gentle is permanent but is less golden and lighter.
– Outer Area (Champagne): Lightscapade is close, but slightly lighter and has more yellow tones. It’s permanent and always available, though!
– Inner Area (Gold): I honestly can’t think of anything that’s similar to this… Perhaps one of the golden colors in a Mineralize Eye Shadow that I can’t seem to remember the name of (oops).
Overall Rating: 4.3 / 5
Application: 5
Coverage: 4
Color Payoff: 4
Texture: 4
Wear Time: 4
Packaging: 5
Perfectly Poised
Perfectly Poised
Perfectly Poised
Left: Separate colors applied heavily Right: Both colors blended together
Photo taken outdoors in natural sunlight. MSF swatched on NC15 skin.
Perfectly Poised: This is a “bronzy coral with golden tones / creamy beige with pinkish purple sheen”… Blended together this is a light to medium (depending on how much you apply), warm toned, peachy bronze with a soft, neutral, champagne-pink sheen. It’s really pretty on fair to medium skin if you want a glow and a bit of color that’s somewhere between a blush and bronzer. Both colors in this Mineralize Skinfinish are very finely milled and silky, so they apply easily, give great coverage, and blend together well without any large, blotchy shimmer. Blended together, it’s not super metallic or anything so this MSF doesn’t emphasize pores too much. I got roughly 8 hours of wear before I noticed any fading.
The larger outer area is a warm, medium to medium-dark, orange/coral-bronze with a golden sheen. The color payoff is amazing with very little product applied. It’s a nice bronzer for light to medium-dark skin… The lighter you are, the less you want to apply. I recommend a MAC 188 duo-fibre brush. This color also makes a beautiful highlighter on dark to deep skin. Be careful applying too much on the cheeks if you have larger pores since this color is quite intense and frosty. You can also use this as an eyeshadow! If you want to use it like that, you can use it either dry or damp… Damp will give you more coverage and a more metallic finish. Used on the face, this color gave me slightly less than 6 hours of wear before it began to fade.
The smaller inner area is a pale, almost neutral but slightly cool toned cream color with a cool, pinkish, pearly sheen. This doesn’t have as much coverage as the larger area of this MSF but it does have good color payoff. I love this as a highlighter on fair to light or light-medium skin. It’s very soft and gives a beautiful glow. You can also use this one as an eyeshadow applied either dry or damp. As a highlighter, I didn’t notice any fading until I had this on for over 8 hours.
Dupes:
– Blended Together: I can’t really think of a great dupe for this… Soft & Gentle Mineralize Skinfinish (which is permanent) is pinker, much less bronze, and has larger shimmer particles.
– Outer Area (Golden Bronze): Center of the Universe Mineralize Skinfinish from the Heavenly Creatures collection of Summer 2012 is very similar, though perhaps a little more orange. Trace Gold Blush (part of the permanent line) is lighter and more golden, not as bronze.
– Inner Area (Pale Cream): Snowglobe Beauty Powder from the Glitter and Ice Holiday collection of 2011 is very similar, though slightly darker and warmer. Lightscapade Mineralize Skinfinish (permanent) is similar as well but is a bit darker and more intense.
Overall Rating: 4.7 / 5
Application: 5
Coverage: 5
Color Payoff: 5
Texture: 4
Wear Time: 4
Packaging: 5
Scene to be Seen
Scene to be Seen
Scene to be Seen
Left: Separate colors applied heavily Right: Both colors blended together
Photo taken outdoors in natural sunlight. MSF swatched on NC15 skin.
Scene to be Seen: This MSF is a “mauve with pink sheen / brick rose with gold reflects”… Blended together this is a medium to medium-dark, rosy plum with a warm, rose-gold frosty sheen. The color payoff and coverage are both great. I did notice that due to the more frosted finish, it can emphasize pores a bit. The texture is very smooth so it blends out and applies easily. I like this as a blush on fair to medium-dark skin… It also works well as a highlight on dark to deep skin. I got about 8 hours of wear with this wearing it either way.
The larger outer area is the one described as a “mauve with pink sheen” and is a medium to medium-dark, plum with a warm, rosy undertone and a frosted finish. The coverage is fantastic, as is the color payoff. It applies smoothly and fortunately it blends out easily since it’s so highly pigmented. I like this as a blush and it works well on fair to dark skin, though on lighter skin you want to apply this sparingly! I suggest a MAC 188 duo fibre brush. It wore well for me for about 8 hours before fading.
The smaller inner area is described as a “brick rose with gold reflects” and is a medium, slightly plummy color with some coppery rose undertones. This part of the MSF contains the “gold reflects” which are fine, golden shimmery bits. It also has a frosty finish, but not as frosted as the other area of this blush. It’s not as pigmented and opaque as the larger outer area either, but still gives really good color payoff and decent coverage. As with the larger area, I like this as a blush on fair to dark skin, making sure it’s applied more lightly on lighter skin tones. I got 6-7 hours of wear with this before I noticed any fading.
Dupes:
– Blended Together: Small Vanity Powder Blush from the Glamour Daze Holiday collection of 2012 is similar, but has little to no shimmer or frost. For permanent dupes, I would suggest Love Joy or Warm Soul Mineralize Blushes… Love Joy is slightly darker and more coppery, and Warm Soul is a bit lighter and less plum, but those are about as close as you’re going to get!
– Outer Area (mauve with pink sheen): Lavish Living Mineralize Blush (also from this collection) is similar, though more of a cool toned plum… You could also do Plum Foolery Powder Blush, which is a permeant color. It’s very close but may slightly less shimmery.
– Inner Area (brick rose with gold reflects): Ambering Rose Powder Blush (permanent) is close, but slightly more coppery and has less plum to it at all. Warm Soul Mineralize Blush (also permanent) is similar as well, though it’s not as dark and is not so rosy.
Overall Rating: 4.7 / 5
Application: 5
Coverage: 5
Color Payoff: 5
Texture: 4
Wear Time: 4
Packaging: 5
Filed under: Makeup Tagged: Blush, Cheek, Divine Night, Face, Glow, Highlight, Holiday 2013, MAC, Mineralize, Mineralize Skinfinish, MSF, Shimmer
