Mineral Air First Time
I sometimes find it really hard to apply foundation, especially when it’s cold outside as this tends to make my skin feel very dry and dehydrated. Central heating can really affect the way my skin looks; I am constantly having to moisturise the skin on my face, meaning that I need to wait to then apply my foundation. Even after moisturising, my skin doesn’t always behave how I want it to! So, there are days where actually wearing foundation make my skin look worse rather than better! The absolutely opposite of what I am trying to achieve!
Having an even and flawless base to work on before I complete the rest of my make-up look is really important to me, I am often searching for a streak free foundation that is quick and easy to apply, doesn’t look cakey and actually cares for my skin rather than exasperates the dryness and uneven tone and texture I can experience. I do use foundation brushes and beauty sponges to apply my make-up, but often find they can be quite messy to use and store, as well as carry in my make up bag. I find that most of the foundation residue that is left on my brushes/sponges can end up creating a huge mess - meaning I then have to wash my make-up pouches, wasting a lot of time! Sometimes it’s so tough to remove, I end up having to throw these away, which means I would then feel guilty about wasting my hard-earned money too!
I have used primers under my foundation, but I find that the good ones can be expensive to buy, and often my budget just can’t stretch to a good quality primer on top of buying a good quality foundation.
Because of this, I did some research and came across a foundation airbrushing device called “Mineral Air”. I was intrigued to find that their foundation actually serves as a 4-in-1 formulation, offering a primer, concealer, hydrator and pigment!
Apparently, this means that not only do you get full coverage in terms of your foundation pigment, but that the Mineral Air formulation and airbrushing device also offers concealment of darker areas of your skin, (such as under the eye area, where you might need additional pigment cover to even out the uneven skin tone). In addition to this, the Mineral Air formula offers instant hydration through moisturization, as well as primes and preps the skin beautifully. Quite frankly this sounds far too good to be true, so I couldn’t wait to put the Mineral Air to the test.
I paid £139.99 for the Mineral Air Brushing device, which came with a 28ml bottle of the Mineral Air foundation in my choice of colour. (Sounds a little pricey, but I will explain why it turned out not to be a little further on.) I was able to shade match my skin quite easily with their online tool, however if you find that you don’t pick the right shade for you, you can swap it easily by contacting their customer services. I personally didn’t need to do this as I am quite good at picking the right tone for my skin. I recommend that you purchase an additional shade that is either slightly lighter or darker than your skin tone, and mix your shades together to get a flawlessly perfect match. This is actually great if you’re going on holiday and know that you will get a little tanned, you can really personalize your shade this way.
So back to my order! I received my Mineral Air in just a couple of days, and couldn’t wait to get started. I watch a few online tutorials and was wowed by how easy it was to use and how professional the results appeared. I did question:
“Would I be able to get such great results?” I am certainly not a make-up artist.
“Would I be able to vary the type of coverage I wanted to achieve?” Some days I wear a very light veil of foundation, some days/evenings I prefer a much heavier look.
“Would my skin feel too oily after using Mineral air?” I have a very oily t-zone and I wouldn’t want my complexion to get pimples or spots after changing my foundation.
I was pretty excited to get started and charged the device straight away. (Although you can use it straight-away, I always prefer to make sure the battery has a full charge.)
I followed the instructions online, so the first thing to do was to open the reservoir at the top of the device by flicking open the rubber stopper. I then took my foundation bottle and shook it a number of times. (I had noticed that the foundation bottle looked as though the formulation had separated; there was a white layer sitting on-top of the pigment. This I found out to be the hydrating formula and primer which needs to be mixed thoroughly into the pigment. So, don’t be alarmed by this separation, this is normal if the bottle is stood still for a period of time.)
I dropped 10 or so drops into the reservoir, popped the rubber stopper back on and pressed the button on the device and tested spraying the back of my hand. I was amazed at how quickly the foundation covered the back of my hand. I wasn’t expecting such a fast result that instantly offered quite reasonable coverage.
I then went to the mirror and started to spray the top of my neck an across my jawline. I always start here so that I can check I have the best colour match. The colour match choice was very good, almost exact I would say (even if I say so myself!) and I felt confident that this would be a good shade for me. You are supposed the hold the device approximately 10cm from your face, while you mist the formula on, so that you don’t overload a particular area. This would make the formula seem overly shiny as the layer would not have been able to dry properly before adding another layer, IF you are looking for much heavier coverage.
I worked in a circular pattern misting the areas of my face bit by bit.
(top tip: I now like to sectionalise my face into quarters and work on each quarter to get a really even result.)
I was astonished at how quickly I could achieve such an even and flawless result, this would normally take 3-4 times as long if I was using a foundation buffing brush or beauty sponge, so I was immediately impressed with how quick the process was. I used such a small amount of foundation (10 to 15 drops for the entire face), which makes me feel convinced that this will save me money in the long run, as the foundation is based on using the best minerals in the formulation, I can only imagine that this foundation will actually care for my skin overtime too! After looking into the ingredients, I see that it’s packed with: olive squalene, shea butter, and Argan oils, which is comforting to know, as these ingredients are going to really care for my skin overall, as well as give me the immediate coverage I am after! Knowing that there are no parabens or any other nasties in this formula really put me at ease.
I focused on misting my first layer and then decided to let that layer dry, as suggested, and then go again to see if I could achieve a heavier coverage. I started the next layer after that and was really pleased at how light this foundation felt. There was no streaking, just perfect flawless coverage that smoothly went over the contours of my nose, under eye area and jawline. It was an absolute breeze to use, I would go as far as to say the this is lightest feeling yet most even foundation I have ever used, and I have tried many!
I wasn’t surprised to read that make-up artists were using the Mineral air device on celebrities all over the world, and it was amazing to think that I now have a professional foundation airbrushing device that would make me feel super confident about the look of my skin.
By the end of the day my foundation was very much still intact, I normally find that most of my foundation ends up getting wiped away by the end of the day or slides off, as I have such an oily t-zone area. As the particles of the Mineral Air formulation are so light, I presume
I am now absolutely addicted and would not be without my Mineral Air Brushing device or foundation. I can achieve a perfect foundation base in under a minute, there is no mess, fuss and I have definitely saved money (and time!) so far. I recommend it to absolutely everyone. Even those that think they are a pro at applying foundation, and believe no other foundation could beat theres, I challenge you to try this and see the incredible Mineral Air results for yourself. You won’t look back!
