Hi, I bought some mineralize foundation about two weeks ago, I usually use face and body. With face and body I was a C5, I thoght I could maybe go a shade darker I wasn't sure, so the sales assistant at mac recommended the NC44, which I thought was a little dark and actually it is too dark, makes my face look a bit orange (however I did ask for an NC, maybe I shouldn't have). I can JUST about get away with it in summer, if I lighten up the center of my face)
Colour aside, the foundation is ok, good even. I haven't made up my mind whether I prefer to face and body, as face and body was so easy to get to grips with as soon as I got it. With the mineralize I found it gave more coverage (but as it's so dark I tend not to use too much as I don't want to look completely orange, I use my stila foundation stick and revlon skinlights concealer pen in the center of my face to make it look less dark), but I had some difficulty with setting it. The first time I wore it I used a tiny amount of powder to set it and went out in daytime, thinking my skin would "set" itself, which it used to do for f&b, however my skin only looked really greasy, and not in a healthy dewy look. It looked unblended, dispite contantly blending it in. So now I've been using select sheer to set it, and alot more than I usually ever use as generally I like my skin dewy (I am planning on gettng the MSFN but need more time to decide which colour, the london stores are RAMMED and I don't want to get the wrong shade again after waiting for half an hour).
However, once I set it properly with a powder (I left my cheeks as I wear cream blush), it really did last, and not cakey like you might think. It also kinda looks better the longer you wear it? My skin felt really smooth and everytime I checked in the mirror I didn't really need to re-touch or anything, my skin got more glowier by the eve, nice even surfice, smooth, after having it on all afternoon.
So generally I give it thumbs up, once you get your head around using a powder to set a LOT more than you're prob used to (but that's cause I hardly used to use powder at all before). You really don't look cakey/powdery/dry by setting it with powder. And I'm sure with the MSFN your skin may look even more beautful. I may still buy a face and body as sometimes I'm not sure I want to deal with all the powder and center face lightening up, and face and body is simpler to use, lighter (texture), and is great if you're skin tone is even. Face and body also sets really nicely onto skin, you can't really see it on, doesn't look foundationy, just dewy, where as the mineralize definately looks more foundationy. Also, the fact that my mineralize is very much the wrong colour it does kinda stop put me thinking it's better than my f&b, which is a shame as that shouldn't reflect my opinion of the foundation. I'm trying to use it up quick so I can buy the right colour and REALLY test it.
If you have VERY dry skin, mineralize is good for you. I'm gonna keep playig around with it though, maybe in a month I will have a better idea of it and can give you a better answer.
