I was sent a variety of Mineral Fusion makeup and beauty supplies to try out and invited some friends over to test out the different makeup options and just get a little silly. My friends are absolutely awesome in that they gave me permission to share their before and after photos as well as some makeup tips.

Stay tuned over the next few weeks as I share more beauty posts including more featuring some of the products sent by Mineral Fusion. While the makeup was sent complimentary with hopes for coverage I only post about brands I enjoy and think you will enjoy as well. For more information about my posting policies visit my policy page.

Testing Mineral Fusion Makeup on Four Different Skin Tones

My friends are gorgeous. I’m just gonna put that out there. They are beautiful ALL the time—inside as well as outside— and they absolutely do not NEED makeup. However, at times, all four of our little group occasionally LIKES to wear makeup. Some of the members of our little tribe LOVE makeup (well, me), some wear a small amount daily and others of our group wear it as they feel it fits the occasion.

We cannot often share makeup however because we are of four very different skin types. Alicia is very pale, you know, that really creamy milk complexion? Joan has an olive complexion. Rachel is also of olive complexion but it is a slightly different tone than that of Joan. Me? I’m basically RED. No, I have a fair complexion that is always more than a little rosy. (See my before photo if you don’t believe me.)

Okay, embarrassing photos aside…

We made a bit of a ladies night out of the whole testing situation and enjoy some snacks and wine while helping each other find the right colors, put makeup on, and take photos. The four of us hang out often and are nearly always silly. But, sitting together putting makeup on was a bit new for us. We had a great time, but it did feel a little like a throw-back to high school!

Speaking of high school… that was the last time I wore mineral makeup regularly. My dad sold mineral makeup in a multi-level marketing type situation. I had the best products! But, I didn’t find them to be very fast or tidy like some of the compact and multi-use products that I’d find in the stores. After high school time became a commodity and I didn’t really spend a ton of time on makeup so I lost interest.

For the most part, mineral makeup has CHANGED since my high school days. The only thing I can say that has stayed the same— mind you, this is a different product than I used before— is quality. I LOVE the way mineral powders cover and sit on the face.

Favorites from the Mineral Fusion Makeup Line

I was sent a variety of items to try and didn’t find one item that I could say that I didn’t like. However, I do play favorites when it comes to my makeup stash. I need items that do the trick FAST and are travel friendly. (I’m not gonna lie, I often do my makeup in my car in the parking lot when I arrive to work.)

Links below are affiliate links. Affiliate links help support this blog while readers shop with no extra cost to the reader. 

Mineral Fusion Facial Moisturizer Intense Hydration — Mmmmm… my face hasn’t felt this good in a LONG time. Remember how I just had a baby a couple months back? My skin has been whakadoodle for the past year and a half due to hormones and being too tired to self care properly. I was sent two different facial lotions and LOVE them both. These are not inexpensive lotions, but after using them for about a month now I know that I’m a life long customer. At 32 years old it is time to moisturize regularly.

Mineral Fusion Makeup Primer  — This stuff makes the makeup go on like buttah. When I have little to no time at all I’ll slap on some lotion, follow with this primer and then dust on my loose powder. My skin looks less red and much more smooth in a matter of two minutes. Slide on some Lip Butter and mascara and I look put together and ready for the day.

Mineral Fusion Compact Pressed Powder Foundation — I’m a huge fan of loose mineral powder, but it isn’t exactly travel-friendly and can be quite a mess if trying to put your makeup on in the car. I love the pressed powder foundation for the ease of use with similar results to the loose powder. Their bronzer and illuminating powder also come in compact form.

The final looks

I had no problem finding a shade that matched my pink fair skin tone. Of course, I usually don’t! I topped my look off with lipstick in the shade Charming and loved the final look.

I was more concerned in whether my friends would find makeup to work with their skin tones. Alicia was able to easily work with the fair foundation and light powder to match her milky complexion.

We had an olive shade of foundation, olive shade of BB cream and olive powder for those with olive skin tones. Joan and Rachel ended up using both the foundation and the BB cream, topped with the powder, to get the foundation strength that they desired. However, the results were gorgeous!

Thoughts about the test

I have enjoyed using Mineral Fusion a lot since they sent the products and I tested them with my friends. I have gifted it a couple of times and gone back to purchase additional colors of eyeshadow. Overall, for me, that is the real test— will I purchase after I’ve used my samples? Yes. Yes, I will and have. They are at a high price point than your normal drugstore style makeup, but I feel like the purchase price is worth it.

About Mineral Fusion Makeup

“Our goal is to leave skin and hair in better condition than we found it. This includes selecting effective natural ingredients, as well as making our products free of gluten, parabens, talc, artificial colors, synthetic fragrances, SLS, and phthalates. We NEVER conduct animal testing, and never will, nor do we ask others to do so.We are committed to sustainability and utilize wind power, soy inks, packaging from recycled materials and packaging that is recyclable.” — from the Mineral Fusion website

Mineral Fusion is sold in some Targets as well as most Whole Foods and New Seasons Markets. I’d highly suggest checking out their awesome store locator tool to find a store that carries Mineral Fusion near you. Or, hey, you can just buy online!

In addition to their dedication to sustainability, natural ingredients and safe testing practices Mineral Fusion donates a portion of sales to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV).

What is your favorite kind of makeup?

You add in a good instagram filter or two on me and you can’t really tell that my skin has many marks from past acne break outs and is overall just kind of red.

I used hard core cleaners when I was younger to deal with some really gnarly acne breakouts. Since I’ve gotten older (and have had much more on my to-do lists) I’ve fallen off of the skin-care boat entirely. I am TERRIBLE at washing my face daily. I will usually rinse with water at the end of the day and sometimes wash my face with any old soap or face wash in the shower in the morning. And, daily moisturizer?? Forget about it.

Everything changed after visiting the Aveda Institute for my complimentary facial as a part of the Portland Fashion Week Style Collective. I wrote a little bit about my experience of the facial and how it led me to visit my dermatologist a while ago… but, wanted to share a few face-care tips I learned as well!

Face-Care Tips for Ladies Dealing with Redness

One of the first things that they asked me in my facial was what I believed my skin was like… was it sensitive? oily? dry? Because of the bad acne of my youth and dry and oily spots on my skin, I’ve always labeled my skin as combination skin in heavy need of acne treatment. Well, evidently… like most things in life, skin changes over time! Those same products that worked for me when I was a teenager don’t work for me now. One of the first things I learned from my facial was that my skin is actually pretty sensitive and not so much oily/dry,  but its just dealing with all the crap I’m throwing at it the best way it can! (This is not the facialists words… but, rather what I got from the discussion.) The Aveda student and teacher both gave me similar tips about my skin-care routine to help deal with my skin’s redness. They include:

1. Use cool to luke warm water to wash your face. What!? I’ve always used HOT water to wash my face… I want it to be CLEAN, right? Well… what I was doing was irritating my skin! Since my facial I’ve turned the temp down when washing my face. My skin feels a lot less rubbery and tight and looks less red already and I’ve only been doing this for a little while now.
2. Stay away from harsh cleansers. She told me to stay away from the harsh acne treatments and face washes. Instead, use a face wash labeled for sensitive skin.
3. Use green products. Now, I’m not talking about green as in good for the environment. I’m talking about the color green. She suggested that when I use concealer I go for a green concealer to help neutralize the red color in my face. My new sensitive skin face wash also happens to be green. I’m currently using one from Neutrogena… although, after it is gone I’m going to splurge on the kind from Aveda because while this one is pretty good, it still has some of the harsher cleansers that I was recommended to stay away from.
4. Moisturize Daily. Urgh…. why am I so bad at this one? I want my skin to look good when I’m 60, but still can’t manage to swipe on some moisturizer! I’ve gotten much better about this since my skin cancer diagnosis because I’m now applying a moisturizer with SPF 50 nearly every day. I’d like to also get in the habit of moisturizing at night as well.
5. Drink more water. Evidently this helps hydrate your skin from the inside out!

What tips have you heard for skin-care? Comment below and share the wealth!