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Original poster

Hideous experience with mineral make up

51 replies

MrsSchadenfreude · 09/10/2009 21:36

Went into Selfridges today and thought I would have a go with this mineral make up that everyone is raving about. Old bat with turkey neck and about two inches of slap made me up. It looked terrible. It clung in clumps to the dry areas of my skin, sucked all the moisture out of my eye area and gave me the wrinkles of an 80 year old (am 44 and have quite good skin - or so I thought!).

Said to the woman that I didn't like it - the first thing I noticed when I looked in the mirror was the crepey eyes, followed by the clumps on my cheeks. It also had a sort of greyish tinge - not remotely flattering. Told her I would see how it went, but by lunchtime, my cheeks were feeling really tight and dry and the wrinkles were digging themselves in deeper and for the duration.

Anyone else had this luck with it?

OP posts:
policywonk · 09/10/2009 22:21

I do love the way you pop up on completely random (from my POV at least) threads JJ

policywonk · 09/10/2009 22:22

I second MrsMuddle's request for a step-by-step guide. Please talk to us as though we were stupid.

AitchTwoToTangOh · 09/10/2009 22:22

wind the brush round and round on your face, in small circles. really the main thing is not to have too much powder on the brush, it's not like using a normal powder, less is deffo more.

GhoulsAreLoud · 09/10/2009 22:25

Aitch is right - so with normal powder you apply it with a big brush and sweep it on and there's lots of excess.

With this, it's a smaller brush and you drive it in to the skin - they way you would polish a car, that's the buffing.

So it's polishing, rather than sweeping. But you only put a SMALL amount on.

Feelingoptimistic · 09/10/2009 22:27

MrsM - I had exactly the same experience as you a few months ago. I was also at Selfridges and decided to give Bare Minerals a go. It looked shocking - too dark, and showed up every pore.

watsthestory · 09/10/2009 22:31

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policywonk · 09/10/2009 22:31

Really? So you're really giving it some welly?

AitchTwoToTangOh · 09/10/2009 22:31

i use this brush. it's great becayse the bristles are densely packed and quite firm.

the bare minerals ones are also good, but i bought some cheaper powder in a bit of an emergency and the brush was absolutely shocking.

watsthestory · 09/10/2009 22:32

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AitchTwoToTangOh · 09/10/2009 22:34

wats, i am loathe to disagree with you given your avowed expertise but 'sweep' is not the word i would use. grind, maybe.

i sometimes wear bm, sometimes a paul and joe or clarins liquid foundation or whatever (i have loads cos i quite often get them for free). i absolutely get the most compliments with the BM. which i don't get sodding well free.

AitchTwoToTangOh · 09/10/2009 22:35

i don't have any dry areas. maybe that's the thing?

watsthestory · 09/10/2009 22:36

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MrsMuddle · 09/10/2009 22:36

Right, I'm going to try again with the moisturising and buffing advice from this thread.

We're going away for a week, so at least no-one will see my efforts if it all goes wrong again! I'll report back next weekend.

AitchTwoToTangOh · 09/10/2009 22:40

if you look at the brush i linked to, i think that gives a clue as to how to do it. rather than using the long lenght of the bristle, you're wanting to use the tips, iykwim? blend, blend, blend, buff, buff, buff. have you ever seen those enormous great floor polishers that cleaners use on lino? like that. [grind]

stressheaderic · 09/10/2009 22:43

Another vote for the L'Oreal True Match Minerals range - wouldn't use anything else. Think Minerals make up is deffo for younger skin though, I'm 29 and just about getting away with it!

watsthestory · 09/10/2009 22:44

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JackieNo · 09/10/2009 22:47

Mineral foundation works well for me too - I swirl the brush in the powder, then I actually hold the brush with the bristles pointing upwards, and pat the powder into the bristles with my finger, so there isn't any powder on the top of them, iyswim, then buff quite vigorously with circular movements. Love it. But I do have combination skin.

AitchTwoToTangOh · 09/10/2009 22:49

me too on the combo skin, jackie.

watsthestory · 09/10/2009 22:52

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JJ · 10/10/2009 21:13

policywonk, nothing random about it. Am sending messages in code to cohorts in alternative energy sabotage.

hester · 10/10/2009 21:28

I can't get on with it. Maybe it's only for the young and dewy-skinned?

Buntytea · 10/10/2009 21:34

I think the Loreal mineral foundation is good too - unfortunately dp disagrees as he says he can smell it on my skin a mile off! I have tried not telling him when I have used it but he can always sniff it out! Apparently a lot of mineral foundation does have quite a distinctive 'aroma' !

policywonk · 11/10/2009 12:18

JJ

twelveyeargap · 11/10/2009 12:48

I don't see how any kind of powder can work if you have any flaws or wrinkles. It accentuates them. I used mineral powders on my wedding day, having had a couple of glycolic peels and facials beforehand. Looked great. Five years ago.

Dug out the rather expensive pots of stuff recently and looked like an old hag. (I'm 32). You need a dewy look once you start to get crows feet I think. Dewy make up is the make up equivalent of soft focus imo.

That said, I use MAC mineralise. A mineral base liquid foundation and that's brilliant. Best of both worlds.

BeckyBook · 11/10/2009 14:43

MrsS - the reason your Bare Minerals powder hurt your face is because it contains a mineral called bismuth oxychloride. When looked at under a microscope this mineral is seen to have very sharp edges. Consequently it acts as an irritant to sensitive skins and often causes pain and redness. When buying a mineral make-up you need to specifically ask the vendor which minerals it contains. Don't buy one with bismuth.
By far the best on the market is Inika. Have a look here