MAC Mineralize Satinfinish SPF 15 Foundation

I’ve been experimenting with a few foundations for the past three months. The MAC Mineralize Satinfinish foundation is one of those foundations I’ve been trying. I love the idea of a satin finish for my foundation to give me a nice, healthy glow, as opposed to a matte finish. And with the added bonus of SPF 15 in this foundation, I decided to give this a try.

The MAC website describes their Mineralize Satinfinish foundation as:

A fluid foundation that blends the natural light-reflecting properties of micro-minerals with a smooth satin finish. Provides a low-to-medium buildable coverage with a slightly luminous look. Contains antioxidants vitamins C and E. Provides everyday SPF 15 sun protection. Long-wearing. Suitable for normal-dry skins.

This is definitely a light coverage foundation, which, as MAC states, you can build to a medium coverage. However, to get a medium coverage you have to use quite a bit of product. With 1-2 pumps I get a nice, light coverage. To get a medium coverage I need to use 3-4, sometimes 5 pumps. It also gets quite streaky as you use more product (I use my MAC 187 or Sephora Professional #55 brush for application). However, as a light coverage foundation this works quite nicely.

As for the claimed satin finish, upon application this product does have a nice, dewy, healthy glow. However, an hour after application, I find my face looks shiny and oily, which is a look I do not enjoy.

I’m not a fan of MAC foundations, but this is my preferred MAC foundation of the ones I’ve tried. It does look quite natural when used for light coverage. However, the more I build it, the more concerned I get about my makeup smearing throughout the day. To prevent smearing, I use my MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium Dark to set this foundation, and I find it looks a little cakey after doing so.

This foundation comes with a pump, unlike other MAC foundations. The pump works nicely, doesn’t dispense too much product. And it can lock in place, so you don’t have to worry about it accidentally pumping out foundation if you carry this in your makeup bag.

One thing to note — the shades for Mineralize Satinfinish run lighter than other MAC foundations. I’m a NC30, so I got this in NC30, but it is lighter than other products I own in NC30. If you look at the swatches on the website and compare them to swatches for other foundations, you’ll see the difference. Oddly enough, even though this foundation is a bit light, I can make it work, especially as a light foundation.

Overall, this foundation is just ok. I’ve held on to it because I think it will work nicely in the summer when I don’t like wearing much makeup. Since my skin is generally in good condition, I’m ok with a light coverage foundation, so this should work nicely in the summer.

MAC Mineralize Satinfinish foundation costs $29.50 for 1 fl oz (30 mL). You can purchase it form MAC stores, MAC counters, and maccosmetics.com.