MAC Face and Body Foundation

I bought some MAC Face and Body Foundation recently. 

I was looking for something with sheer to medium coverage in a liquid foundation. This is described as having sheer coverage, but I thought I could put mineral foundation over it for more opacity. I read good reviews on the MAC site and so was curious to try it out.

It comes in a huge container for foundation (ok, maybe 4 ounces doesn't seem huge, but most other foundations seem to be about 1 ounce, so you do the math). Presumably, that is because you might go through a lot if you used it on your body, I’m guessing. The packaging is quite nice and stylish, like most MAC make-up. You squeeze the container to get the product out and I had good luck with being able to control how much product I dispensed. The top screws on and seems nice and secure. 

The texture is very thin. It’s not as watery as the Clinique Pore Minimizer foundation that I used to use back in the day, but it’s thinner than my Lorac Breakthrough Performance (SMS 2) foundation. I was color matched as a C1. I’m usually in the NC 20 range. I have NC 15 concealer for my chest, which is pretty white. The C1 is a nice match for my face and chest. 

I tried applying it straight out of the container with my fingers, which gave a sheer appearance. It dries quickly, so you have to be speedy with your blending . The SA recommended putting some product on my palette hand and then working it until it’s a bit tacky so it’s not quite so thin. I tried that with my fingers and it worked pretty well, but was not any more opaque with this method. I also tried stippling it on with the 187 brush, also using my hand as a palette. I found this application quite sheer, too. None of the application styles that I tried worked to cover up any dark spots that I have from previous breakouts. I still needed concealer for that. 

The finish is not matte. It’s a bit more dewy, which I don’t like. So I applied Clinique Blended Face Powder (in Invisible Blend) over the top, which did give more of a matte finish. This gave a sheer appearance that looked pretty natural. I tried the MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural (in Light Plus) pressed powder over the top and this helped to mattify, but did not give more coverage and looked a bit cakey. I experimented with putting on MAC Mineralize Loose Foundation over the top. 

This gave more of a medium coverage, but definitely made me look like I was wearing make-up and was not totally matte, so then I had to put some of the Clinique powder on the especially oily spots (like my temples and around my nose and chin). No matter what combination I tried, I still needed concealer for the dark spots on my chin (post inflammatory hyperpigmentation from breakouts) and also for the dark spots on my right cheek (hyperpigmentation – probably from sun exposure). 

The Face and Body Foundation did not transfer, so that is a plus. I put it on my chest and it did not get on my clothes at all. I also didn’t find the scent bothersome. It had a bit of an orangey scent and the scent dissipated soon after application. 

Now, to my most important issue - Did the foundatoin make me break out? I'm sad to say that it did. It is billed as a water based foundation, so I didn’t bother reading the ingredient list before I bought it. I did my research later and found a couple ingredients that made me nervous. One is Fusanus Spicatus wood oil (aka sandalwood oil) and the other is talc. I try to stay away from oils in my skincare/make-up products and I know that talc can be problematic for people with acne-prone skin. I'm not sure if either of these was the culprit, but something definitely made my skin unhappy.

So, if you like sheer, dewy coverage and are not prone to breakouts, then you might really like this foundation. I decided it is not for me, so I ended up giving it to my Mom and she said she likes it quite well.  I, on the other hand, am still hunting for my HG foundation.