Mineral Makeup | Beauty and Fashion Tech

MAC Semi-Precious Swatches: Eye Shadow, Mineralize Blush, and Mineralize Skinfinish

The MAC Semi-Precious collection offers twelve very well pigmented mineralize eye shadows, three blushes, and four Mineralize Skinfinish luminizers/blushes/bronzers. In the past when MAC has done mineralized eye shadow I found that some of the shades ended up a bit muddy at times, but this collection generally didn’t have that problem among the eight shades that I swatched, with the exception of one dark green shade, Dark Indulgence (which I think still looks OK, but the green doesn’t show at all) .

MAC Semi-Precious Eye Shadow Swatches

Below are Semi-Precious Eye Shadow swatches of eight of the twelve shades. From left to right with notes in parenthesis: Unsurpasssable (this is more luminous than the picture shows and is a gorgeous light turquoise/teal), Quartz Fusion (lots of glitter in this one that doesn’t show as well in photos), Dark Indulgence, Blue Sheen (particularly well pigmented), Rare Find (my personal favorite), Faux Gold (more luminous than the photo really depicts), Jade’s fortune (another really pretty and interesting sea green shade), and Mineral Mode (this was more pinkish than I thought it would be).

MAC Semi-Precious Blush Swatches and Mineralize SkinFinish Swatches

Neither of the blush shades that I tried thrilled me, but that is only because they wouldn’t personally work well for me, they actually are rather pretty shades. I also noted that they have pretty decent pigment to them. I also tried three of the skinfinish shades. Here are swatches of the blushes and skinfinish. From left to right: Pearl SkinFinish (probably the best shade for my rather pale skin), Rose Quartz SkinFinish (has a very pretty pink to it), Goldstone SkinFinish, Pressed Amber blush, and Warmth of Coral Blush

The collection also includes brushes, mascara, face and body lotion, mineralize charged water, mineralize satin finish foundation, and new lip shades. I swatched the lipsticks and cremsheen lipglasses over on Girl Gloss. You can see them here: MAC Semi-Precious Lip Swatches.

This collection is available July 7, though August 21, 2011. Sometimes the collections show up for sale a few days early.

Disclosure: This review is based on products provided by a representative of the company. For more, please see our disclosure page.

Disclosures: Beauty and Fashion Tech at times reviews products provided by a representative of the company. When we do so, we specifically state so. We also use affiliate links. For more, please see the disclosure page

About the Author: Carleen Pruess Coulter

Elizabeth Arden has a set of new Pure Finish Mineral Tinted Moisturizers. These tinted mineral makeup moisturizers have SPF 15 protection and give medium coverage. Many, if not most, tinted moisturizers are very sheer, so it is refreshing to come across ones that actually provide some real coverage, and these are more akin to a liquid mineral makeup than to a standard sheer tinted moisturizer. Four shades are available.

Below are swatches of the Elizabeth Arden Pure Finish shades. They do blend in pretty well, so even though they might stand out on the skin in the swatch, they do blend in to match quite well with any skin tone that is generally close to the shade. I added powder over mine as well, which blended things seamlessly. For example, I actually wear the second level shade, even though it looks too dark or too yellow in the swatch. Once blended though, it matches me perfectly.

From left to right: Fair, Light, Medium, Deep:

I found that the product wore quite well. It give the skin a luminous look and provides a comfortable, light moisture. Ingredients in Elizabeth Arden Pure Finish Mineral Tinted Moisturizer include:

Microlight Minerals – Natural mineral pigments that incorporate Mineral Mica, which acts as an optical diffuser to soften the look of fine lines and wrinkles.
Antioxidants and Vitamins A, C and E – Moisturize and provide antioxidant protection.
Dionysis Extract – An extract of the Sea Campion Plant which acts to slow the effects of free radicals and provide strong antioxidant protection.
Squalane – Botanically derived from olives, this ingredient brings back the natural feel of your skin’s own moisture.
Jojoba Esters – Act as a barrier for water loss to keep moisture in the skin.
Sodium Hyaluronate – A powerful skin moisturizer.
Oil free, talc free and fragrance free.

You can buy these at the Elizabeth Arden website linked above or look for them in department stores and at specialty makeup stores. Most of those do not seem to have them online yet.

Disclosure: This review in based on products given to me by a representative of the company. For more, please se my disclosure page.