So I've owned this product for well over a couple of months now, and to be honest, I've been putting off blogging about it.
This was a massive impulse buy from the MAC store in Norwich - I didn't even need a new pressed powder at the time and to be honest, as my skin is extremely dry, powder isn't really my bag.
This cost me £20.00 in store, and it was definitely the colour that made me get my purse out and buy it. Regular followers of my blog will know I am a massive fan of yellow-toned make-up products for the face, and this is specifically marketed as a yellow-based 'neutralising' product.
It's part of MAC's colour correcting range, which also offers powders and beauty balms in a violet toned colour, a peachy toned colour and an apricot colour. They work on the 'colour wheel' basis, and are designed to neutralise different colour imbalances in your complexion.
I often find that a lot of high street foundations have quite a pink/orange undertone to them, and I struggle to find decent yellow-based foundations for a bargain price. Having said that, the coverage and application of them can be really good, so it's frustrating when the colour range is so limited. So my thinking behind this product was that I could use it to neutralise some of my more pinky-based foundations where I love the coverage but hate the tone.
Sounds simple enough....
But, as I have found with a lot of yellow-based 'neutralising' products, this just didn't really deliver for me. First thing's first, the powder itself is everything you would expect from MAC. It is soft, it loads really easily onto a decent powder brush, and it has an almost creamy quality to it. I can also vouch for the fact it doesn't cling to the drier areas of my skin, although I do get a bit of a tight, mask-like feel when I first apply it. I normally have to spritz my face with some facial mist just to make my skin feel a bit more comfortable again. But as I said, my skin is super dry.
The let down for me though is definitely with the colour - which ironically is what the product is meant to be all about. I just don't get any yellow from it. I dusted half my face in my Bourjois powder, and my other half in the MAC powder, and to be honest there was barely a difference. I tried photographing it but couldn't get a good representation. I think it does neutralise the face out a tiny bit, but nothing groundbreaking. I found a similar thing with Clinique's yellow powder - it just didn't give me much yellow. This might be because I'm quite light in my application of the product, given that a) I don't need much mattifying and b) I do have very dry skin. If you load this product on then you mayyyy get slightly more of a colour pay off.
The main reason I've been putting off blogging this product though, is because I do use it everyday. It's totally relegated my Bourjois powder, which I previously swore by. But I just cannot tell how much of it is because it is just a nice, creamy MAC powder, or because I actually like the tone it gives my skin. I'm going to be massively torn when it comes to repurchasing, because I don't think I'd necessarily recommend it to a friend, but then I'm worried I may be underestimating how much it actually works. I think I thought I'd get a real 'Simpsons' colour out of it, but if it does neutralise, then it does it verrrrrry subtley.
So I think this is going to be one of those annoying blog posts, where if you are torn as to whether to buy it, this probably isn't massively going to help. Some pointers I can give you - don't worry about avoiding it if you have dry skin, I think dry skinnies can get away with it. Don't be scared by the colour, it's subtle. Reeeeal subtle. And if you're looking for a good powder, you can do a lot worse than this. But if you're looking for major yellow neutralisation, I think you're going to be a tad disappointed. I am. I think...
