If you would have spoken to me 8 months – 1 year ago and asked me what I thought about mineral powder foundations I’m pretty sure my response would have been ‘they look great but I can’t ever see them working for me or providing enough coverage’. I have been a liquid foundation girl through and through and the only form of powder foundation I ever went near was the MAC Studio Fix Powder Foundation which yes I actually used as a powder to set my liquid foundation! Thank god I’ve moved on from that stage in my life!! I always associated powder foundations, especially mineral foundations as a light form of coverage that could be difficult to match with you skin tone or blend in not to look cakey. Well this was all until the Laura Mercier Mineral Powder SPF 15 blasted into the bloggersphere!


You can pick up this powder for £31 directly from Laura Mercier and Laura Mercier counters or Space.NK. This powder comes in 8 different shades which all contain SPF 15. I saw a number of bloggers talk about this powder and use it alone as a foundation or on-top as a setting powder. All the reviews were positive but nothing really pushed me over that purchasing edge until I saw Grace from Ugly Face of Beauty rave about it here. I tried out this powder, amongst a number of other things :P, at a recent trip to Space.NK and this was used on me on-top of the Chantecaille Just Skin Tinted Moisturiser. The combination of the two was literally incredible. My skin glowed yet looked matte. I had such warmth to my skin that I’ve never been able to achieve before and the most shocking thing was that no contour or blush was used on me and I didn’t even notice! The results were very impressive so I picked one up and continued to put it to the test.

Since buying the powder I have been using it as a foundation on its own, as a setting powder and trialling out a number of different brushes too to get the perfect combination. I don’t think I’ve found that one ideal combo yet but boy have I fallen in love with a mineral powder! The below picture is me with just my foundation and concealer on. The foundation of choice is Estee Lauder Invisible Wear Foundation and I have some ByTerry Touch-Expert Advanced Concealer (review here) under my eyes and my trust Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer on any blemishes.

As you can see with the recent lunchtimes in the sun I have got a few light freckles on my face. My skin looks pretty blemish free and even but lacks a bit of warmth and added dimensionalisation. Below is a picture after having used the Laura Mercier Mineral Powder and with a bit of the Laura Mercier Second Skin Cheek Colour in Peach Whisper applied to the apples of my cheeks. I find that the powder makes my skin flawless and adds a real warmth without having to reach for a bronzer and ending up a bit on the orange side! The look is still natural but I know that my makeup will be kept in place throughout the day and any shiny bits will be kept to a minimum.

At the moment I have been flitting between brushes that I used to apply this. Mainly I use the Real Techniques Expert Face Brush (review here) but I find this is a bit too dense and therefore quite hard to use and time consuming to do. I have also been using a MAC Duo Fibre Foundation Brush for a light allover dusting. I think I will hunt for a better synthetic kabuki to use with this more permanently but so far these have been doing the trick. I have even on a few lazy days just worn this as a foundation and I have been very impressed with the results. The coverage is pretty decent considering it is a powder and doesn’t leave you looking cakey at all. A big win for the world of mineral powder!

Have you tried this mineral powder before? Have you ventured into the world of minerals?