Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Some Mineral Makeup Tips For You

Hi everybody,

When I started writing this blog, I was very passionate about mineral makeup. I even did a week straight to review mineral makeup companies that I experienced called Seven Days and Seven Nights of Mineral Makeup (click here for a trip to the past!) Since then, my mineral makeup stash has grown like mushrooms after the rain. I finally found my perfect foundation (Adorned with Grace minerals in Grace 3.5, yay!), and thank to that, my pictures look a whole lot better now. However, I realize I haven't done much on mineral makeup after the minerals week and I do have so much to give. So, today I decided to write things down before I forget all about them. I hope these tricks will help you to look as flawless as possible.

1. Brush size, thickness, and materials:

I've come to some conclusions regarding makeup brushes used to apply mineral foundation
  • The bigger the brush, the wider the area of application;
  • The denser the brush, the more material it can pack;
  • The more synthetic the bristles are, the less material lost to the brush.
So, if you are in a hurry, a flat top brush made of synthetic taklon is perfect. Currently, I'm lemming the Everyday Minerals flat top and the E.L.F Studio powder brush. From what I've heard, they are really good brushes for mineral makeup applications and the E.L.F one is really cheap!

2. Be a Powder Puff Girl:

Image courtesy Robert Jones beauty

Before becoming a Powder Puff girl, I used to apply my Sunlight kaolin clay powder with a kabuki brush. Regardless how careful I applied, my mineral foundation always ended up looking like a tragic accident by the end of the day. It's not that Sunlight does not do its job, it's me who did not apply enough of it on my face so the clay can absorb the oil from my skin.

After busting out a velour powder puff from my stash, which just sat there looking pretty for years, my life changed dramatically. Ok, I was kidding, at least my makeup looked a lot better after that. The velour puffs are washable and can pack a mean amount of powder there.

Now, instead of looking shiny at 3pm, I can feel comfortable until I go home. The velour puffs are that good!

3. Skunk it up:

I mean, by using a skunk brush- not by using a skunk to apply mineral makeup to your face. A skunk brush is kind of nice: you can stipple your wet mineral foundation on your skin or apply finishing powder with it as well.

The how-to on making a wet mineral foundation is here. And you need to try your dual fibre brushes with your finishing powder (or mineral veils). It makes your skin look really dreamy.

4. Order matters:

In the old world of conventional makeup, you apply powder last, right? And some mineral makeup companies told you so, too (at least Bare Minerals told me that!) But please don't listen to them because you will end up loooking like a clown if you do so. If you contour your face and apply your powder afterwards, your contour lines would be gone. If you apply blush and then powder, you'll end up looking really pink (or red).

How did I know?

I learned it the hard way: after spending time to contour and apply blush, my face ended up looking extremely bad once I applied finishing powder. The blush was all over my face and so was the dark contouring powder. Yikes!

From then on, I applied blushes and contouring powder after the finishing powder. It may sound strange to you but my makeup looks a lot better that way.

5. Always use a swirl bowl:

The swirl, tap, and buff routine that you always do in the lid of the mineral foundation jar? Forget about it! It's very unsanitize for you to do so. Imagine spreading whatever on your face to the brush, then dip it to the lid and back? Not only it is gross, you risk a chance to contaminate the whole jar of your precious minerals.

The good news is you do not need to have a fancy or special bowl to buff your makeup. I use a glass bowl used for dipping sauce as my swirl bowl (and make sure it's for makeup only!) The thing cost me 25 cents a piece and is there to stay unless it's broken. Also, if you use only samples, you don't need to worry if your brush is going to fit the tiny lid!

The swirl bowl with some honey-olive oil scrub

That's all for now. If I remember some more tips, I'll post them up as soon as I can. I hope you enjoy them and if you have other tips, please let me know.

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15 comments:

  1. Great tips Dao!

    I heard the E.L.F. Studio Powder brush was great to apply liquid foundation, I didn't know it worked so well with mineral makeup too. It must be mine!

    I'm guilty of applying mineral foundation from the lid, but I always clean it afterwards to avoid contaminating the whole jar. Using a bowl is probably better though.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Gio,

    If not for the expensive shipping cost, I would have bought the E.L.F Studio powder brush already. It's really inexpensive and a lot of people have compared it to Too Faced brushes.

    I used to swirl my minerals on the lid as well, until one day I realized how unhygienic it is. Any bowl is fine, as long as you don't use it to eat or anything :)

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  3. I have to agree with velour puffs! my foundation lasts longer compared to setting it with a powder brush..

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  4. Hi Khymm,

    That is so true! I use the puff to apply my powder primer and it works a lot better than the brush.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thank you for giving these useful tips.
    Thank you for this blog..
    http://www.ereperez.com/

    ReplyDelete
  6. Nice to know about some useful tips about face makeup, the use of puff and the glass bowl is really very comfortable to use. Thanks for this post.

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  7. Hello Dau! I read your post. It really seems a great contribution by you. Your research on make up tip is excellent. And the all mentioned points are very systematic as well. All the tricks are very helpful in a very efficient way.

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  8. jane iredale mineral makeup has the best texture and colors that you have to find a match. I did I am occilot. It did take time and was confusing at first , but now that I found the match . It s great This goes on smooth asn silky , not cakey . Skin looks like you have flaweless skin without makeup.

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  9. Applying powder on the face can be a very difficult experience in the beginning but training and techniques learnt makes the foundation stick long and beautiful ...thanks for the other tips as well.

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  10. hi, great post! I ordered the Elf Studio Powder brush with their free shipping on Saturday and I'm going to use it for mineral makeup ! :) I hope it works nice for that ^^

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  11. Hi, I wanted to ask you, is the ELF studio powder brush approriate for mmu application? I've ordered Silk Naturals foundation and I will try it with the ELF brush, how should I use it? Should I stipple the mineral foundation on and then buff it, just like with liquid foundie? For light to medium coverage, should I buff a lot or a little, or will I need a normal kabuki brush?

    I'm a mmu newbie and I'm nervous about applying SN and making it look right.

    I couldn't find any other way to contact you, heehee sorry..

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi Denise,

    You should put a small amount of foundation in a swirl bowl. Then, dip the brush into the bowl and let the powder distribute to the bristles. If you want light to medium coverage, use a small amount and buff, buff, buff. This powder brush is better than a kabuki since it's more dense. If you want more coverage, layer more and buff again.

    SN is very layerable and I consider it a light to medium coverage foundation. It's good for beginners and those who have difficulties finding a match.

    My email is in the contact tab on top. Have fun with your foundation!

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  13. thank you for your reply!!! I created my foundation and it's a good match! I have tried it once and it offered light coverage, I will try it again with your tips and using a bowl this time, thanks! <3

    next time I will e-mail you, haha Didn't see that. :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Credit for the great blog post. I am glad I have taken the time to read this.

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  15. There are so many things for the getting secure with the skin that means beauty.
    Well this is really great blog thanks for the sharing this.
    Mineral Makeup

    ReplyDelete

Dear Dao...

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