MAC Mineralize SPF 15 Foundation (Loose) ($29.00) is available in five shades (light, light medium, medium, medum plus, and medium dark), but unfortunately people have found that it does run dark–a few of our paler ladies (NC/NW15s) are saying that light is just too dark for them to get away with. This mineral foundation gives you medium coverage with a “natural finish,” which probably translates into a semi-matte/velvet kind of finish so will be good for those with oily skin.

I picked up Medium Plus, and I’m NC30 — I do feel like it is a little too dark from my complexion, so I might exchange it for Medium when I have the chance. I’m afraid that I might be in-between shades, though, which would really suck! The foundation is very fine-milled and soft, which is great because it makes it easy to buff it into the skin (a key to applying mineral makeup).

I’m personally not a huge fan of the applicator that it comes with (I believe they are calling it a caplicator?), and to be honest, I find that this is incredibly similar to a variety of other mineral foundation applicators (none of which I have loved). The caplicator has a very soft sponge attached to the lid or top of the jar, and I’ve had several MAs tell me that it’s great for touch-ups, but that a brush does a better job for initial application. I have to fully agree about using a brush (I use the 182).

While the packaging isn’t terrible, I would have preferred a jar like MAC’s other loose powders, or even just a wider circle, because my buffer brush doesn’t fit perfectly in it (it’s a bit too big/wide).

The foundation goes on easily, and I don’t find that I get a lot of it flying off my skin or exploding into a powder cloud (like other loose powders/mineral makeup), so I do like that. It gave me decent coverage, and it didn’t make certain acne spots look too dry when it went over them. I wouldn’t say that it exceeds my thus-far holy grail Studio Fix Fluid, but it doesn’t fall far behind it, either.

This is a great product for the upcoming summer months, as it is incredibly lightweight and wears well. I know that in summer I tend to opt for lighter weight coverage and products, just because heat and being outdoors more often tend to make heavier makeup less palatable.

You can purchase this at Nordstrom.com, and it will be appearing in freestanding stores in April.

Pick this up? What did you think?