Would you believe me if I told you that I have never bought or even tried a MAC foundation? Something about walking into a MAC store or counter in a department store has always seen me overwhelmed and confused by NC/NW blah blah. Granted I have a few lipsticks, a concealer and a blush or two but no foundations ever! Until now. On a recent shopping trip the MAC stand was pretty quiet so I jumped on the opportunity to grab a sales girl and figure out what my shade was (NW20 if you’re interested) and pick up one of the brand new MAC Pro Longwear Nourishing Waterproof Foundations and see what all the hype was about.
MAC Pro Longwear Nourishing Waterproof Foundation & MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural
Well, I have to say, I’m pretty impressed. I have applied the foundation both with fingers and also a Beauty Blender and both ways work well for me. I have worn the MAC Pro Longwear Nourishing Waterproof Foundation a few times now and can categorically say that this base does.not.budge.on.me. Claims of the product being waterproof…. well I can’t say that I regularly require my makeup to be waterproof but judging by the amount of soap and hand washing it took to get the dried foundation off the back of my hand I will attest, that yes, it seems waterproof.
MAC Pro Longwear Nourishing Waterproof Foundation & MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural
The MAC Pro Longwear Nourishing Waterproof Foundation gives me a natural/satin finish, neither too matte or too dewey. It covers areas of redness or discolouration well on me, I did build it slightly over areas that I have an issue with (nose, rosy cheeks, chin) and the finish was still very natural looking. I am sure you can build this base up even more to a full coverage level, but I don’t ever require that much coverage, it just looks completely fake on me and I prefer a more au natural look.
There was no way on earth I was going to test MAC’s claim of 24 hour wear, but I got close to the 12 hour mark on one wear and it still looked very good albeit not “perfect”. A tiny bit of separation around my nose and chin, which are the areas I regularly get some degree of separation at the end of a day, but it wasn’t “bad” only minimal and honestly a little tap and press with a powder would have fixed it.
MAC Pro Longwear Nourishing Waterproof Foundation & MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural
On the same shopping trip I picked up a MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Light Plus which I had been using to set the, lets just call it “PLNWF” and I have been using it with other foundations in the past week or two also and yeah…I don’t know about this one. Maybe my expectations of this product differ from what it actually does. I was expecting it to be similar to the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powders and to give a similar effect to the skin. I mean, it does give a nice finish, but I find the oil control of this powder is nothing to write home about, and I don’t even have excessively oily skin ( I do always powder over foundations though) I have found I likely need to touch this up 1-2 times throughout the day rather than 0-1 times with other powders I use frequently. It’s still nice and I will definitely get use from it, but so far it’s not a must have.
So one winner and a powder that for me gets a bit lost in the crowd. I can see myself wearing the MAC Pro Longwear Nourishing Waterproof Foundation a lot come summer time here as I assume waterproof would cover sweat, heat and humidity.
