I'm not the kind of woman that likes to wear liquid foundation on a daily basis. That's something I normally like to reserve for the weekends or on those days when I want to look especially made up. I usually like to just step out of the house with a fresh face that looks as flawless but as natural as possible. That's why I LOVE mineral powder foundation. It gives you all the coverage you want with a no-makeup look.
But do you have to spend the big bucks to get a mineral powder that actually works? I wasn't too sure myself so I decided to test out my favorite mineral foundation powder, the BareMinerals Matte Foundation Broad Spectrum SPF 15 ($27) against the more affordable Maybelline Mineral Power Powder Foundation ($9). So which one was better? Read on to find out!
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I've been using the BareMinerals mineral foundation for years. So when they came out with their new Matte Foundation Broad Spectrum SPF 15 version last year I was instantly sold. I loved the way it provided me with perfect coverage, minimized the appearance of my pores, but also absorbed excess oil without leaving my combination skin dry. This lightweight mineral powder is so amazing you can literally sleep in it and it won't cause your skin to irritate or breakout overnight. How cool is that? It's also great for us Latinas because it not only comes in a wide range of colors–but you can remove the inner lid and combine one or two other shades to create a custom shade that matches perfectly with your complexion. Definitely a plus! So as you can see I had absolutely NO complaints about this one.
I was actually pretty excited to try out the Maybelline mineral powder. Finding a mineral powder that retails for under $10 to me sounded like a total steal! Starting off I was a little disappointed to discover that this formula only came in 5 shades. Ironically enough the Pure Beige perfectly matched my tan complexion, but it did have me wondering how someone with darker skin would be able to use this product. I loved how it came with its own powder brush though and it went on pretty smoothly. My skin looked luminous and felt great but I didn't feel like it covered enough, which kind of defeats the point of wearing foundation right?
In the end I have to undoubtedly go with the BareMinerals Matte Foundation Broad Spectrum SPF 15 mineral powder. As much as I wanted to love the Maybelline one, it just didn't meet any of my expectations. Like I mentioned earlier, the point of a mineral foundation powder is to give you incredible coverage but leave you with a bare-looking face. You pretty much want to look like you were just born with incredible skin. BareMinerals left me with those exact results and now I know I'm never going to look back!
Image via Johanna Ferreira
