My love for trying new things can only rival my love for complexion products, and this review satisfies both of those cravings. Today I’m sharing my thoughts on Mia Mariu Primer, Liquid Foundation and Cream Concealer, and also giving you a chance to win your own trio.
BRAND OVERVIEW
The Mia Mariu philosophy makes the connection between beauty and health inside and out. Mía Mariu’s high performance products are formulated with the most natural ingredients available helping you achieve vibrant beauty and health inside and out. Each unique product fuses nature and technology by combining the highest quality botanicals, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and peptides. The result? healthy products that provide a perfect balance that reflects itself through youthful, healthy, beautiful, glowing skin and renewed energy and vitality, at an exceptional value.
Step 1: Perfecting Finish Mineral Primer
According to the company, this primer “creates a smooth facial canvas allowing the foundation to glide on seamlessly, leaving a fresh natural look that lasts all day. Mineral Primer is power packed with antioxidants and vitamins to give your skin a healthy glow.”
Right from the tube it looks and feels like an unscented moisturizer. It has an unscented water-based formula that was created to work well with the brand’s three types of foundations, as well as any other water-based and mineral complexion products like CC creams. I applied a dime-sized amount to my face, and after it was set, my pores looked smaller and the skin felt smoother. I’m not sure this primer would work for very dry skin though, just based on how tight it made mine feel.
Step 2: Perfecting Finish Mineral Foundation CFL01
Mia Mariu offers three types of Perfecting Finish Mineral Foundations to choose from: powder, cream and liquid. All of them “deliver oil-free, luminous all day coverage while providing the benefits of natural minerals and vitamins. Each Mineral Foundation reduces the appearance of pores to obtain a perfectly matched radiant tone.”
I chose the Liquid formula because it’s much easier to control the amount of coverage that way, at least for me. I tried using powder foundations before, and they just didn’t work out for me, and neither did creams; I guess it takes a special kind of skin to pull those off.
Despite its runny consistency, Perfecting Finish Liquid Mineral Foundation provides very opaque, full coverage. I used a brush and a sponge to apply it, and decided that it’s easier to do with a sponge, because the brush kept creating too many strokes, and since this foundation sets pretty quickly, if those lines weren’t immediately evened out, they were here to stay. Even though I selected the lightest shade CLF01, the color wasn’t really a good match for my skin tone [it was too yellow and too dark], so maybe I can make it work by mixing it with another shade.
The wear time on me was average – 6 hours until I noticed creases and oily patches. It’s really hard to find a foundation that won’t melt after being exposed to 90 degree temperatures while having sweat and oil oozing through.
Step 3: Perfecting Finish Mineral Cream Concealer CCC01
Some MUAs apply concealer first, but I usually wait until I’m done with my foundation to see if I still need it or not. Sometimes a light layer of foundation is all it takes to look refreshed, and a whited out undereye area would only make it worse. To finish off my Mia Mariu complexion routine, I used Perfecting Finish Mineral Cream Concealer, which the company describes as “an oil-free, vitamin packed, high intensity formula that effectively covers imperfections like dark spots, discoloration and blemishes for a perfect and even tone.”
I don’t often buy concealers in pans like that, usually I go for liquid pens or solid sticks, so I had to bust out my unused concealer brush for this one. The formula feels very thick [the consistency of a butter stick straight from the fridge], so it took me a few strokes to grab enough product. Once applied, this concealer provides perfectly full coverage, and really masks any kinds of imperfections. In that aspect, I thought it worked just as well as a much more expensive dermablend. It really covers everything, but I think it would work better for blemishes and discolorations, because it made my undereye area look a bit crepey. Maybe I applied too much?
And now here are some swatches for you. From left to right: primer, foundation, foundation again [blended], concealer. Unfortunately, color-wise neither one of the color products suits my complexion, but I think I can make the foundation work by mixing it with something else, like a CC cream. The primer however is fabulous, and will most likely join my current routine.
And here’s how the products look on me all together. Granted, I chose the perfect day to try these: after a sleepless night my undereye area was nice and dark, and I was looking paler than usual [practically transparent] because of that. As you can see, the foundation and concealer make my skin look a bit too yellow, even though I normally choose products with yellow undertones for myself.
I included a closeup of my skin so you could see for yourself how flawless this foundation makes the skin look. The image not altered in any way, and I didn’t use any skin smoothing/blurring filters. The primer made my pores disappear and the foundation glided all over it like butter.
PRICE & AVAILABILITY
Perfecting Finish Mineral Foundation – $25 USD for 1 fl. oz. Available at Mia Mariu.
Perfecting Finish Mineral Primer – $20 USD for 1 fl. oz. Available at Mia Mariu.
Perfecting Finish Mineral Cream Concealer – $16 USD for 1.9g. Available at Mia Mariu.
Do any of these products sound good to you? Well, you’re in luck, because you have a chance to win all three! One winner will receive Perfecting Finish Mineral Primer (x1), Perfecting Finish Mineral Foundation (x1) in the formula and color of your choice, and Perfecting Finish Mineral Cream Concealer (x1) in the color of your choice. Need help figuring our your perfect match? Check out this page for tips.
The rules are embedded in the widget, but I should double-mention that this giveaway is for US & Canada residents only, and the potential winner’s entries will be validated. The prize is fulfilled by Mia Mariu, so I’m not responsible for any issues once I hand the winner’s info to them [i.e. if the Sponsor doesn’t ship the prize in a timely manner, or doesn’t ship it at all]. If any problems arise, the best I can do is communicate with the sponsor on your behalf. There will be no prize substitutions. The giveaway starts on 7/17/2014 at 12:01 am EST and ends on 8/01/2014 at 11:59 pm EST. Good luck!
I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.
