E.L.F. Mineral Foundation Review

So...my face is kinda riddled with acne and since it isn’t getting any better I thought I’d add a new product to my Oh God I Hope This Works List (also known as Oh God I Hope This Doesn’t Add to the Problem List).

I recently purchased E.L.F.’s mineral foundation (along with other mineral products such as the eye brightener, booster and eye primer). Mineral foundation has been said to help those with sensitive and acne prone skin – that’s me!

Light and Warm foundations side by side.

I’m not going to say what skin tone I am according to MAC’s line of foundations because I like to consider my non-MAC-using readers. Instead I’ll describe it: light to medium skin tone with a whole lot of yellow. Because I have a lot of redness due to my acne (not my actual skin tone), it makes choosing a foundation difficult. So when I purchased the E.L.F. mineral foundation, I chose both Light and Warm.

Light is very yellow – more my match – while Warm isn’t necessarily darker than Light as it is more red. I’ve been using Light and the color matches perfectly.

Light and Warm compared to my skin tone (honestly, Warm looks like pink to me).

As far as coverage goes, this definitely ranks at a light to medium coverage. My acne is not completely covered when I build this to its maximum strength, but most mineral foundations are characteristically light to medium coverage, so I wasn’t really disappointed.

As far as how long it lasted I would say it lasted at a nice, typical amount of time. I don’t have terribly oily skin, just average, so the foundation lasted about 6 hours. But really, how hard would it be to just swipe a little bit on to freshen it up? When it comes to powder foundation, longevity isn’t a big issue for me because it’s easier to reapply.

Things to take note of: If my skin is not perfectly moisturized, I do get that flakey affect on my cheeks where I have acne (and where I treat it the harshest). It hasn’t helped with my skin at all, in fact, I think it has worsened from the three times I wore it. My active acne has become a little inflamed and in need of a rescue (AKA my Lush Fresh Farmacy soap, Greased Lightning treatment and Tea Tree Water toner…in case you were wondering). I’ve been applying this foundation with Physician’s Formula Airbrushing Kabuki, which is a very dense, very flat and very large brush that really works well.

But alas, even used with an optimum applicator, the foundation just isn’t for me. I won’t say that it disappointed me because I don’t feel like every kind of foundation should work with every skin type. But I will say that if you have acne, acne scars, skin spots or any other things that you would like to cover up, I would not recommend the E.L.F. Mineral Foundation. Unless, of course, you were a big concealer-user.

(See that’s the thing about makeup – there are SO many variables and options that, honestly, anyone can make almost any product work for them when used with another product. It makes writing a fair and accurate review that’s helpful to all skin types a little confusing…and difficult.)

THE VERDICT:  If you’re on the fence, just buy it. It’s only five bucks (and you can get it cheaper with one of those billions of coupon codes out there) and customize its use to fit your skin and beauty needs.

Good luck out there, my fellow beauty fiends!