Tuesday, April 26, 2011

MAC Fix+ Skin Refresher & Finishing Mist


Ok, I have to admit, I really thought this was totally unnecessary when I first heard about it. A friend of mine kept telling me how amazing this was and how much I needed it. I was dubious...with my oily skin, it only takes a few minutes for the matte look to fade and everything to settle into place anyway. I certainly didn't need something I could spray on to make this happen even faster! Or so I thought...

MAC Fix+ comes in a 3.4 oz. frosted bottle of the normal MAC shape. It has a sturdy black pump that twists to lock, so it won't come open during travel. Fix+ retails for $19.00 which I initially thought was a bit steep...that was until I tried it. The bottle does last me quite a while, somewhere between 2-3 months, so the price really isn't all that high when you break it down.

MAC says that Fix+ is "an aqua-spritz of vitamins and minerals, infused with a calm-the-skin blend of green tea, chamomile, cucumber, and topped off with the fresh, natural, energizing scent of Sugi." They also say it "Adds radiance. Spray it on. Skin drinks it up!"

The main way I use Fix+ is after I have finished applying my makeup each morning. I generally use anywhere from 3-5 sprays depending on how dry my face is. If I have a dry area that I can tell is being accentuated by my foundation, i'll spray it closer together over that area to diffuse that dry look. In the summer, for example, when I am just headed outside anyway, 3 is more than enough. One on each side of my face and one in the middle...just to set everything in place.

Now, I had assumed that the outcome of using Fix+ was going to be no different than just waiting a few minutes for everything to blend with my natural face oils and meld together. That's where I was wrong...so, so wrong. What I love is that it doesn't take away the matte look I like, but just the inevitable powdery look.

In a nutshell, Fix+ can turn your quickly-applied, half-asleep, rushing-to-work makeup into professionally airbrushed perfection. A few sprays makes everything you have applied all meld together with your foundation. Harsh lines are gone...everything just comes together so smoothly that it looks like you spent hours with a blending brush trying to get it that way.

What made me fall even deeper in love with Fix+, is the first time I used it after I did my mid-day blot and touch-up. I get very oily in the T-zone, so after I blot the first time, I literally have no foundation left on my nose. To fix this, I touch up with my powder foundation, but everything looks uneven again until natural oils do their thing. Instead of waiting around, I spray Fix+ again, and everything looks like it did when I left the house in the morning.

Though I haven't tried it for this, I know it can be used as a mixing medium for MAC pigments and to foil eyeshadow. It also doubles as a toner when used on clean skin. There are even more uses, as you'll find out once you have a bottle.

Do you need it? Yes, without a doubt. It's one of those things that I thought was totally frivolous and unnecessary, but now I wonder how I ever lived without. Whether you have dry skin, oily skin, use liquid foundation, use powder foundation, or just want this for after you blot...everyone has a use for it. Yes, it initially seems a bit pricey, but just try one bottle and you'll see what I mean.

1 comments:

Kim said...

You can save a ton of money by refilling your fix + bottle with purified spring water and a tablespoon of glycerine...it's basically the key ingredients aside from added vitamins and minerals. For oily skin add witch hazel, to smell nice add rose water. These are all available in the pharmacy section of any drug store for pennies compared to what you spend on one bottle of fix+ you can make several bottles.