Update for all MAC foundation fan-atics: Thanks to the new MAC Studio Fix Soft Matte Foundation Sticks, this fall we’ll have yet another reason to stick around the MAC counter.
If only MAC made their foundations in NC10!Check out more photos here: http://littleporcelainprincess.blogspot.com/2016/04/review-mac-studio-fix-fluid-in-nw1. One of these items ships sooner than the other. Buy the selected items together. This item: MAC Studio Fix Powder Plus Foundation NW10 $45.75. Only 3 left in stock - order soon. Sold by Friends and Family Market and ships from Amazon Fulfillment.
One of my tried-and-true all-time MAC faves is their Studio Fix Foundation (it’s wicked dermatological wizardry when mixed with a few drops of Strobe Cream and set with Mineralize Skinfinish Natural), so I’m excited about this cream stick foundation, which comes in 33 colors and hits shelves beginning September 5.
Like the O.G. Studio Fix Foundation, these sticks promise a flawless finish and a formula that’s theoretically supposed to last 86,400 seconds…which is 24 hours, in case you were wondering.
However, unlike the original Studio Fix Foundation and its ultra-perfected, complete coverage, Studio Fix Soft Matte Foundation is medium coverage and made to appeal to makeup minimalists, a la the low-maintenance girl (or guy) looking to even out their skin tone and ever-so-slightly blur some pores.
Mac Studio Fix Nw10 Swatches
From the official MAC PR:
“There’s a definite skin moment happening right now,” says Terry Barber, MAC Director of Makeup Artistry in London.” We’re not talking rawness here, or the whole no makeup, makeup thing. “It’s premium skin; enhanced, plumped, smooth and packed with moisture. Matte in the past was associated with dryness and dullness, whereas the new matte is about soft focus and blur with no blanket coverage and light hitting in all the right places.”
Mac Studio Fix Nw10 Swatches
MAC recommends applying Studio Fix Soft Matte Foundation Stick with their 170 Synthetic Rounded Slant Brush, the 182 Foundation Brush, the 130 Synthetic Short Duo Fibre Brush, a sponge, or swiped directly on the face and tapped with fingers.
Starting today here in North America, you can find the Studio Fix Soft Matte Foundation Sticks at MAC counters and online for $23, and they join the rest of the permanent items in the Studio Fix face family, which includes Studio Fix Fluid SPF 15 ($31), Studio Fix 24-Hour Concealer ($23), Studio Fix Powder Plus Foundation ($31) and the Studio Fix Brushes ($35-42).
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
I have a complicated relationship with foundation… and BB creams, and primers, and concealers, and base products generally to be quite honest. I won’t bore you with the usual pale girl spiel, because you will have heard it a hundred times before I’m sure – too orange, too yellow, too pink, doesn’t match my neck, mix it with white, life is so hard etc. I will however bore you with a little bit of context.
My holy grail foundation has always been Mac Studio Fix Fluid SPF15. I have gone through numerous bottles of this over the years, usually in the shade NC15. It’s the most perfect natural matte, medium-full coverage foundation I have ever used. It’s buildable. It lasts really well. It doesn’t break my skin out. You can apply it with a buffing brush, a flat foundation brush, a Beauty Blender, your fingers… always good. In spite of all the perfection and love, NC15 has never been quite the right colour for me… passable, with enough work? But never perfect, certainly never effortlessly perfect. Every now and again I’d get frustrated and try something else out from another brand… but their shades are never right either. And the quality never matches up to the beloved Mac Studio Fix Fluid.
So a couple of weeks ago when my last bottle of NC15 died, along with the Select Moisturecover concealer to match, I decided to pop along to my local Mac counter and get re-matched. I finally made time to do it earlier this week, I am so glad I did. The lovely artist laughed when I said I’d been previously matched to an NC15 – “Oh no way, that’s far too yellow!” – and she sat me down to try out a NW13. Nope. Not quite. Next she pulled out an NW10, and made an incredibly exciting gasp noise as she buffed it into my face. Literally perfect. No lines. Not even the slightest difference between my chest and my neck and my face.
The coverage you get with the Studio Fix Fluid is awesome, so much so that you don’t need much concealer if any. I picked up a tube of the Select Cover-up in NW15, and I’m looking forward to trying this out. I also got a new foundation pump (these are sold separately from the foundation, but are only a couple of quid) and a new Penultimate eye liner. A standard black felt-tip liner kind of deal, nothing exciting but my old Smashbox has just about dried up. I had a Penultimate pen a couple of years ago and loved it. When in Rome?
Bonus picture, for your shock and horror – that’s NC15 on the left there, with the battered bottle and broken pump… NW10 is hugely different. I can’t believe how different these shades look even in the bottle. I never thought NC15 looked terrible, but there’s no way it’s anywhere near as good as NW10.
I’ve ordered myself a new buffing brush to try out with the Studio Fix Fluid – a much raved about by the Internet Sigma F80. I’ve been adoring my Real Techniques Expert Face Brush but I’m excited to see how the Sigma performs. It’ll be my first Sigma brush, and I’ve heard nothing but good things!