The sequel to my foundation odyssey, in which I venture at last to the MAC store...
I have long shunned the MAC store, not because I don't like their products--I do--but because a publicist was once really snooty with me when I was writing for the LA Times, and I took it personally. But that was, what, ten years ago? And MAC is supposed to be some kind of foundation Valhalla. So, get over it, I said to myself.
I did, and wound up with a matte black compact containing MAC Studio Fix, which happens to come in the exact shade of my skin (NC30). This means that I can be even more sparing in using it, and don't even have to cover my whole face with the stuff, which is tremendous, as there are plenty of days I just want to dab at my ruddy cheeks and no more. The texture is also fine enough that it blends down into the skin. I've been using it for a few weeks now and am still enamored. As I am with the Zoom Lash I bought on the same visit.
And the application lesson from the shopgirl at the MAC store was actually worth while for a change. I hesitate to call her a shopgirl, as all the female MAC makeup artists, male or female, look like drag divas doing Liza Minelli, who already looks like a drag diva. My diva was helpful without being schmoozy, and tipped me to setting the powder with a spritz of facial mist, then going over it again with the brush to make the matte effect more subtle. She didn't push the MAC finishing spray, and though it was nice enough, I am happily using Burt's Bees Cucumber Chamomile Complexion Mist for this purpose.
As luck would have it, I was contacted a week later by a MAC publicist who was as sweet as cotton candy, so now I feel thoroughly chastened--but mostly just really happy to have a new foundation to love.