Mineral makeup has always been around. But admittedly, it wasn’t something that ever interested me. As someone who leans combo/dry, I always worried how my skin would react to all that powder. Recently though, my interest was piqued by the newly released Mineral Makeup Powder from Tribe Skincare. This being their first dive into the makeup world after conquering the Australian skincare game.
By chance, I ended up scoring this in a mystery box (Tribe does them fairly often) and I’ve been putting it to the test ever since. So, if you want to know if I’m now part of the Tribe Tribe, just keep reading!
TRIBE MINERAL MAKEUP POWDER – $65.00 – tribeskincare.com.au (4 shades available)
Starting as I always do with the packaging, the powder is housed in a very simple plastic container (having said that, the lid is very colourful and eye-catching much like Tribe’s other products). The inside has a half sifter and a sliding closing feature to avoid excess product going everywhere. The Tribe Mineral Makeup Powder is cruelty free, vegan, has an SPF15 and contains 15g of product.
At the time of writing, there are only four shades available. Light, Light/Medium, Medium and Medium/Tan. Despite the small shade range, this is the kind of product that can still work on multiple skin tones. Having said that, Tribe Skincare’s owner Kayla Houlihan has said that they are working on expanding the range to add some deeper shades in the future.
Taking a stab in the dark on choosing my shade, I ended up going with Light/Medium. And I have to say it’s a pretty darn good match for me. I actually had a difficult time swatching the product for this review because it blended into my natural skin tone so seamlessly. Which is what I mean by this product being more accommodating than a regular foundation.
When it comes to application, because this is a powder, a brush is your only real option. Tribe does sell a buffing brush on their website that is designed to go with the foundation (it was made in collaboration with Aussie brand Llivia Beaute). I do own the brush and I do enjoy using it. If, however, you don’t want to spend the extra $38 and would prefer to use something you already own, I also often use my Real Techniques Mini Expert Face Brush and it does a really good job.
Normally, this would be where I would say how many pumps I used to achieve the finished result. As this is a powder foundation, I can’t really do that. In fact, it actually took some trial and error to figure out how much product I needed to use. I found that the best approach to take was to use a little bit at a time. Buffing it in really well and then adding more if I felt like I needed more coverage. One thing I will recommend is not wearing white while applying this as it can get a little messy.
Overall, I would call this a matte finish. But not a flat matte. Mica is listed as one of the ingredients and it does add a little luminosity. But not so much that it looks glittery. The coverage on this is also quite impressive. Definitely a medium coverage but I can easily build it up to full if need be. I can still see my skin, but it does an excellent job of covering my redness and smoothing out my skin.
I wore this for a minimum 8 hours on five consecutive days and I have to say I’m very happy with it. Considering the temperature has been reaching the high 30’s/low 40’s up north, it holds up really well. The only day I ran into issues with this foundation was when I wore a hydrating primer. It did not sit well at all. I found that if you want to wear a primer with this foundation, it should be one with a slightly drier formula (I mentioned this in my current makeup routine post last Friday). I have also worn this without a primer and it works well too.
If anything, it performed a lot like my other liquid foundations. I did have some cracking in my lines, which is normal for me at this point. And I did find that it wore away a little on my top lip. Fortunately, this is a very easy product to touch up with.
All said and done, the Tribe Mineral Makeup Powder gets a big old thumbs up from me and if you can get a shade that works for you, I recommend it. It’s so easy to just quickly buff onto my face when I’m about to start my day and it lasts for a really long time too! So yeah, a winner! Have you tried the Tribe Mineral Makeup Powder? Let me know in the comments below!
Cheers and love
Emmie xo
I love powder foundations & mineral is my favourite, I’ve been a huge fan of the Thin Lizzy Mineral foundation so I can imagine I would probably love this a lot too. The coverage sounds really good. I love full coverage & don’t mind matte finishes.
Thank you so much for reading! I do also have my eye on the Thin Lizzy powder
Xx