I threw it waaaaaaay back to the old school today with MAC Studio Fix Fluid Foundation.
C’mon, MAC girls, I know y’all went through a phase when you wore this for a minute. I know I totally did! It was my jam back in the day. I’m talking late ’90s, early 2000s. It was the first MAC Foundation I ever tried.
Oh, the trouble I got into while wearing this… So great. 😉
Full-coverage matte MAC Studio Fix Fluid is THE foundation I think of when I picture classic full-on glam MAC makeup, but here’s the deal: it’s surprisingly flexible. You can easily change the look of it if you’re feeling creative, which is how I was feeling this morning after I watched this video with MAC Artist Nemah Hasan.
She mixes Studio Fix Fluid Foundation with Pinklite Strobecream…
So genius, right? Why didn’t I ever think to try that?
Anyway, it inspired me, so today I put my own spin on it. I did a mostly matte, skin-focused makeup look with a subtle pink sheen. I think it’s quite sheer and natural looking, which I’ve been loving lately.
Here’s how I did the foundation…
1. Prep your skin first by spritzing a few sprays of moisturizing MAC Prep + Prime Fix+.
LOL! I look like I just emerged from an ocean swim in this pic! My face is drenched. For the record, it’s not easy to take a self-portrait when you’re spraying your face with Fix+.
I do this to moisturizing my skin and make the foundation look smoother.
2. Prime your skin with MAC Prep + Prime Skin.
Today was my first time trying this smoothing face primer. The colorless formula contains tiny, seductive sparkles that I can’t really see once they’re blended in, unless I look very closely. I like it. It smooths ‘ze pores while delicately blessing you with radiance. Ah…
3. Mix equal parts MAC Studio Fix Fluid Foundation and MAC Strobe Cream in Pinklite.
Adding Pinklite Strobe Cream sheers out the Studio Fix Fluid a bit.
I wanted to keep the sheen on my cheeks and chin, so, when I was done with the foundation, I set my forehead and the sides of my nose with a little MAC Mineralize Slinfinish Natural in Medium Golden using a MAC 140S Synthetic Fan Brush.
2. The final look
I kept the rest of my makeup pretty natural to go with the overall theme, and here’s a quick breakdown…
EYES: MAC Groundwork Paint Pot mixed with a face oil and applied to my lids, two coats of MAC Bold & Bad Lash Mascara on my lashes, and MAC Lord It Up Pearlglide Intense Eye Liner smudged out on my upper and lower lash lines; MAC Brow Sculpt Brow Pencil Spiked in my brows and set with Benefit clear brow gel.
CHEEKS: MAC Patentpolish Lip Pencil in Clever used as a cream blush.
LIPS: MAC Nicki Minaj Lipstick in Nicki’s Nude
And that pretty much describes my makeup mood today. What was yours?
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Of course I wore this, my first ever MAC foundation! Every single day until it was finished. By the time that happened I had already ventured out in the world of makeup and there were so many others to try I never repurchased. Now I wonder if I would still enjoy it.
Yup, it’s a good starter foundation.
I had to keep going back to the “full coverage” part because it wasn’t computing with your picture, which is lovely and very natural! 🙂 I just needed to read down a bit. HAHA! And I thought the same thing about your “spritz” picture. Like how many tries before you got that perfect shot?
Just enough to look like I washed my face, for real, HAHA!
In the words of Jaime Lannister, the things you do for love (of excellent makeup blogging). 🙂 PS I know you wouldn’t go to Jaime lengths but your efforts are much more appreciated.
I was sad that Studio Fix broke me out because NC10 is a really good color match for me. Love this look!
Your skin looks amazing! I have never tried a MAC foundation before.
Let me know if you need any MAC foundation recs. I’ve tried pretty much all of them!
Love this look. I’ve never tried Studio Fix but I do like Mineralize and Face and Body. My parched skin needs the moisture.
No makeup today. My skin has been so dry recently that it hurts. Sound weird I know, but it sort of stings. And last night I got a kitty hair in my eye and couldn’t get it out, so my eye is all irritated today. Since I only had to take Nora to the vet I decided today would be a “give the eye a rest and skincare kind of day”.
GIRL. Me too! I think it’s because we started turning on our heater at night. It hurts to smile!
Studio Fix Fluid is SUCH an underrated foundation! It’s so flexible. A lot of matte, medium/full coverage foundations don’t do well when you try to thin them out with moisturizer or liquid highlighter but I’ve always found that its performance never wavers, no matter how I wear it. I often like to wear a layer of SFF mixed equal parts with my NARS 413 BLKR illuminator all over my face, add a little more SFF to the product on the back of my hand, and use the second mixture as a medium-coverage concealer for a nice, natural look.
SFF never breaks up on me even after 8 or 10 hours, it has so many shades, it’s so versatile… I love it. The only thing I don’t love is that it oxidizes about a shade darker on me which used to be a problem because I was in the lightest NC shade but then they introduced NC10 and it’s perfect!
Was a Mineralize Satin Finish girl until they discontinued that. Realised I prefer better and longer coverage. In comes the Pro Long wear liquid foundation. Love.
Didnt like the idea of no pump with the Studio Fix.
Favourite foundation BY FAR now is the Bobbi Brown STICK foundation that I picked up at an Estee Lauder sale. MY EXACT shade is Cool Honey 5.25. Blends so well.
NC40/43 in MAC.