Hey all! I’ve been eyeing MAC’s Fix+ for a while now and have started to wonder if this is something I need, as a Mineral Makeup Addict? You Tubers Have been using Fix+ to meld powdered foundation into their skin and provide a more natural “glowy” look. Opinions are varied on whether this product works any better than plain old water, but with it’s huge cult following I thought that it would be worth a closer look.

In Canada Fix+ is about $20. Ok, so it’s not a huge amount of money. But I’m a cheapo and am not willing to shell-out that amount of dough without some serious thought. I decided to look at the ingredients. Here they are:
Water, glycerin, butylene glycol, cucumber fruit extract, chamomilla, camellia leaf extract, tocophryl acetate, caffeine, panthenol, hydrogenated castor oil, fragrance.

Ok so lets break this down (please keep in mind that I am not a chemist, I’m simply a hobbiest. Most of my research on ingredients were done with simple searches online, they may not be completely accurate). The first 2 ingredients are:

• Water- well it’s water
• glycerin- a humactant that hold moisture to the skin.

Since butylene glycol is traditionally used in a very small percentage (although I’m not sure how much Fix+ uses) and falls third on the list I might assume the the following ingredients make up a very small percentage of the product. So, If I were to try and “dupe” FIX+ it seems that I may be able to mimic it by using water and glycerin.

Glycerin should be used at no more than 1 part glygerin to 3 parts water (glycerin absorbs moisture so if used 100% it can be harmful, and had been know to cause blisters on the tongue, so I would never put 100% glycerin anywhere near my face especially my eyes and mouth.) Usually this recipe (1 part glycerin to 3 parts water) is used for mixing medium, and the higher percentage of glycerin may make your skin look greasy.

So to mimic Fix+ I started with a full bottle of water and added a little glycerin until I found the perfect ratio (no more than 20% glycerin).

You can try this method too.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 19th, 2008 at 3:26 pm and is filed under Make you own mineral makeup, Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.