*Press sample
Aura Makeup is an Australian made and owned, cruelty free and vegan brand. Aura Makeup is Choose Cruelty Free accredited, which in my opinion is the best cruelty free accreditation out there. The brand states that they “deliver an ethically conscious and sustainably sourced makeup line to the market” and “products that are truly vegan and cruelty free”. They also say that they use pure Australian minerals and organically sourced plant ingredients to create products that are lightweight, breathable and high performance. I originally found this brand through the Choose Cruelty Free website and was interested in trying their products once I read about the brand values. Aura Makeup kindly sent me their Evolved Pressed Mineral Foundation and kabuki brush to try and review for you.
The Aura Makeup Evolved Pressed Mineral Foundation comes in a sturdy black compact with a large mirror on the inside of the lid, and the powder can be flipped up to reveal a compartment where a makeup sponge is kept. This makes the product perfect for on the go touch ups as you have everything there that you need, plus the powder is pressed making the application process a lot less messy than a loose powder. The product comes in a recyclable cardboard box and you get 14 grams of powder in the compact for $55. It can be applied with the included sponge for a higher coverage look or with a kabuki brush for a lighter coverage. I typically use the small Aura kabuki brush to apply the foundation over the whole face which gives a light coverage, and only use the sponge for touch ups during the day. If you use the included sponge to apply the powder to the whole face, then you will be able to build the powder up to a medium coverage. The Aura Super Soft Kabuki Brush it is a good little brush to get. It’s small enough to carry around in your bag, but big enough to apply a full face of powder with. I have obvious pores so I use a pore filling primer before applying the powder and if I have any blemishes, then I will go in with concealer before applying the powder as well. The Aura Makeup Pressed Mineral Foundation feels really light on the skin, even when the coverage is built up. It gives a matte look to the skin but it’s not so matte that my skin feels tight in any way. Like most powders, it will emphasise any flaking skin, but it performs well on my dry skin other than that. I can see people using the Aura Makeup Evolved Pressed Mineral Foundation to build up coverage on top of a liquid foundation. A lot of people use pressed foundations in this way, like the Kat Von D Lock-It Powder Foundation, Cover FX Pressed Mineral Foundation or the Mac Powder (not cruelty free). The Aura Makeup Pressed Mineral Foundation could be a cruelty free and vegan alternative, but I don’t tend to apply my makeup that way. If you you use the Aura Makeup Evolved Pressed Mineral Foundation in this way, let me know in the comments below.
I received the lightest shade, Shell (light beige) which is one of 5 shades available. It’s very hard to tell just how deep those shades go by the pictures on the website but I assume there are a lot of skin tones not catered for as there aren’t many shades available. Shell is just light enough for me. Ideally it could be a little bit lighter but it still works for me. I have swatches comparing it to two other mainstream pressed powders in my collection so that you can get some idea of the colour it is. It is darker than both the Australis Cosmetics Fresh and Flawless Pressed Powder Light Beige and Charlotte Tilbury Airbrush Flawless Finish powder in Fair, but not by a lot. The biggest difference is the difference in formula but the other two products aren’t mineral foundations.
The Aura Makeup website doesn’t list or highlight any of the ingredients in the Evolved Pressed Mineral foundation. I do however have the ingredient list on the cardboard box for the Shell shade. The ingredients are Zinc Stearate, Zea Mays (corn) starch, Zinc Oxide, Ethyl Macadamiate, Jojoba Esters, Tocopherol (Natural Vitamin E), Lauroyl Lysine, Malic Acid and may contain Mica (Cl 77019), Iron Oxides (Cl 77491, Cl 77492, Cl 77499), Titanium Dioxide (Cl 77891), Tin Oxide (Cl 77861), Ultramarines (Cl 77007). The ingredients that stand out to me as having skin benefits are Lauroyl Lysine, Ethyl Macadamiate and Jojoba Esters as they are emollients, and Vitamin E is well known for it’s anti-oxidant and anti-aging properties, but I don’t know how well they work in powder form. . Zinc Oxide is a broad spectrum sunscreen which will be giving the powder it’s SPF of 15, but as with any makeup product with SPF, you still need to ensure that you wear a dedicated sunscreen as well. Many people think that Zinc Oxide helps to reduce inflammation and irritation on their skin, so it is a very popular ingredient for those with skin concerns like acne or rosacea. Overall, the ingredients look good, but I would prefer it if Aura Makeup highlighted why they chose these specific ingredients.
I’ve never tried a mineral powder foundation like this before. It absolutely has a different texture to any other pressed powders that I own. The Aura Makeup Evolved Pressed Mineral Foundation has a slight waxy feel to it. I can’t really describe it in any other way. When you rub the powder between two fingers, you can feel the slight grippiness that wax has, whereas all other powders feel like a smooth powder. This is feature is most prominent when the powder is put under water and compared to other powders. Other powders wash off immediately but the Aura Evolved Mineral Pressed Foundation stays on longer. Aura Makeup state that this powder is perfect for people who have an active lifestyle and can be used during sporting activities. I can see this powder performing a lot better than others with heavy sweating, but I haven’t tried that out myself. The one thing I have noticed with this powder, that doesn’t often happen to powders for me, is that it gets ‘hardpan’ quite easily. Hardpan is when the top layer of a pressed powder begins to harden and results in the product not working as well as it did before. This is a common problem for people with oily skin as the oils from their face are transferred to the powder causing this to happen, but it can also happen if you don’t wash your brushes frequently or if you apply the powder over a wet foundation that hasn’t set yet. I have dry skin, wash my brushes a lot and never applied this powder over a tacky base so it was surprising for this to happen. It however doesn’t mean to product is wasted by any means. I just use the typical trick of getting some sticky tape and gently tapping it on to the hardened areas of powder. After repeating this a few times, the powder looks like new again.
The Aura Makeup Evolved Pressed Mineral Foundation is unique in my collection. I’ve never come across another powder that has the same almost waxy feel to it. This makes it a product that anyone with an active lifestyle should try, but it also works for those of us (like me), who are not so active. It can be a light coverage when applied with a kabuki brush or built up to a medium coverage with the included sponge, and feels light on the skin no matter what coverage level you like. The main way I like to use this mineral powder, is to put it in my bag and use it for touch ups. The packaging is really travel friendly and the included sponge and mirror make it perfect for touch ups on the go. The formula does seem to be prone to hardpan, which may be off-putting for some but it is easy to fix. I haven’t seem many people review or feature Aura Makeup on their blogs, but I’m glad I found them. I know many people are like me and trying to find products that are both good to the animals and good to the environment. I would like to see more information on the website about how they sustainably source their ingredients and about why they choose to use those ingredients in each product. If you are interested in mineral makeup, then check out my review of Eco Minerals. I am trying to feature more brands like this on my blog, so if that interests you, sign to email updates to get my new blog posts sent directly to your inbox. You can also find me on social media – Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.
Have you tried the Aura Makeup Evolved Pressed Mineral Foundation? If, so what did you think of it? Does Aura Makeup sound like a brand you would try? They have some other products on their website that look really interesting too. The Aura Makeup Skin Prep Primer, Studio Effects Foundation (I really want to try more stick foundations in future), Natural Finish Foundation and Fresh Finish Pressed Blushes are products I would love to try in future. If you have tried any Aura Makeup products, let me know what you think of them in the comments below.
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