From Glowy Skin to Laminated Brows: 8 Ways You Can Use This Cult $39 Product
Sadaf Razi is Adore Beauty's Senior Beauty Editor.
She's a former fashion editor (who worked at various glossy mags) and stylist-turned digital beauty and lifestyle writer. She has been in the lifestyle/media industry for over 10 years and her work has also been featured on international covers like Elle France and Vanity Fair Mexico.
Some of her fave Adore Beauty products include Cicaplast B5, CeraVe Cleansing Oil and Lancôme Renergie Triple Serum.
How good is it when you rediscover old classics? Like the other day, I found my old Spice Girls CD (remember those??!!) and let me tell you – full blown chills.
It’s also pretty exciting when you re-fall in love with a beauty product you used to use back in the day, only to wonder why the heck you stopped! Like my old 90s Smash Hits albums, I recently revisited a $39 makeup product that'd been collecting dust in the back of my mind. (Don't worry, it was a new bottle, not literally the same one I was using in 2010.)
Turns out, it's an undercover beauty hero with a helluva lot of handy uses - just thinking about the cost-per-use... once again, chills.
So, let me reacquaint you with this cult bargain product loved by makeup artists all around the world, and 8 ways you can use it to save time and money.
What is MAC Prep and Prime Fix Plus?
A lot of people think M.A.C COSMETICS Prep + Prime Fix+ is a humble setting spray, but friends, let me tell you - she's so much more than that.
This lightweight water mist is actually a hydrating mist, primer, skincare product and setting spray, all in one iconic bottle (and don't even get me started on the deliciously subtle scent that makes me want to run around barefoot on an island for six months).
Unlike most 'setting sprays', MAC Fix+ is alcohol-free and packed with skincare ingredients like chamomile and cucumber extracts to sooth the skin, and green tea and caffeine to keep your makeup looking fresh all damn day.
Makeup artists and beauty editors have been using MAC Fix+ for decades, but why am I reintroducing it to you now, you ask?
Because now more than ever, we need - nay, deserve - beauty products that work, and work hard to make our routines easier and more affordable.
Here's my MAC Fix+ review - let's count the ways you can use this $39 do-all product.
How to use MAC Fix Plus.
1. As a Hydrating Primer.
If you don’t like the feel of a primer during summer or want to cut it out of your routine altogether, then switch it out for this refreshing mist. Spritzing Fix+ on the skin after skincare and before makeup won’t feel as heavy or silicone-y as a primer, but delivers a beautiful sheen that will perfectly prep your skin for makeup application.
2. As an Emergency Brow Product or DIY Brow Lamination.
Run out of your fave brow gel or forgot to pack it? Don’t panic, DIY it with the Fix+ spray.
Simply spray onto your spoolie (a naked mascara wand or eyebrow brush) and comb upwards through your brows. You’ll also be giving them a dose of those beautiful hydrating ingredients that your normal brow gel probably can't.
Here’s a picture after I used MAC Fix+ both before and after makeup application, as well as on my brows. The glow and luminosity it imparted was next level amazing. I’m not wearing ANY highlighter here.
Look, did my brows hold all day? No.
But if you're keeping a bottle of Fix+ in your bag or desk drawer to mist throughout the day anyway (more on that in a bit), who cares?! Just whip out your spoolie to tidy up any rogue hairs.
3. To Set Your Makeup As You Go.
Sometimes, setting spray feels like being hit in the face with a water gun. One of the best Fix+ tricks is to use it to set your makeup as you go.
Instead of water, dampen your beauty blender with the spray to ensure your makeup lasts longer and maintains a dewy finish. I did this in the selfie above, too.
4. As a Hydrating Skincare Mist.
If we're being honest with each other, skincare mists are one of those products that are a 'nice-to-have', not a 'must-have'. Especially if you're on a budget. Good thing your 'setting spray' is actually a skincare product, too.
Awaken tired, meh or air-con dry skin with a quick spritz for an instant boost. Because this spray is alcohol-free (unlike many so-called setting sprays), you can give your face an instant hydration hit without having to worry about if it's actually drying out your skin in the long run.
Here’s before and after with no makeup, fresh and radiant!
5. To Fix Cakey Foundation or Touch Up Your Makeup.
Makeup looking cakey throughout the day? Do your nose and cheeks seem to eat your foundation?
Rather than layering more product on top (this will only give makeup a heavier look), spray Fix+ onto a stippling brush or your beauty blender and touch up your base by gently dabbing or patting over any cakey, creased areas. This works a treat for fixing creased concealer.
6. As an Instant Liquid Highlighter (or to Turn Powder Products Into Dewy Ones).
Like the idea of glowy liquid blushes and highlighters, but want to use up your powder products first? Spray MAC Fix+ onto your brush to repurpose powder products like highlighter, bronzer, blush and eyeshadow into more of an intense liquid/creamy consistency.
I gave this intensifying trick a go by spritzing the product on my pink powder blush. Look at that gorgeous colour on my cheeks! I sealed makeup in with an all-over spritz and noticed the beautiful shimmer it left on my nose and cheekbones. Three hours later at 7pm – still dewy!
Pro tip: MAC Fix+ sprayed on your décolletage, legs and shoulders for an all-over-body glow is also a very good idea.
7. To Fix Makeup Mistakes.
Everyone knows how bloody annoying it is when you stuff up your eyeliner or mascara because fixing it ruins the rest of your handiwork. Not anymore. Spray Fix+ onto a Q-tip or a small eyeliner brush to erase the mistake – genius!
Applied too much full coverage foundation and you’re about to have brunch with your partner’s parents, but can't leave the house because you look like Ru Paul? (No shade to Ru Paul, but his drag magic isn't exactly a casual day-time lewk.)
DON’T FRET PET. Make your foundation look sheerer by giving your face a spray before dabbing over it with your beauty blender.
Oh yeah, and finally, you can use Fix+ as a finishing spray to set your makeup application. Just hold the product about 30cm away and mist evenly all over the face.
Here’s how my makeup lasted, even after a 40-minute walk in muggy 28-degree weather. When I looked in the mirror at 9pm, my cheeks still looked glowy. Magic.
If you want to maintain that ‘lasting glow’ for a wedding or another long event, this is the perfect product.
Now, if all that isn't bang for your buck, I don’t know what is.
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