MAC V'S RIMMEL

April 14, 2017

By Jue Douglas

I do love budget beauty brands and hate the ideal of overspending on products I'm just going to wash off at the end of the day so when I was kindly gifted the Mac Studio Fix Powder I was worried that it would be wasted on my face as I have loved and used the Rimmel Stay Matte since my teens (years ago I know!!!!) and have used many other powders since but always seem to go back to this one on a daily basis.

Using the Revlon foundation as a base and completely the same other products of blush, eyes, brows etc I thought I would do a wear and compare on a normal like for like day and see which wears the best for me.
First of all let's look at the packaging and even I can't fault the Mac product. It's perfect for handbags and taking with you to touch up.. where as the Rimmel one isn't really designed for on the go and if you did need to touch up throughout the day you would need a little mirror in your bag.
As well as the lack of mirror the Rimmel product doesn't come with a brush or sponge which I have always bought separately at £1 for 3 so not to much money.
Also the Rimmel Stay Matte Powder is the Rita Ora edition which is exactly the same as the original but that can be off putting if you're not a Rita Ora fan.
The sponge in the Mac product isn't my cup of tea either but I have used it in this test just to see. I would definitely change the sponge to one of my own in the future, but that's just my taste.
Secondly let's look at the price:
Mac Studio Fix Powder £23.50 in the shade 20
Rimmel Stay Matte Powder £3.99 in the shade Transparent


You could buy a lot of Rimmel powders for just one of the Macs.
The first day of my little tester trial  I tried the Mac one because to be honest I was excited to use the product and I really wanted to be wooed by the expense of it all.
Using the sponge that it came with I found it to be very finely milled and went on very nicely and evenly. It covered everything I needed it to like freckles and age spots and I liked the look of the finish. By dinner time I did feel like I needed a retouch and it was so handy to grab the compact and Powder my nose with no problem at all. (I'm not sure if I did need a retouch it's just something I needed to do).
All in all I was impressed with the Powder and loved the compact which I can't fault at all.

Going back to my Rimmel the next day wasn't a chore. I have loved the Powder for years but have never used it solely for a full day. ( I keep a Primark compact in my bag for dinner time touch ups). The finish at the start of the day I couldn't really see a difference as it wasn't noticeable. The Powder isn't as finely milled but other than that the end result was very similar. By dinner time I did the same retouch on my nose which was a little shiny at this point but the powder isn't cakey and is great for touch ups. I found carrying the Powder around abit of a faff as I had to have a separate handbag mirror but other than that I was happy with the retouched look.


Marks out of ten for the Mac is a 9/10
The product design is brilliant and lasted practically all my work day even though it wouldn't have lasted me all the evening.
Marks out of ten for the Rimmel is a 7/10
Rimmel only loses marks on the product design and I would love to see them bring out a little compact for handbags but is brilliant in a makeup bag.
All in all I do think the Mac compact is lovely and I will use it in my handbag but it's not converted me to higher end makeup and would rather use extra powder at dinnertime and spend my extra cash on a Primark shop rather than a Powder compact.
But please Rimmel bring out a Stay Matte compact!
Happy shopping
Jue X

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