Antipodes® has always known to be a scientific organic skin care brand and that is also how I remember Antipodes to be. That was all changed two weeks ago when TNS Skin Lab, a leading specialist retailer of premium natural and organic beauty & personal care products who is also the exclusive retailer for Antipodes here in Malaysia launched the all-natural mineral makeup collection.

Since I’m new to Antipodes, allow me to do a short brand introduction on the brand 🙂

Do you know that Antipodes is a global scientific organic beauty brand that aspires to Estee Lauder’s family business values and it is owned by Wellingtonian, Elizabeth Barbalich? Now you know :D. I was always curious on the word “scientific” that is attached to the brand name. I found out that each formula is scientifically validated which explains the scientific part. All of the premium ingredients are sourced from none other than New Zealand’s nature. Each and every product has it’s own exotic scent. It’s quite interesting I would say as the brand invest in expertise of “The French Nose” on earlier days to determine the fragrance across each range.

Antipodes has been around since 2006. That was 7 years ago and now the brand has developed a total of 26 skin care products, five natural mineral foundations and six lipsticks. Besides it’s native New Zealand, Antipodes has also bloomed and expanded to countries like Malaysia, Australia, France, Slovenia, Canada, Italy, UK, Taiwan and South Korea. It’s range of product is also available at international independent retailers such as Whole Foods Market, Selfridges Department Store UK, Sephora, Planet Organic, David Jones, MYER, Fenwick and ASOS (Saviour Skin Balm only).

Now back to the event. We were fortunate to have Stephanie Malcolm, Global Brand Manager of Antipodes at the launch and introduction of Antipodes mineral makeup collection event. Stephanie took the time to introduce us to the brand Antipodes and it’s skin care range before walking everyone through the mineral makeup range. The briefing was useful for me especially that I’m new to Antipodes :D. There was also a demo on how to use the product but that will come later on so stay tune.

Performance Plus Mineral Foundation With Natural SPF 17 (RM149 / 11g)

Antipodes Mineral Foundation are lightweighted, hydrating on the skin and it’s a skin-perfect foundations that are infused with with natural SPF 17 and also featuring the revolutionary antioxidant Vinanza Performance Plus®. What’s amazing about the mineral foundation is that it helps to reduce facial flushing. The foundation contain Australian earth minerals like kaolin, zinc and titanium that helps in balancing oil production and blemished skin. It only comes in four shades – Pale Pink, Light Yellow, Medium Beige and Tan. It is suitable for all skin type and condition ranging from normal to oil, blemish-prone and rosacea skin.

I was amazed with the texture mostly as it is powder to touch and finishes like a cream.

Performance Plus Skin-Brightening Mineral Finishing Powder (RM149 / 13g)

This mineral finishing powder is quite similar to mineral foundation but as the name suggest, it is a finishing powder. It comes in one and only shade of Translucent so it suits all skin shades. Antipodes Mineral Finishing Powder is lightweight and silky in texture that it is able to glides on smoothly to gives you a flawless skin perfection. Personally I have oilier skin so I believe in dusting finishing powder all over my face as it will not only control the oil on the face surface, it also prolong the makeup. Not only that. This mineral finishing powder also covers up open pores with it’s refine matte finish. Vinanza Performance Plus®, a revolutionary antioxidant extract from sauvignon blanc grape seeds and the superfruit kiwifruit helps to brighten the complexion as well. Jojoba is added in to mirrors the skin’s own sebum natural oil so skin is fresh-looking and glowing. Just like the mineral foundation, this finishing powder is also suitable for all skin type, from normal to oily, blemish-prone and rosacea skin.

Kabuki Brush (RM149)

Antipodes also carry a kabuki brush and this brush goes very well with the application of Performance Plus Mineral Foundation and Performance Plus Skin-Brightening Mineral Finishing Powder.

Antipodes Kabuki Brush is made from soft natural hairs. I’m not too sure what hair is that but I know that the good thing about using a natural hair brush is having the consistency in perfect application. There is also no clumps or brush residue that are often seen in synthetic brushes. Cleaning is simple too. Antipodes recommended spraying the kabuki brush weekly with any Antipodes toner to clean then wipe the residue off the brush with tissue or cotton cloth. It is also recommended to deep cleansing once a month using Antipodes Nirvana Hand & Body Wash that will help to maintain the brush hair in pristine condition.

The Lipstick To Rock Your World Collection (RM99 each)

Lipstick on the other hand is not totally new for Antipodes. The Aroha Natural Mineral Lipstick Collection (three from right) that you see below is from existing lipstick range and it is more to darker red shades namely Dusky Sound Pink, Boom Rock Bronze and Remarkably Red.

The Lipstick To Rock Your World Collection consists of three new shades which are brighter and younger. It is a creamy lipstick but finishes to matte with a hint of shine. The three new existing shades are Hit Me With Your Best Shot which is a fuchsia pink, April Sun In Cuba which is a reddish orange shade and Hungry Like The Wolf which is a blood red shade. My favourite is of course Hit Me With Your Best Shot 😀

I mentioned earlier that there was a makeup demo by Stephanie Malcolm and she demonstrated a simple way to apply base makeup using Antipodes mineral makeup collection.

(1) Stephanie started off with a properly moisturized face. Then she took the Performance Plus Mineral Foundation With Natural SPF 17 in Medium Beige to conceal imperfection on the model’s face. Remember that I said earlier that the mineral foundation is powder when touch but turns to cream after applied on? The way to do concealing with this mineral foundation is by sprinkling some powder onto the lid and rub the powder in circular motion to turn the powder in creamy texture. Dab and apply onto imperfection.

(2) Next, sprinkle more Performance Plus Mineral Foundation onto the lid, swirl the kabuki brush into the powder, tap off the access and apply all over the face in circular motion. This will give coverage on the face as this is after all foundation in a powder form. Repeat if you need more coverage. You can also finish off with Performance Plus Skin-Brightening Mineral Finishing Powder. This finishing powder will ensure the skin in a matte finishing.

(3) Finish off the simple, natural look with Hungry Like The Wolf bloody red lipstick from The Lipstick To Rock Your World Collection.

So what do you think? I think it is great that there are natural mineral makeup being launched here in Malaysia as it is not easy to track down a good one. I also like that there are just four shades in Mineral Foundation range to choose from. I can get quite indecisive if there are too many shades. Picking one out of four is not so bad comparing to picking one out of 10 shades :D. It’s a good idea to bring in brighter lipstick shades as an addition to the existing lipstick collection too.

I’m mostly intrigued by the Mineral Foundation texture of powder to touch and finishes like a cream and how can I forget the Mineral Finishing Powder that are able to decrease unwanted shine, disguising open pores and most importantly, perfect matte finish. Translucent shade definitely suits all skin color too 😀

Do drop by any TNS Skin Lab store to check out, touch and try these existing new Antipodes Scientific Natural Makeup range. You can find the nearest store near you at this link. Don’t forget to check out their wide range of beauty products while you are at the store too!