Happy hump day, my lovely chickadees!
Just a heads up: there’ll be no Bloggie Wednesday post today as we’re still on the Makeup Favourites Week. Yesterday, I talked about one of my favourite makeup products and that’s foundation. Today, I’d like to share with you my top 10 powders for setting foundation.
I very rarely step out of the house with just foundation on and no powder. As I have combination skin and a particularly oily T-zone, it’s imperative that I at least powder my T-zone area so that it doesn’t look like a shiny knob after just an hour or two. Some of these are classic favourites and some are recent discoveries.
Shall we get powdering? 🙂
Face of Australia Translucent Loose Powder
Even though this loose powder is cheap as chips, it’s a surprisingly high quality, very fine-milled powder. It goes on the skin like mist (fancy non-descript term 😛 ) and sets base makeup well. One jar will last you for ages. No, really, I’ve had mine for YEARS and while I admit I don’t use it every day, the times when I did use it on a daily basis for months barely made a dent in the product.
L’Oreal Infallible 24H Powder Foundation
I half-expected to dislike this when I first tried it out but I’m very surprised and delighted to find how good this powder is. As a standalone powder foundation, it’s honestly quite rubbish but as a setting powder? It’s bloody amazing! A light sweep of this is all you need to set your foundation. The powder is very finely milled and it doesn’t feel nor look chalky on the skin. (review here)
Bobbi Brown Skin Weightless Powder Foundation
A recent discovery of mine and one that I actually use in a pinch, in lieu of foundation when I need to rush out. It doesn’t last long on the skin though as foundation but if I need it on for just an hour, it works fine. I prefer to use this as a setting powder though and it works just as well. It’s not too heavy that it looks like I’m piling on even more foundation on top of foundation. (review here)
Kanebo Milano Powder
Okay, it is a little strange to give this a spot in my top 10 list because I don’t technically own one. This was recommended to me by my mother and I always nick hers to use when I’m back in Malaysia or when she’s visiting me. Kanebo launches a new Milano powder every year during the Christmas holidays and Mum has been collecting them for the past few years. These powders aren’t cheap at all (they’re about AU$100 if I’m not mistaken) but the quality of the powders are superb. It’s very fine and it feels like I’m applying silk on my face. I’m definitely getting my hands on one when I visit my family next year back in Malaysia. Even though I don’t have one in my hands right now, it definitely makes my top 10 list of top-notch powders.
Guerlain Meteorites
I get the hype of the balls and I’ve fallen in love with them over and over. Even though I’ve tried a number of types of Guerlain’s Meteorites, I still prefer the original ones (the one I’m using is in Teint Rose). It’s technically a finishing powder, not a setting powder but I use it as a setting powder nevertheless. It gives my skin an extra oomph of radiance and glow, which I love. A dear friend gifted a compact version to me and I bring it along when travelling. (review here)
MAC Studio Fix Powder
For someone who doesn’t like MAC cosmetics in general, it’s slightly shocking to find one of their products in my top favourites list, right? Okay, while I’m not a fan of most of their makeup and certainly their questionable customer service, I do like the Studio Fix Powder. I’ve been using this one for years and believe it or not, I’ve actually hit pan and repurchased this multiple times. It’s a great setting powder and helps control the oil on my T-zone.
L’Oreal Nude Magique BB Powder
I love the BB powder. To this day, it beats the hell out of me why they need to use the letters “BB” in the packaging because it really doesn’t make sense but hey, as a setting powder, it’s fantastic. It’s incredibly fine and you can be swirling your brush around the compact 10+ times and you still won’t get a lot of product on your skin (in the case of powder, it’s a good thing!). It doesn’t really help control the oil on my T-zone but other than that, I like how it looks on my skin. (review here)
Maybelline Dream Matte Powder
This is a great mattifying powder for the skin. If you have oily to combination skin and are looking for a good setting powder that doesn’t only mattify the skin but also control the oiliness, this is it. I have to be careful not to use too much of it because it’s slightly heavier than the powders I’ve mentioned here and it can settle into my fine lines if I’m heavy-handed with the powder. Nevertheless, it’s a good mattifying powder especially for my oily T-zone.
Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder
Most say that this is a dupe or a similar powder to the Guerlain Meteorites. After using it for over a year, I wouldn’t really say it’s a dupe because this powder actually has produces slight coverage on the skin whereas the Meteorites doesn’t. This powder gives your skin the illusion of Photoshop-ness when standing under different lighting (hence the name, Ambient Lighting Powder). The one I have is in Mood Light which gives my skin a subtle pink-toned glow. It’s a beautiful powder all right and definitely a worthy opponent of the Meteorites. (review here)
Bourjois Healthy Balance Unifying Powder
This is my go-to powder if for some reason, the rest fails me (with the exception of the Guerlain Meteorites. That baby never fails 😉 ). It is a very finely-milled powder and doesn’t feel nor look chalky on the skin. It also has a lovely fruity scent that I enjoy. As the compact is quite thin, this makes the Unifying Powder perfect for travelling.
And there you have it, my top 10 list of powders. It’s an essential part of my makeup routine and while I enjoy a dewy, fresh-faced look, I still gotta powder that face because the initially lovely dewiness will turn into a greasy mess soon. So powder, it is!
Stay tuned to tomorrow as I bring you my list of top 10 eyeshadows!
What’s your favourite powder? Do you like ’em loose or compact?
Catch up on Makeup Favourites Week!
You really must try Mac’s mineralize finishing powder. Was instantly hooked the moment their makeup artist demo it on my face. You can tell the difference of how it makes your skin glow & look perfectly flawless when you look into the mirror. It’s like magic. I can’t replace it with any other and it’s become my staple
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Oooh that good huh? Okay, I’m going to check it out even if I have to tahan the customer service. 😛
From all of those powders, the one I want to try the most is the Bourjois one, I’ve heard so many good thingss about it lately, so maybe it will be a future purchase!
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That Bourjois powder smells really good for one thing 😛 Maybe wait for the 40% off all makeup sale at Priceline? 😉
From your list of 10, I’ve only tried Guerlain and Hourglass. I can understand why they are amongst your faves. I don’t think I can survive without Meteorites. It’s my most used powder. And I agree with Juan on the MAC Mineralize Skinfinish powders. It’s pretty good!
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The Meteorites is my most used powder too. It went a little out of hand when I purchased another 3 more and then only realised that the only one I really liked was the original one I had! About the Mineralize Skinfinish powders, I’m just wondering how shimmery are they? How do they compare to the Meteorites? Say if I don’t want to bring the bebola with me when travelling (the compact version is great but it’s pretty heavy), does it produce the same results? I’m really keen to check it out now.
ooh my mum has that Kanebo Milano Powder. She actually got it coz like me, she’s a sucker for packaging lol. I nicked hers a lot she starts shooing me away from it as she loves that powder, a lot. That’s how good it is.
I love NARS loose powder, but currently using SK-II (my mum and aunt both get full size tub as GWP and both tubs are given to me. i wonder whether i will ever finish em). the loose powder ain’t bad but for the price I expect something better
Hahaha thankfully mum didn’t smack my hand away when I nicked hers to use. I’m actually very surprised that she started collecting the Milano powders because 1) she doesn’t use powder that often to warrant that many compacts and loose powder and 2) hot diggity, they’re expensive!
Ahh so the SKII one isn’t really worth the price? I haven’t tried it out yet.
I love Guerlain, be it the balls or the compact, both is amazing and never fails me! A friend of mine loves the Maybelline Dream Matte Powder, but unfortunately it’s discontinued already 🙁
Wanna give the try Bourjois a go since it’s accessible to us here now in Malaysia 😀
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Aww man. I hear that US released a Dream Wonder Matte Powder. I wonder if they’re the same thing? Maybelline has another one called the Matte Maker Mattifying Powder, perhaps she can try that out? It’s not as good as the Dream Matte Powder though.
Oooh Bourjois is now available in Malaysia? I gotta check out the prices!
i am so out of touch of the beauty scene! I didn’t know they launched some sort of replacement. oops!
bourjois prices i think is pretty decent, i remember the foundation prices are around Revlon’s foundation prices? Or slightly lower, I can’t quite remember. Lipstick is around RM30-ish.
plue recently posted..Happy Chinese New Year & Huat Ahhhh!
Ooh thanks!