With all the new launches and advances in the cosmetic industry, its safe to say that things can be a bit overwhelming, especially if you are new to make up. Well, I’m here to help break down some of the confusion for you.
Be sure to check out my previous post Inclusivity in Beauty: Here to stay or nah?
Types of powders for face
There are three types of powders I will discuss: pressed/loose powder and translucent powder.
Pressed/loose powder
This type of powder is usually marketed simply as pressed or loose powder. This will add color when used to set foundation or concealer. This is great if you would like to add more coverage to your makeup or lighten/darken foundation if you would like. Be mindful, that a powder foundation will give even more coverage than a standard powder. Since this will add color to your foundation, be sure to choose a color close to your skin tone.
Examples of these powders are
- Huda Beauty Easy Bake Loose Baking & Setting powder
- Bare Minerals Original foundation
- Black Radiance Soft Focus finishing powder
Typically, you will see pressed or loose powders in skin tone colors or yellow. Yellow is typically used to set under eye concealer or highlight areas. Deeper or brighter yellow powders will look best on dark skin while powder of a lighter hue will be best for lighter skin tones.
Yellow/Banana powders
These are yellow powders usually used to brighten and highlight. Usuallly, a light yellow powder will look great light to medium skin tones (think Ben Nye banana powder). Deeper skin tones will look best with a deeper yellow powder such as the Sasha Buttercup powder.
Translucent powder
Traditional l translucent powders are white or beige and will typically look best on light to medium skin tones. On deeper skin tones, traditional translucent powders have a tendency to alter foundation or give major flashback.
As far as I’m aware, the following companies have translucent powders specially for deeper skin tones. These companies include the following
- Laura Mercier translucent powder in medium-deep
- Iman cosmetics translucent powder
- Fenty Beauty Pro Fil’r Retouch setting powder
- Stellar Cosmic Face Setting Powder
How to start off with powders
One thing you can do if you are completely new to powders is to try samples. Camera Ready Cosmetics offers powder samples to try before committing to a full size. There are also various brands from drug/beauty store such as L.A Girl and NYX to high end such as Kevin Aucion and Koh Gen Do.
What are your favorite powders? Any future makeup launches sparking your interest? Feel free to share below!