I haven’t done one of these face powder declutters since 2021. Some of the powders I said I would declutter, I ended up keeping around. Most, however, are fairly new.

Exiting the Collection: Laura Mercier (mini), Makeup by Mario, Nars, GloWish, and Sephora

Since my last review, Laura Mercier has released a few new shades of their original Translucent Loose Setting Powder and other versions of setting and finishing powders such as the Light Catcher ones and Ultra Blur. I bought Light Catcher in Honey Star, but it was so shimmery that I decided I should keep it around to use purely as a loose highlighter. I said I was going to try and press it into an empty tin pan, but never got around to it, never reviewed it, and decided to just declutter it. Ultra Blur, unless I’m told otherwise, sounds like it’s just a talc-free version of the original. So, I didn’t bother purchasing that. I stopped using the original, and even samples, because I just couldn’t get a good enough shade from the brand. Medium Deep was too dark, the original shade left a cast, and Honey only worked for my under eyes. I found other powders that looked more flattering on me, so I decided to finally even let go of the samples too. It was certainly worth the hype back in the day, but I don’t think it’s as special on the market now. It still has a strong cult following though, so not everyone will agree with me on that.

I really liked the Makeup by Mario Master Eye Prep & Set, but the powder became so hard to get product onto my brush and the primers got stiff and dry. I can’t see any hard-pan, so I’m not sure why it became difficult to use. It’s like, once the initial surface print rubbed off, the smoother texture underneath was too compacted and hard-pressed. It didn’t matter what bristle type the brush had. Everything required that I rub super vigorously to get anything out. So, I eventually gave up using it. It’s such a shame that this happened because I actually intended to make this a project-pan item and was using it enough that I purchased a cute sticker for the top of the packaging to try and make it even more special. I considered buying a new one, but one of the benefits of powders is they can usually last longer than the expected period after opening. With the amount of powders I still have, and are still good, I just couldn’t justify getting a new one. Plus, my goal for setting powders specifically is to keep the ones that set my face and eyes, but the powder in the compact is too dry for my face.

The Nars Light Reflecting Pressed Powder was something I intended to declutter a while ago because I kept reaching for other powders instead that were more flattering than my Sunstone shade. I basically kept it around for nostalgia and the fact that it was one of my most used powders in my collection and I kept hoping I’d be able to make a significant dip into the surface, but that hard-pan look to it eventually got too off-putting.
The reason I liked it in the first place was because it left a slight sheen to the skin and was slightly blurring, but other products do a better job of keeping my makeup in place while imparting an even nicer finish with more blurring properties. So, even without the hard-pan issue, it truly was time to move on from it.

The Huda Beauty GloWish Luminous Pressed Powder was more of a highlighter in my book because of the frosty cast it left on the skin. Just like the Laura Mercier Light Catcher powder, I kept it around for the intent to use it on the high points of my face, but it just wasn’t worth keeping any longer. It wasn’t flattering enough on my skin and it didn’t make sense using something mediocre as a highlighter when I have so many I actually love. So, it’s out of my collection because I’ve finally given up on trying to find a use for it.

The Sephora Multi-Tasking Microsmooth Baked Powder is one I forgot to include in the first photo because I kept it in my “need to review” pile, and just never got around to it before I had to pack things up for the move. The shade I bought was a little light, it was a little drier than my MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural, and even though I tend to like Sephora’s baked products, I had limited space on what I could bring. I would rather stick with the products I am familiar with and trust to work instead of taking a gamble on something new. Since the shade was a little off and I hadn’t used it enough to form an attachment, it was easy to decide to just declutter it. My aim is to condense my powder collection so I don’t get so hung up on which powder to use out of all the options every time I’m doing my makeup. Some of my concealers work better with specific powders, yet I’m constantly forgetting which ones it is because I don’t have it written down and there are too many to remember. So, that’s why I didn’t give this one a chance.

Surviving the Next Round: One Size, Nars, and ColourPop

In one of my posts from last year, I showed the process of me combining two different sample shades of the One/Size Ultimate Blurring Setting powders into an old (but cleaned out) Besame powder container. I consider it part of my unofficial project pan, but there are so many other powders that take priority over this one that I’m not sure when I’ll get back to using it. Two sample sizes worth shouldn’t be too hard to use up in theory, but I use so little powder on my face that it might actually take a while. It survived this round of declutters, but I’m hoping to have used it before I do the next one once it’s actually back in my possession again.

The one Nars powder that’s still in my collection is another unreviewed product, the Soft Matte Advanced Perfecting Powder. Deciding on a shade was quite tough because Seafront looked too dark based on website photos, but Offshore was listed as being for cool undertones, and High Tide for warm undertones. So, I opted for High Tide, but it looks neutral-pink on my skin. I try to balance it out by pairing it with some of my extra warm (borderline orange) concealers, but it still looks a bit off sometimes. I’ve had a few concealers (unfortunately I can’t confirm which ones yet) that increased in the time without creasing and fading under my eyes when I used them with this powder. So, I definitely want to explore that further, especially with it being so recent to my collection. This is why it survives the declutter, but ultimately the undertone of the powder will make me want to declutter it at some point.

I remember liking the Colourpop Pretty Fresh Pressed Powder, but since there were other powders I was obsessed with, I thought it would be easy to let this one go. I decided to use it again for old time’s sake, but that only served to remind me why I liked it in the first place. My skin looks smoother when I apply it on top, and all without looking too dry. I found myself being unable to get rid of it! However, I still didn’t have room to bring it with me, so it’s currently in my drawer in the US. I’m hoping it’ll still be good by the time I return there for a visit so I can bring it back with me. It would make me happy to be able to get more use out of it, so I won’t feel like I wasted it. If it’s not in good condition by then, I don’t intend to repurchase it just because I’m still trying to downsize my collection and admittedly others are still better for both setting my under eyes and using all over my face.

Powder Likes: Chantecaille, MAC, Laura Mercier, Hourglass Setting and Finishing Powders, and Charlotte Tilbury

I’ve discussed the Chantecaille Perfect Blur Powder several times on this blog, including the fact that I sold the original one to pay for the slightly darker version. However, my Medium-Deep powder looks practically untouched because I always reach for my Dior powder instead. The Dior one does everything the Chantecaille one does, but better. Because the Powder-No-Powder is being discontinued or reformulated, I brought this along to be my replacement. Even if I never end up fully using this powder, considering all the trouble I went through to get it, I don’t intend to declutter it until or unless the powder goes bad.

As I mentioned in the Sephora discussion, I kept this MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural because it’s better. It’s a hair off in color (depending on the time of year), but I like that I can both set my face and get a decent boost to my concealers’ longevity. It’s a bit powdery, so the kickup gets messy at times, but I like that it has a good balance of eliminating shine without looking flat matte. It was so tough to leave this behind, but it’s definitely coming with me in the second wave of products I plan to return with to Germany.

The Laura Mercier Candleglow Powders and Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powders are in the same boat of beautiful finishing baked powders that I don’t have in the perfect shades. I consider the Laura Mercier one close enough by mixing shades 5 and 6 together, but I didn’t have the space to bring two bulky compacts that fulfilled one singular purpose. So, as much as it bugged me because I did want to get more use out of them, I left them behind. I recommend anyone looking for a beautiful smoothing finishing powder to consider looking into the Candleglow ones, provided that the Dior Powder-No-Powder doesn’t work out.
As for the Hourglass ones, I was already bringing two Ambient Lighting Edit palettes, so I didn’t have room for anything else. I had to leave the Volume III trio, pictured above, behind. The lighter finishing powder in there contains random specks of shimmer which makes me not want to use it, even though it looks gorgeous on the skin if not for that. The Radiant Light shade that I have within the edit palette works to set my face, but doesn’t give me as pretty of a finish because it’s on the lighter side. The whole allure of the Hourglass powders is specifically the finish, so if I’m unable to get that from this particular shade, I don’t really expect to use it up. If they make a deeper color one day without visible shimmer, I’d consider buying it. For now though, I’m just hoping I’ll have space to bring the Laura Mercier ones instead in the future sometime while they’re still good.

The Hourglass Veil Translucent Loose Setting Powder is still fairly new to my collection. I brought it with me because I like it, but I mainly like it for setting purposes on my face and not as often for under my eyes because the darkest shade is a touch dark while I’m at my lightest. It also depends on which shade of foundation I use, but that still means it’s often a bit too dark for my under eyes unless I’m using a brightening concealer. I intend to continue trying it out though, but perhaps during a time of the year when I’m a little darker.

My relationship with my Charlotte Tilbury Airbrush Flawless Finish Matte Powders is a weird one. For starters, I used the heck out of the tiny deluxe sample for a year and a half, but still never hit pan. Part of the issue was the fact that it was so small that I could only fit an under eye setting brush in it, so it was impossible go through the product for just that purpose. I got overly excited when I finally made a noticeable dip in the surface, so I thought that was a sign it was alright to get the travel size mini. However, I bought the shade Deep which ended up being too dark for my face and certainly much too dark for my under eye area (the main purpose for getting this powder). I considered buying the Tan version as a travel size, but I refused to do it until I finished the sample. I eventually grew tired of trying to use it up, kept misplacing the tiny compact, and felt it was more worth my time to test and use other powders instead. I’d basically given up on the powder until the brand released a limited edition compact for Lunar New Year and I was able to get it on sale. That’s how I ended up with the full-size in the correct shade.
The mini is so old though that I’m just keeping it around for travel. I’m going to find a new home for the actual travel size powder since it’s the wrong shade for me. Currently, the full-size is getting quite a bit of use because I discovered the KVD Good Apple Concealer gives me the best results with this powder, which I planned to wear for the wedding, so I continued to use it while practicing makeup looks.

I have heard some people say this powder darkens over dewy products. I never noticed that before because I used to give the KVD concealer a little time to set before applying powder on top to lock it in place, but upon further testing, I realized it does actually do that when setting the concealer with powder immediately. Perhaps this is why the shade Tan works for me (and Deep doesn’t) despite how light it looks in the pan. Tan becomes my skin tone shade. I prefer not to have an overly brightened under eye area and just match my skin tone, but the wedding is an exception. So, I ended up buying a travel size of the medium color as well for extra brightening.

Powders Used Regularly: Givenchy, Huda Beauty, Kaleidos, and Dior

It wasn’t all that long ago that I reviewed the Givenchy Prisme Libre Loose Powder, so it’s staying in my collection purely for newness. I still haven’t tried it with all my foundations nor all my concealers, and I won’t be satisfied until I’ve basically used up the one shade out of four that I really like.

I planned to eventually declutter the Huda Beauty sample of the Easy Bake Loose Baking & Setting Powder, but that’s because it was in the shade Banana Bread, which isn’t intended for my skin tone. When I came to Germany, I purchased a travel size of Kunafa and have been experimenting with that shade. I like it, but it has the same issue of looking better with some concealers and not all of them. Kunafa is also so yellow that it can alter the look of my concealers the way the Nars Soft Matte Powder does (but in pink), so I have mixed feelings about that. I have a yellow-golden undertone, but something being so strong of a yellow can still look off. I wonder if Cinnamon Bun might be better. It’s possible it could be too dark, but there’s no way for me to know unless I see it in person. Ultimately, for wedding makeup testing purposes, I ended up buying the shade Blondie as a mini with the intent to mix it with Kunafa or use solo for brightening.

Another powder that can sometimes alter my concealer color, but only if I overapply it, is the Kaleidos Symphony Face Illuminator that I have in the Symphony Face Trio. The compact is very heavy. I like the powder enough that I would have considered buying a single, but it wasn’t necessary since I like the other powders in the trio too. It was worth just bringing the whole thing.
Based on the name, I assumed this would be a highlighter, but this has no shimmer. The finish on the skin looks natural, including under my eyes.
Even though I have used this quite a bit, I still don’t know it like the back of my hand, so I’m using this time to get to know this product a lot better.

Lastly is the powder I’ve been a broken record about: The Dior Backstage Face & Body Powder-No-Powder. Shade 5 is the first powder I’ve ever hit pan on! I’ve obviously used this the most out of everything in my collection. This powder is the reason I don’t get as much use out of the others. It erases my mistakes because of the blurring properties and leaves a beautiful sheen on the skin. In fact, it’s the most blurring of any powder I’ve ever tried.
I’ve still gotten a fair amount of use out of Shade 4, but I’m rarely light enough to wear it on its own. Sometimes I mix 4 and 5 together, but I typically use Shade 5 around the darker areas of my face and Shade 4 around the parts that I want to soften if I overapplied something or if whatever shade I used of blush or bronzer is too intense or vibrant. Rather than taking both shades, I decided to leave Shade 4 behind and if I really need to, I can use the Chantecaille powder in its place. They’re close to the same color.

It’s still unknown, since no website has had all 9 shades listed as being stocked in over a year, whether the range is being discontinued or just prepped to return in a reformulated version. Since I hit pan on Shade 5, I naturally started to worry about being without this powder that I’ve been obsessed with for quite a while now. I knew the Chantecaille product could be a replacement, but I would never repurchase that one at full price. My hope was that an identical product would hit the market or Dior would bring it back, but there’s no way to know if the reformulated version would perform the same way. I couldn’t find Shade 5 anywhere to buy a backup, until I checked Dior’s non-US site (delivery within the EU ships from France). I was not about to overthink this…it’s my ultimate powder for my face. So, I went ahead and purchased a backup, plus it was complimentary to get the compact engraved! The hardest part was deciding whether to use my name or nickname instead!

I still want to narrow down my collection further, but for now, this is the best I could do.

That’s all for today! Thank you for reading!

-Lili ❤