Loose powders are a fantastic way to provide light to medium coverage on your skin without having to apply a heavy or greasy fluid foundation. They help control shine, cover blemishes, red, spots, broken capillaries and under-eye circles — all without caking. Some of my favorite new loose powders also happen to be made from minerals, which also makes them good for your skin. Below are my top five favorites. Do you have a love for one loose powder in particular?
- La Bella Donna Loose Mineral Foundation ($50) is a soft mineral face powder that contains SPF 20 and doesn't clog your pores. I've been using the shade Nicoletta for the past year (plus) and love how it gives my face flawless-looking coverage.
- Prescriptives Custom Blend Powder ($45) is a customized, mixture of lightweight powder created to match your skin tone. You leave the store with a large jar and a mini travel jar which both include a puff. You can also pay an additional $15 for an extra container of pressed powder. Although it's costly, I think it's worth the splurge.
- Physician's Formula Mineral Wear Talc-Free Mineral Loose Powder ($10.95) is a relatively new product that has been designed for sensitive and pimple-prone skin. It's non-irritating, it blends easily and has a natural finish. It comes with a brush, and I love the security of the snap-top close.
- Bare Escentuals bareMinerals SPF 15 Foundation ($25) is one of the smoothest blending mineral loose powders that I've ever tried. You voted it your favorite foundation of 2007 because of its silky texture, non-irritating formula and fabulous coverage.
- Laura Mercier Mineral Powder SPF 15 ($35) is a super-fine, oil-free loose powder that contains 15 amino acids that help achieve clear skin while providing a smooth finish. Not only do I love the tinted powder, but the translucent powder is essential for setting foundation, lipstick ... you name it.
Lipsy
Mulberry
Prada
I have the Physician's stuff and I like it!
1I love my BE foundation
It really has improved my skin.
2I am too lazy to add this stuff, but thanks so much for your reviews and I think I just might now try the Laura Mercier as everyone loves most of their products!
3Have the Laura Mercier and LOVE IT! Now I just need to get the powder...
4My mom just gave me the Bare Escentuals bare mineral powder a couple of weeks ago because she bought it and didn't like it. She wanted something that covered better. I love it!
5I love BE, minus it's not the best for under eye circles.
6I love the Sephora brand of loose powder that comes in a brush. You just open the lid and brush it on. And it's really light and makes me sparkle!
7I love BE but have recently tried Everyday Minerals Mineral Foundation in Original Glo and love it. There's also matte, semi-matte and intensive coverage formulas.
8I like the sound of the Laura Mercier one!
9Never have understood why people pay so much for the mineral loose powders when they could get the good stuff much more reasonably. I think it's ridiculous that a brand like La Bella Donna, whom most folks have not even heard of, would charge $50 for their jar. Hello!! You can get a fab jar of minerals at Lush Minerals for about 1/3 of the price and the quality is outstanding. You should review that brand, Bella! xo
link: http://www.sephora.com/browse/section.jhtml?categoryId=C18696
10oops ... sorry - wrong link above for Lush Minerals:
http://www.lushbrush.com/
p.s. - I'm in no way affiliated with them; just love their products! xo
11I wanted to buy BE but it didn't come with a brush so I purchased Clinique loose powder ($18.50) which has a brush included and it's awesome!
12I've been a BE girl for over 10 years now and can't say enough good stuff about it.
To aimbee, you should try "well rested or bisque" for your concealer, it works well for me.
13I love,love,love BE- the best full coverage on the market no matter what formula and it's minerals which also improve your skin. and don't get me started on the lovely BE mineral veil- the best product ever to set your make-up and give you a "finished" look- kudos to Leslie Blodgett
14AmberHoney I love bisque. I have that as well as my mineral veil and so forth. It's not so much the coverage but when I apply it under my eyes it just looks cakey and dry. I have super sensitive skin, and unfor now that I'm older (26) it seems the skin under my eye is VERY delicate and thinning. (I have a blue vein)
So it covers well but just looks dry and heavy. I moisturize religiously and drink tons of water so that's my dilemma.
15Everyone seems to LOVE LM but it's a bit out of my price range for now...I guess I'll give BE or Physician's Formula a try. Sounds like a good alternative to liquids for the summer.
16I love Laura and BE but Physician's Formula is my HG!!
17I just bought the Physicians Formula organic wear loose mineral powder. I don't really like the brush, but its ok stuff. I really would like to try BE though.
18aimeeb - I have just the opposite. I just turned 50 and am still pretty oily so the BE minerals are a blessing to me. I don't use an undereye cream but do use the BE revver upper before applying the foundation. I also have super dark circles and I apply concealer before foundation and sometimes (at night) over the foundation. Keep taking good care of yourself, it does pay off. I have one sleep wrinkle above my lip on right side and that's it. Have always used lots of face products; used Mary Kay before I found BE.
19I buy mineral foundation from www.everydayminerals.com. They have an amazing selection and are very inexpensive, so I buy multiple foundations and custom blend them myself.
20amber sounds like you have taken pretty good care of yourself too.
21I try, I try; but oh so love to eat. My big downfall.
jJuliet, thanks for the everdaymineral link.
22That Physicians Formula powder is great, I wear it everyday.
23I am in love with mineral powder and will probably never go back to liquid foundation. I still use a liquid concealer with salicylic acid for those troublesome blemishes, but for the rest of the face I use a light dusting of mineral powder and it looks totally natural. The only trick here, is that you need to moisturize first (if you have dry skin the powder makes it very obviously flaky looking) and you need to use a light hand when applying or the powder cakes up and is less natural.
I suspect that a lot of these mineral powders have similar if not identical compositions; possibly even being made by the same manufacturers and then marked up differently depending on the demographic.
Online discount product line Eyes Lips Face (E.L.F.) makes a fabulous comparable line of Mineral Foundation Powder to Physician's Formula & it's only $5 per product. I've personally used both products and found them to be of equivalent quality - the only qualm is that you can't run out to the store and buy off the shelf, so when you order, you have to guess for the right color and then stock up in advance when ordering/shipping. They advised colors for me and they were a great match; however, this is just one person's experience, so other people may/may not find it more difficult to match their skin tones.
In the same price range - I just started using NYC Mineral Powder/Mineral Veil and also found it's performance to be of equivalent quality to Physician's Formula, and at around $5-6 per product it provides a much better value. Being a girl on a budget who needs to wear makeup daily for red/patchy skin (keratosis rubra faceii), this is something that I can use frequently and feel great about - my skin looks good and I feel confident.
24Laura Mercier is good to the last drop and keeps me shine free for hours with out giving me that dry powdery look!
25I'm so over the over-hyped mineral stuff but one has to check out the Magic Powder by Prescriptives. IT'S FANTASTIC!! When it goes on, it feels like ICE COLD WATER! It's fun.
26I use Bare Escentuals bareMinerals SPF 15 Foundation every day, I love it. I set it w/the BE mineral veil.
27I tried BE after hearing rave reviews from almost everyone I know and was incredibly disappointed with the results. Luckily I made my way over to the Clinique counter and found a foundation and powder that I now love!
28thnx for this. its harder to find some products in australia. usually have to order online
29BE!! where are you =(
30LoveRicji try Becca it's an Australian brand and it is fantastic! It's hard to get here in the states
They have great tinted moisturizer, powders, shimmers etc, glosses. Great brand!
31I used the MAC loose powder and let me just say it's leaps and bounds better than my current one from No 7 (UK makeup brand).
32i've never tried the other products but i have the bare escentuals makeup kit and i love it. when i first tried it on in the store, it didn't look so great but i learned how to apply it and now it blends really well with my skin tone and covers blemishes
i don't wear it often though, because i'm not too big on wearing foundation/powder everyday
33I've been using Bare Escentuals for the past 7 years and I will never use anything else!
aimeeb, you should try Bare Escentuals Bisque for your under eye circles. It's made specifically for that, as well as to conceal any blemishes and/or discolorations. I love it!
34The Neutragena powder that come in the brush is awesome too.
35I've been a BE chick for a good two years now and I don't really see myself switching soon. I suffer from problem skin and this stuff really has helped! Yeay!
36I've never tried any of these except for the BE one. I like BE, but I'm not in love with it like most people are. I think the mineral veil is nice though. And their eye shadows are amazing.
37BeautiJunki
Becca has a website that allows you to choose the area where you live, for shipping purposes. Click on the link below and see the lower left corner for country choices.
http://www.beccacosmetics.com/
38I wore BE for a long time and liked it well enough. About 18 months ago, I read an article about the number of pounds of chemicals/preservatives we take in each year through cosmetics, body products, etc. So I looked at what I was using and what was in it. I found out that BE contains bismuth, which can be an irritant. A friend told me about KMS Mineral Essentials is fabulous and does not contain bismuth (http://kmsmineralessentials.com/default.aspx). I have not tried it. I am using Dr. Hauschka all the way. My skin, which is very sensitive, has improved a lot!
39More about KMS: They offer samples in two shades for $1.00:
40http://kmsmineralessentials.com/placeyourorder.aspx
Prescriptives custom blend powder has recently been reformulated to be more light and fluffy. It also has the most flawless finish of any loose powder I have ever used. Ask the custom blender to add candlelight for the most subtle warm glow, BEAUTIFUL!
41I am and will always be a believer in BE. Other brands have tried to do what Leslie Blodgett has done but I haven't found one that has even come close. It may be a little pricey, but for sensitive skin you really can't go wrong. Why put anything but the best on your gorgeous face?!
426/7/08: I am watching QVC and their Today's Special Value is Bare Essentials Perfect 10 Color Collection. For more, see the link below. Happy shopping! http://www.qvc.com/qic/qvcapp.aspx/app.detail/params.item.tsv!.tpl.tsv.cm_scid.TSV?cm_re=PROMOTIONS-_-TSV-_-A80808,TSV&cm_sp=TSV-_-HP-_-IMAGE
43Didn't get the TSV but got lots of other goodies. Can't go wrong with BE!
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