THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SETTING & FINISHING POWDERS

I’m going to cut straight to the chase here, a setting powder is used to set your liquid foundation or tinted moisturiser. It typically comes in two forms, loose and pressed and can be translucent or tinted. If you require a bit of extra coverage opt for a powder foundation which will have a denser pigment. Setting your makeup is imperative if you want it to stay put all day. After applying your liquid base set with your powder of choice using a brush, sponge or powder puff. My favourite method is a damp beauty sponge as this ensures the powder is really pressed into the skin evenly and I find that this technique helps to control oil for longer resulting in fewer touchups. My tried and true are:

1. Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder 
2. bareMinerals Bareskin Pressed Perfecting Veil – Medium 
3. MAC Studio Fix Powder Foundation – C4
4. Glo Minerals Pressed Base – Honey Medium 

A finishing powder is an ultra lightweight, almost invisible powder that provides a superfine veil that acts as a filter to the skin giving you that soft focus finish. It’s used at the very end of your makeup after your setting powder to further buff the skin to perfection making sure that the rest of your makeup is blended so well that you can’t see the obvious lines of your contour, bronzer and blush.Everything looks one with the skin and therefore more natural looking. There is only one finish powder for me and that is bareMinerals Mineral Veil. I haven’t found anything that has come close to this.

The key to application with any base product is thin layers and taking time to blend and perfect each step. This way your makeup will never look cakey or overdone.

What are some of your favourite powders?