As I am an oily-skinned person, you’d think that I’d be obsessed with face powders. After all, their very purpose is to mattify skin, increase the longevity of makeup and basically keep all of that excess oil at bay until mid-afternoon at least. However, despite being absolutely devoted to face powder as a teenager (honestly, who knows how many Rimmel Clear Complexion Powders I went through in the early noughties), face powder has been pretty much non-existent in my daily makeup routine for the last few years. After talking to friends and family, it would seem that I’m not alone in ditching it.
The obvious answer to our resistance to mattifying powders is that the last decade has seen an influx of skin-first makeup brands and formulations encouraging all of us to embrace our natural skin texture and tone and focus on glow rather than coverage. Brands like Glossier and Milk Makeup have revolutionised the way that many of us think about makeup—myself included—by encouraging us to let our pores, blemishes and dark circles shine through while we have fun with playful colours and innovative textures. Maybe it comes with age, or maybe it’s a wider shift in the industry, but I personally no longer feel the need to cover up my skin with high-coverage foundations that need to be set in place with powders for fear of any apparent imperfections shining through.
However, there are, undoubtedly, occasions when I want my makeup to last longer—weddings, parties and work dinners to name a few—and on those occasions, I have found myself wishing that there was a face powder I could use that would help to set my carefully applied makeup in place without causing my skin to look dull or flat. And guess what? I’ve found it. Enter: Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder Light Catcher (£34).
