Two years ago, I wrote about my favorite setting and finishing powders for dry skin. Since then, I’ve tested a lot more powders, decluttered a lot of them, and gotten much pickier about what I actually want powder to do, so I went through everything again. I narrowed it down to 5 pressed powders and 11 loose powders. I’m starting with the pressed powders, and the loose powders are coming next because I had a lot more to say there with my recentish love of blue, green, lavender, and pink powders.
For this post, I’m focusing on pressed setting and finishing powders together because I tend to use very lightweight powders that are basically all finishing powders that also do a little setting. Two of these are still in my top picks from the last time I did this, and there are three other newer favorites that earned their spot in my collection.
In this post, all links are affiliate links (thank you for your support!), but all opinions are my own. I skipped swatches, and you’ll just have to trust me you really can’t see the differences in photos but I did try!
Laura Mercier Ultra-Blur Talc-Free Waterproof Translucent Pressed Setting Powder in Translucent – This is still my favorite pressed powder for actually setting my makeup. I feel the exact same way about it that I did two years ago, which is that no matter what I do, it never feels like I put too much of this on. It sets just enough, takes down shine just enough, and never makes my dry skin look heavy, cakey, or flat.
The biggest thing for me is that it’s actually translucent. It doesn’t add coverage, change the color of my makeup, or make anything pull weird on my olive skin. It does have a tendency to hard pan, but you can easily fix that with a piece of tape. I wouldn’t recommend this if you have oily skin and want serious oil control. It’s only doing a small amount of setting and mattifying. But for dry skin, especially if you want powder without looking powdered, it’s still the one I reach for the most.
*You can use YOURGREENFRIEND for 20% off on the Laura Mercier website, which I’m pretty sure happened specifically because I love this powder and talk about it all the time. Thank you as always for your support and making it so I can do this!
Kosas Cloud Set Baked Setting & Smoothing Talc-Free Powder in Airy – This is also still one of my favorites, and I’m 0% surprised. If the Laura Mercier is my favorite true pressed setting powder, Kosas is the one I reach for when I want something softer and a little more finishing powder adjacent. It has a tiny bit of coverage, a tiny bit of glow, and it smooths everything out without taking the life out of my skin. I have the shade Airy, and on me it doesn’t pull orange, peachy, dusty, or dry. It just makes my makeup look a little softer and more finished.
Compared to Laura Mercier, this feels more like makeup in the best way because it adds that little bit of coverage that the Laura Mercier doesn’t. I still use both constantly. Laura Mercier is the one I grab when I want the most invisible setting, and Kosas is the one I grab when I want my skin to look smoother and a little more perfected.
Givenchy Prisme Libre Blurring & Color-Correcting Matte Pressed Powder in 3 Voile Rosé – The Givenchy loose powder I talked about in my original post was discontinued, which is rude because it was absolutely perfect. I’ve tried a lot of powders since then, and while nothing is exactly the same as the original loose Prisme Libre, the pressed version in 3 Voile Rosé gets very close.
I’ve reviewed this before and said it was about 95% of the way there, and I still feel that way. It blurs, lightly mattifies, and brightens without making my dry skin look powdery. It’s especially good for summer dry skin because it takes down just enough shine without turning everything matte.
This shade gives me a little bit of brightening, but it doesn’t look obviously pink or chalky on me. It’s not doing a ton of oil control, so if you want a powder powder for oily skin, this probably isn’t it. But if you loved the original Givenchy loose powder and want a pressed version that captures a lot of what made that formula special, this is the closest thing I’ve found.
CANMAKE Marshmallow Finish Powder Abloom in 03 Plumeria Wreath – Annnnd this is the powder that made me realize I didn’t actually need the Givenchy pressed powder. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad I have the Givenchy. It’s beautiful. It feels fancy, and I love using it. But the CANMAKE Marshmallow Finish Powder gives me such a similar effect that I use them interchangeably. If I used this and the Givenchy with my eyes closed, I’m pretty confident I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference on my face. The Givenchy is gorgeous, but I’d be just as happy with the CANMAKE, and it’s so much less expensive.
It has that same smooth, softly blurred, slightly glowy but not actually glittery finish. It takes down shine without making my skin look dry, and it makes my makeup look more polished without looking like I added a visible layer of powder. I have shade 03, which has pink, yellow, white, green, and blue in the compact. That combination works really well for me because it brightens without turning chalky, pink, peach, or weird on my olive skin.
Hourglass Ambient Lighting Palette Volume 1 – This is the powder I use all the time and never talk about because it’s $75, but going through all my powders reminded me how much I really do love this palette. Volume 1 has mini pans of Dim Light, Incandescent Light, and Radiant Light. You can use the shades separately, but I usually just mix all three together and use it as my final step.
This isn’t really a setting powder for me. It’s my one true finishing powder. I use it when I want my skin to look airbrushed, when I want everything to blend together, or when I’ve finished my makeup and it just needs that last smoothing layer.
This just makes my skin and my makeup look better, so it’s really an investment in all my other products. That’s how I’m justifying it, and honestly, I stand by it. This is also the powder I reach for when I’m having trouble blending cheek products together but don’t want to add more blush, bronzer, or coverage. It smooths everything together without adding obvious color. Of all my finishing powders, if I could only keep one, it would be this.
What’s your favorite pressed powder right now? As always, all reviews/opinions are completely my own and unsponsored.
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