Thoughts On: Face Powders

I've never been much of a powder girl, having had normal skin for most of my make-up wearing life and being a fan of the dewy, radiant look. However, warmer weather and (perhaps) over-experimentation with beauty products have taken their toll, and lately I've been finding that my makeup now seems to slide off on my t-zonehalf-way through the day. So, feeling slightly skeptical, I trotted off to the shops in search of something that would help to keep that oiliness at bay and set my makeup without looking too heavy or chalky.

I picked up the Maybelline Dream Matte Powder, in spite of not having been very impressed with their Dream Matte Mousse foundation, which I found to be really drying. Now, before I go on, I feel I should just point out a couple of things which may or may not have made a 'Review' titled post on this somewhat redundant.

a) I actually have no idea what shade this is - it simply doesn't say, anywhere on the compact.

b) I'm abroad, and picked this up over here, but while writing this post I have discovered that it's actually been discontinued in the UK. Fail. It does, however, still seem to be available in the USA, so I'm hoping that means that it does still mean something to some of you....fingers crossed!

So, you can probably see why this is not, strictly speaking, a review, but more a post in which I am sharing my thoughts on, and my experiences with my very first facial powder. 

I have to admit, my first foray into this kind of product hasn't left me feeling convinced. Unfortunately I did find this one rather chalky, and  having recently acquired uncooperative, blemish-prone skin on my chin area, I didn't find the two to be a good match. I'm sure this is probably nothing new to anyone who is a regular user of powders, but I just found that it clung to any dry areas and essentially high-lighted some of the bits I wanted to cover up, which is not what I was going for at all. I didn't really find it did much in the way of keeping oil at bay either, so all in all I don't think I'm that sad to hear it has been discontinued. However, it does get some pretty fabulous reviews on Makeupalley, so each to their own and all that.

I popped into Mac the other day and the friendly assistant very kindly popped some of the Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium Plus on me. It's a product I'd been intrigued by for some while, as while I'm not a powder person I know that lots of people swear by it , and I wanted to see what the fuss was about. This time, I found that it did provide me with quite a nice finish, but when I looked up close the powder was just too evident on my skin. To be honest, I can't imagine it's possible for a powder to become completely invisible, which is why I've never caved in and tried Bare Minerals, even though I've been tempted by the fantastic reviews.

So I'm wondering, do any of you regular users of powders and mineral foundations have any tips for using this type of product? Truth be told, I'm not even sure whether they are suited to my skin-type at all, and whether I'm just trying to get in on the action with something that is of no use to me, but I do think there must be something about them as I'm not sure quite so many people would bother with them if there wasn't!

I'd be really interested to hear any of your thoughts, tips or recommendations in the comments below, as much as it shames me to admit it, this really is the one makeup product that pretty much bewilders me!

Hope you're all having a good week, only more one more day until the weekend now :)

xx