We hope you'll consider supporting Temptalia by shopping through our links below. Thanks!
SephoraSephoraBeautylishUltaNordstrom More
Explore Temptalia

We're here to help you make better beauty purchases that you'll enjoy and love! We recommend signing up to take advantage of personalized features like tracking products you own, viewing dupes that you already have, and more!

Here are some useful resources for you:

Foundation Matrix™

Find your next foundation or concealer match!

The Dupe List™

Find a product dupe or compare two palettes.

Swatch Gallery™

Find swatches by color, product, formula, etc.

Compare Any Two

Curious how two shades compare to each other? Type in the shades below to get instant side-by-side swatches!

65 Comments

Comments that do not adhere to our comment policy may be removed. Discussion and debate are highly encouraged but we expect community members to participate respectfully. Please keep discussion on-topic, and if you have general feedback, a product review request, an off-topic question, or need technical support, please contact us!

Please help us streamline the comments' section and be more efficient: double-check the post above for more basic information like pricing, availability, and so on to make sure your question wasn't answered already. Comments alerting us to typos or small errors in the post are appreciated (!) but will typically be removed after errors are fixed (unless a response is needed).

We appreciate enthusiasm for new releases but ask readers to please hold questions regarding if/when a review will be posted as we can't commit to or guarantee product reviews. We don't want to set expectations and then disappoint readers as even products that are swatched don't always end up being reviewed due to time constraints and changes in priorities! Thank you for understanding!

Comments on this post are closed.
We hope you'll consider supporting Temptalia by shopping through our links below. Thanks!
SephoraSephoraBeautylishUltaNordstrom More
Sara

Yep, I won’t pay for it either. Which is why I spent about $6 for a pound of silica and mix it with silk as a finishing powder. Looks uh-maze-ing. Alas, my skin is quite dry and the silica sucks up any leftover moisture so I have to be careful with it.

Amanda

Same here, so I now use the Coastal Scents silica spheres, which are like $4 for twice as much as the MUFE HD. Does a pretty good job soaking up the oil from my t-zone and gives a nice finished look!

Oh Carol

May sound strange, but I use just a very, very light dusting of Johnson & Johnson plain old-fashioned baby powder; I put enough on that you can see it with a cotton ball, then brush it off. There is no color & it soaks up moisture & oil without showing or clumping, it does not dry out my skin, it is reasonably priced, etc., etc..
Try it ~ you’ll like it!

Claudia Costa Manso

I love 3 finishing powders:
– Mineralize Skinfinish Natural – MAC
– HD Microfinish Powder – Make up for Ever
– Météorites Powder For The Face – Guerlain (this one has a wonderful scent too).

Kerrie

Coty Airspun… CHEAP CHEAP but surprisingly awesome! Some people don’t like the smell of it but to me it smells like roses…very vintage. Also digging, MAC Studio Careblend and NARS loose powder. I use different powders based on the foundation I use that day. LOL!

Crystal

Tarte Smooth Operator Finishing Powder.
AMAZING!!!! I have tried everything, from Drustore to expensive stuff and my make-up would cake, my face was an oil slick, nothing helped. This stuff is white and gives you a frosted glass appearance when you first put it on, but it quickly blends into your skin and at MOST you will have a healthy glow at the end of the day….no more shine….seriously guys it’s that good.

My skin improved using this, since I was always blotting or wiping away the oil…the is my HG. Worth every penny….did I say AMAZING???!!!

meme

I also am still with BE Mineral Veil and want them to come out with a matte MV. Tarte Smooth Operator as well as their new Amazonian Clay Finishing Powder has my votes too.

Jill

I am a fan of Cargo Blu-Ray powder. I usually only need a dusting of it in the afternoon. I wear MUFE HD liquid foundation so I don’t really need the powder in the morning.

Mariella

I actually like them all – MAC Prep&Prime, TF Primed and Poreless (coming close to being my favourite), MUFE HD and CoverFX Setting Powder. All are loose (though I’m interested in MAC’s new pressed Prep&Prime powder) and I do find they fly all over the place as they’re so finely milled so I now use a velour puff to apply them and then dust them around with a brush. I’ve also got MAC Mineralized Skin Finish Natural and Blot but I’m not sure if they “count” as finishing powders.

Amy

Meow Cosmetics’ Top Cat! I need the *tiniest* amount (the $1 sample baggie lasts me more than a month), and it keeps my makeup looking fresh, and my oiliness at bay, for most of the day (considering how oily I am, this is no mean feat!). Definite HG.

Edda

Gosh Pressed Powder. A make up artist was doing my sister’s prom look, and at the moment she used this, I was not looking. After 20 seconds, I look at my sister and her complexion is drastically changed, it looked dreamy. I immediately bought it, and for a year now, it is my most precious make up product. It does not make me oily throughout the day, it makes my pores (around my nose) absolutely invisible, and my face skin looks like photoshoppped 😀

Jessica

MAC Prep+Prime Transparent finishing powder. It works even on dark skin tones without being ashy, although I do add a little MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Dark to add a little sparkle!

Sharron

Depending on the weather, I alternate between MAC Studio Careblend, an oil-control pressed powder from Camera Ready Cosmetics’ product line, or a Frankenpowder (a mixture of crushed UD De-Slick, TF Primed & Poreless Powder, & Pretty-n-Pink Complexion Enhancer from Terra Firma Cosmetics).

Laura

Sadly, La Mer. It’s fantastic but I still hate paying so much for it. It’s much finer than Laura Mercier’s but somehow manages to make my skin look poreless and add just a bit of color and coverage. I’ve used Crema 01 for years and I can’t live without it now.

Elle

Allison raffaelle translucent finishing powder is my fav. Found it last year and haven’t looked back. Unless…Tom ford comes out with an amazing one!

Kathy

Tarte Smooth Operator Amazonian clay finishing powder in translucent and bronze. I use the translucent one with a tiny bit of bronze added. For deeper complexions, I use varying amounts until I have them matching tone about right. Even the bronze has that translucent “lit from within” look. I like it because it doesn’t take the skin all the way matte – it leaves a glow – but it also doesn’t let my face get surfably oily. It’s really good and I recommend it highly.

Coty Airspun in the one without mineral oil is the bomb! If you’d like to wait until the Smooth Operator goes on sale again, it’s a good option to have. I can’t mix it, though, so I stick to Tarte.

NeutraKris

I liked ELF’s HD Powder, but the packaging is insanely messy! My day-to-day setting powder is Rimmel Stay Matte in Translucent, though I don’t think that qualifies as a finishing powder…

Jaison

There’s a few good finishing powders but I would have to say CHANEL Poudre Universelle Libre Natural Finish Loose Powder is my favorite hands down.

Sarah M

There are a few that I really like. I’m finding it hard to choose between them. My favourites are MAC Prep + Prime Transparent Finishing Powder, MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural, Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder and Chanel Natural Finish Loose Powder.

Irina

I usually use my BareMinerals Golden Medium foudation as my loose finishing powder. Its completely yellow toned, so it gives me this flawless finish that I absolutely love. And it photographs so well!

Adelita

Kudos to M·A·C for their finishing powder! ♥
I use M·A·C Invisible Set as my daily finishing powder (because its ability to set makeup for hours & stay matte) and Prep + Prime Transparent Finishing Powder for more soft-focused & natural glow finish (I prefer using this powder for photography than Make Up For Ever HD Microfinish Powder which oxidize on me!)

*BTW, for a superb oil-control, I recommend the #1 best selling Japanese brand loose powder (that was actually created for ballerina), Chacott Finishing Powder.
The second best oil-controlling finishing powder is a tie between M·A·C Invisible Set & Clarins Loose Powder. The reason I prefer M·A·C is because it’s cheaper than Clarins and even though my skin is extremely oily, but sometimes I can be really prone to eczema & dehydrated (maybe due to all of those mattifier product I had on) and Chacott can be really drying.

Ines

I think you´re talking about loose powder.I used many,but I use a few years ago the finishing powder of Dermablend(Vichy).I´ll try to explain.The powder has not colour at all.This powder was to be used after the corrector of Dermablend.You put the powder and then,after a few minutes,you teke away the excess,using a powder brush.So your colour of foundation does not change,and you don´t wear too much powder.

diamond_8806

I’ve been using Black Opal’s Oil Absorbing Invisible Pressed Powder, and I love it for my combo/oily skin.  It is white in the pan, but it really does buff in invisibly on my NC50 skin.  I can use it heavily, and once it mixes with my foundation and facial oils, it sets to the most beautiful semi-matte finish.  It definitely does it’s job at blocking oil.  Whenever I wear it, my makeup looks fresh all day, with no touch ups! This is a keeper for me! =)

We try to approve comments within 24 hours (and reply to them within 72 hours) but can sometimes get behind and appreciate your patience! 🙂 If you have general feedback, product review requests, off-topic questions, or need technical support, please contact us directly. Thank you for your patience!