When it comes to makeup reviews, setting powders don’t jump out and snatch folks’ attention. In a world of brightly colored eyeshadows, glitters, and lipsticks, setting powders are rather bland but crucial for ensuring a long-lasting makeup application.
Today’s post is another Influenster VoxBox review. If you’re not familiar with Influenster, it’s a reviewing community that I’ve been a member of for the last few years and they occasionally send me products to try out and review. There’s more information on Influenster over on this post or if you’d like you can go ahead and sign up – it’s free.
So with that, I did receive the new Milk Makeup Blur + Set Matte Loose Setting Powder for free for reviewing purposes – but this post isn’t sponsored and all of the thoughts about this product are 100% my own. Now that that little disclaimer is out of the way, let’s get into this little review.
MILK MAKEUP BLUR + SET MATTE LOOSE SETTING POWDER
“This super-lightweight, translucent, matte setting powder locks in makeup all day, without any cakiness, chalky cast, or flashback. Powder-filled, blurring microspheres in the formula blur pores, imperfections, and fine lines, and reduce shine to create a soft-focus, filtered effect. Avocado powder and hyaluronic acid combine to smooth the appearance of skin, allowing the powder to set makeup without settling in fine lines. The three light-as-air, silky, sheer shades feel like a second skin, and were created to work across all skin tones. Because Blur + Set is formulated without talc, you won’t experience a thick, chalky residue.”
Price: $29 USD
Shades Available: Translucent Light, Translucent Medium, and Translucent Deep.
Includes: 0.87 oz / 25 grams
Available: Milk Makeup’s website and Sephora
Released: July 2018
[Random side note: I love making stop motion little videos. They make me happy.]
Packaging: When you pick the Blur + Set Powder up from the store, it comes in a white cardboard box with an embossed Milk Makeup logo, product information, directions in English and French, and some company information. It’s a minimalistic design – which is on brand for Milk Makeup – and also comes with a color sticker showing the shade name and sealing the box to ensure that it hasn’t been opened or tampered with.
The product itself is contained within a lidded, frosted plastic jar. The top is a threaded, screw on lid with a white plastic protector and holding area for the included activated charcoal infused sponge pad. The powder is kept behind a mesh liner to help cut down on wasting excess product.
Also, per the label on the bottom of the jar the Blur + Set powder has a 24 Month shelf life from the time you first open it. I really enjoyed that Milk Makeup took the time to list directions AND studio tips on the packaging. It was a nice little bonus and something that I think folks will overlook if they aren’t aware of it.
The sponge pad that is included is an interesting shape. It has one straight edge, a rounded side, and a slight cutaway (see picture below) that allows you the ability to go into the inner corner of your orbital bone without any problems.
The powder is very silky and finely milled so I appreciate the mesh sieve dispenser otherwise this product would go everywhere any time you tried to open the container. I do find that I still prefer applying it to my face with a powder brush rather than the sponge – but it’s a personal preference. I like to apply as little powder as possible just because I don’t like to give my dry skin something to cling to…
Does it flashback when taking flash photography? No. At first, I thought that it did just because I took an iPhone flash photo but then I realized that I’m just hella pale and it overexposed my face. I would still use a light hand when applying the product if you are planning on taking flash photography. I will say that this product looks EXCELLENT on camera for video or in natural daylight.
Can you wear it on its own, sans makeup? Yes. In fact, it works really nicely as a blurring dooble on days where I just want to minimize the look of my massive nose pores. I just apply my skincare and sunscreen as usual and give this powder a light dusting over my face.
Does it smell? You might find that this is an odd question – but I get so tired of makeup products being formulated with fragrance. It does not have any scent at all.
Does it live up to its claims? Eh, yes and no. I have dry skin and I know that I won’t be able to live worry free with a setting powder caked all over my face. It does a great job at blurring pores and doesn’t settle into my fine lines… but it does cling to some of my drier dry patches and healing acne spots. If you have dry skin, just use a light hand and you can get by just fine.
MY THOUGHTS:
I think that this setting powder is pretty decent. The price point and amount of product that you do get in each container are well worth the money. The packaging is very ergonomically conscious and as a graphics nerd, I love the minimalism of the design. The sponge isn’t my thing, but that’s okay.
I was so happy that it didn’t darken my concealer. I always get a little concerned when “tinted” setting powders get released and have a lot of hype with them because I’ve been burned too many times before with those products interacting with my very pale concealer and foundation making them 1 to 2 shades darker than they were supposed to be. Ah, the woes of the pale girl.
I did notice that it accentuated a little bit of the texture of my undereye area more than normal – but that’s something I can deal with. I appreciated the “soft focus” effect for the T-zone and on the several times that I’ve worn it by itself.
For something that is a powder, I didn’t find that it dried my skin out – which I guess is due to the hyaluronic acid and avocado powder. So YAY for that.
With all of that, I still think that this powder is catering to more of the Oily to Combo complexion folks out there… but am still pleasantly surprised that it didn’t dry me out or accentuate my dry skin TOO terribly much.
I would recommend this to folks who are already thinking about trying it out or are looking for a decent, not-overpriced, hydrating setting powder. If you do want to try it out but are still unsure if you’d like it, just order it from Sephora and keep track of your receipt. Their customer service and return policy are excellent.
minimalistic vampy makeup tutorial info
I really wanted to feature ALL Milk Makeup products for this look and with Autumn here (FINALLY) I wanted to give it a vampy little oomph. So I did. I have very few actual lipsticks by Milk Makeup and the only thing that I wasn’t sure of when I finished this look ended up being the lip color… mainly because it brought out the warm tones in my teeth.
… go go Gadget self-conscious moment.
All of the products I used in this tutorial are from Milk Makeup, so if you’re wondering where the brand names are on the details listed below — I just didn’t want to keep typing out Milk Makeup for every product.
• F A C E •
Watermelon Brightening Serum
Cooling Water Stick
Blur Stick Primer
Blur Foundation in Ivory
Sunshine Skin Tint in Fair
Flex Concealer in Fair
Matte Bronzer in Baked
Lip+Cheek Color in Werk
Blur + Set Matte Loose Setting Powder * (Provided by Influenster)
Holographic Highlighter Quad (Ivory shade)
• E Y E S •
Flex Concealer + Blur and Set Powder (as a primer)
Holographic Quad (Ivory and Rose Gold shades)
Eye Pigment in After Party (as eyeliner)
Kush Mascara
• L I P S •
Lip Stick in Grrrl
• B R O W S •
Gel Pencil in Pilsner
Kush Brow Gel in Dutch and Grind
• C O N T A C T S •
Pinky Paradise Color Vue in Honey Brown
Anyways, I’m going to hop off of here and get back to the 13 Days of Halloween prep. If you have any questions about any of the products used or mentioned, just leave me a comment.
I want to know if you’ve tried the Blur+Set Powder or if you are thinking about picking it up… so don’t be shy and tell me all about it in the comments below. Mmmk?
