High Definition Powder

This is such a smooth powder! It feels so nice and soft and almost slippery on the skin. I had been wanting to try the more expensive brand name HD Powder, but could not bring myself to spend that much money for a translucent setting powder. I am very happy with this powder! It is not all silica like the name brand version, but I am pretty sure dimethicone is an ingredient often found in primers that smooths the skin anyways, so it's not a big deal to me. It is nearly transparent; it leaves only the slightest tinge of white when applied with the powder puff. It is a great setting powder that doesn't add extra color or coverage or change the overall texture of the skin. It never looks "cakey" like most powders tend to look and does seem to live up to its claims of blurring out imperfections! It is not a miracle product, and you can't expect a translucent powder to make your skin look flawless, but it does gently smooth them over and definitely doesn't make them more pronounced. It controls oil quite well--after seven hours without, my nose is shiny, but I have a very oily T-zone, so this is not horrible. I'd think that one blotting during the day would suffice to keep the skin looking naturally matte.

I hate splurging on Powder because I'm a makeup artist with Oily skin, so I use powder daily to set my liquid foundation, it's a must, I don't go without it. The technique I've found that works best for me is to use a damp beauty blender and heavily apply powder to my entire face, beginning with areas that crease to prevent creasing. Then I go back and swirl what ever's leftover in the lid onto my face and blend onto my neck. Then I take a clean brush and dust off any excess. I use A LOT of powder, but this is the only method that keeps me as oily free as possible. Because of this routine I go through powder like crazy and refuse to pay over $10 for it (unless it's Ben Nye Banana Powder!). I previously used elf's high definition powder in translucent, but as of lately while it's still been effective I've definitely noticed that it hasn't been as finely milled as previously and unfortunately the bottom of my last 4 containers have contained little balls of product, like powder solids. For whatever reason, I could never find elf's yellow powder in stores, so I never tried it. I gave up on elf, tried other brands, found a few that worked ok, but hated paying the more expensive price for a lesser product. One day at Ulta, low and behold they had the yellow elf powder. It's definitely brighter than Ben Nye's Banana Powder, and despite being just as finely milled, I feel like its a dryer powder, whereas ben nye was soft and luxurious. Nonetheless, it works incredibly well. It camouflages my pores, brightens my skin tone and helps neutralize pink based foundations. My undertone is yellow, but i find that pink based shades are more accurately matched to my actual skin color and look less muddy., but the tone is off. The powder fixed that completely. As long as the formula stays the same, I'll be buying only this from now on. « less

I saw a review earlier that said the following:"I hate this stuff. I picked up the sheer one at my local Target and I was super disappointed when I got home and put it on my face. The packaging is extremely messy. I got a ton of the product all over my desk just by opening it. And if that wasn't enough of a deal-breaker, I went to apply this product onto my face to set my makeup and it just sat on top of my skin, made a ghostly white cast and looked like I powdered my face with baking flour. And the pictures! Man, I looked like a cake face. Do not recommend this stuff, what a waste of $6." I have to agree. I have tried countless times to try and get this to work as I have seen hundreds of people rave. I haven't tried the makeup forever one. It was right on top of my foundation and wouldn't blend in. I did have that same white film. It seems to be made for those with oily skin? I have dry skin and hated everything about it. Sorry elf, try again next time. « less

So I have combination skin. I have noticed when I used a silicon based primer, my dry patches are accentuated, even after moisturizing. Any who, so even without a primer, you can see dry patches and some pores with my foundation on. I just shake some powder out onto the cap, take a big (and I mean BIG) powder brush, swirl it in the powder and start patting it on my face. Once it is all over, is when I LIGHTLY blend it in (use circular motions). So after I do this, I notice that my pores look SMALLER, and it looks like I am not wearing any makeup. Also my dry patches are no longer visible.It is so weird. I hope I am explaining this properly. It just looks like I have porcelain skin. And when I use this to set my under eye concealer (I use fit me concealer by maybelline), it doesn't look cakey! I used the bare minerals well rester under my eyes and it was drying, cakey, and just too unnatural. Now this stuff is awesome. I guess since it is so finely milled that it fills in every space in your foundation? I don't know... This stuff is awesome. It can get messy but all I do is keep that sticker/seal on the opening, keep the powder puff on top and then close the lid. I haven't had a problem with any mess. :-) THIS PRODUCT IS BOMB PEOPLE. « less

I have very dry skin. Like unbelievably, something is probably wrong with me dry. I drink tons of water, I use daily moisturizer and night cream, my face cleaner is basically lotion, and I remove my makeup with jojoba and sweet almond oil- oh, and I take vitamins 4 times a day. I've ALWAYS struggled with making my base look good because my skin sucks all the moisture out of every foundation I've ever tried and then I look very cakey and like I've got tons of fine lines- I've always been terrified of setting powder because my skin was always way too dry to use it. I recently started using e.l.f foundation and it is incredible. After using that, I realized my setting spray (UD all-nighter) wasn't doing a great job keeping the foundation on my nose and underneath where my glasses rest. Because the e.l.f foundation was such a game changer on my desert dry skin I figured why not give the e.l.f setting powder a try- and boy am I glad I did! This sets my foundation (and my eye makeup now that I've switched that to cream, too) so nicely. I don't get any creasing or fine lines (which I thought was impossible for me) and I don't have any noticeable flakiness on my skin anymore (which is SO counter-intuitive)! My foundation stays on my nose now and hardly transfers onto my glasses. I can really pile this on, too, and it actually makes my makeup look better when I use this generously. I apply it pretty liberally with the e.l.f powder brush and gently dust away the excess. It leaves my skin feeling velvety soft and smooth (I couldn't stop touching it the first few times I used this!), my makeup doesn't budge, and while this looks ghostly white for a few minutes after I apply it, the white color goes away pretty quickly as it sets the makeup and it does not have any flashback in photos from what I can tell. This stuff is amaaaaaaaaaazing!It does "floof" powder pretty unavoidably when you put the lid back on, but it's so easy to wipe the powder away that it's really no a big deal. I've also gotten this on black formal wear before (applying my makeup in the car) and all I had to do was pat the clothing down and it came right out. I tap the powder into the lid, swirl it around, give one or two hard taps on the side of the main container to shake the excess off, then apply liberally. I let it sit for a few seconds then dust away the excess with the same powder brush. « less