natjtan Welcome to Beauty Finds! This edition feature Freshly Cosmetics Magic Finishing Loose Powder.
My go to talc free translucent powder is Honest Beauty Invisible Blurring Loose Powder. I think in 2021 they redrew it for reformulation and I was unable to find any on either Douglas or Niche Beauty for about a year (I have since found that more places in Europe sell Honest Beauty online). I used it as sparingly as possible until it ran out. The only brand I knew that had a silicone and talc free translucent power was Freshly Cosmetics. Talc is a known carcinogenic which I avoid in make up.
I was a little hesitant as it contains mica and this girl doesn’t need more shine. Mica mining, child labour can be used and mining can cause lung problems. I trust that Freshly Cosmetics would source child free labour mica as they’re quite an ethical brand for the environment. I use a silicone free primer and foundation/bb cream so there will be shine thanks to my oily skin. Summer was coming up and to lessen the shine I like a loose powder just to hold it off for little while. Unless I use products with silicones in, my face is going to shine. I avoid silicones as oily skin if blocked can lead to breakouts. Silicones smooth over pores basically clogging them. My skin can’t handle them.
Read ahead for my Beauty Finds requirements or skip a paragraph for the review.
I have a few requirements when it comes to beauty products: cruelty free, natural, clean, vegan better. I do my best to avoid nasty ingredients such as SLSs, parabens, PEGs, silicones, etc. Petrochemicals are the sneakiest with so many derivatives and aliases. I also avoid palm oil and it’s derivatives as I prefer orangutans. Coconut oil marketed as the good oil I’m also cutting down on as it can be just a damaging crop as palm oil. If I do get products containing palm or coconut oil I try to get organic or sustainably sourced. With make up it’s a little harder so I go for cruelty free brands. I prefer products with less plastic and thankfully more brands are aware consumers don’t want unnecessary plastic (or governments are telling them less plastic). My skin type’s oily sensitive, acne prone and now wrinkles. I know nothing stops those lines, but if I can delay them then….
Freshly Cosmetics Magic Finishing Loose Powder
Silky loose powder that smooths, mattifies and sets your makeup, without drying out the skin. Get and even matte finish by smoothing fine lines, pores and imperfections. Dermatologically tested. Suitable for sensitive skin. Avoid contact with eyes and mucous membranes. Do not use on damaged skin. For external use only.
Form: Loose Powder
Coverage: Matte
Finish: Even Finish
First up the colour is a little scary but it doesn’t leave a white cast making it suitable for any skin tone. I wouldn’t say it’s a matte finish due to the first ingredient mica. Mica is a natural sparkle ingredient. The powder does leave a very, very, very faint shimmer. It’s hardly noticeable on but you can see it when it’s loose. It doesn’t smell bad like some loose powders can. Most ingredients are skin care in disguise all 100% natural. Another reason why I purchased it.
Many loose powders contain either talc or corn starch which soak up oil just like powder dry hairsprays. Magic Finishing instead used rice powder or oryza sativa starch which acts like talc. The second ingredient, silica aka silicone. This apparently is the good silicone. The fourth is bambusa arundinacea which is a natural alternative to silicone and also help regulate sebum aka the shine! It’s bamboo silica! The rest of the ingredients are good oils and squalene to help hydrate.
So does it work? Erm, for 30 minutes. I use it with Freshly Cosmetics Satin Skin Cream Foundation and the shine loves to shine. I say this every time I review foundations, bb cream and powders: There’s not point fighting oily skin, covering it up, instead finding a way to work with it. I try to drink more water as oily skin having a bad shine day it can be a sing of dehydration. Some days it didn’t even last 5 minutes. Online on Why Will You Love It?, it has Photo Reflective Pearls which I think is the silica to ‘correcting effect of imperfections, evening out the skin tone for a perfect optical effect, playing with the light reflections that impact on skin to get the most out of it. This didn’t work. I stuck with it out of habit and hope it would hold the shine in a certain light. When Niche Beauty restocked Honest Beauty Invisible Blurring Loose Powder I immediately switched back.
I did like the pot (which is plastic). Thanks to the lid’s design of a plug holding down the mesh it didn’t go everywhere on opening. The mesh a thick tights like texture allows enough product to be picked up by a brush. I only used about 2/3 before it was beginning to not pick up as much as the powder went down. I had to tip the pot inside down or tap it for the powder to ‘float’ up. This is when it started to go everywhere a little. Before careful if you wear thing dark while applying as it will smudge removing it leaving a faint whitish mark. While it’s only 4g at €22 it does last a few months for such a small quantity compared to others.
Would I recommend? Yes, if you have dry or normal skin. No if you have oily skin (I think I’m in the minority according to reviews). It’s claim of even finish and being matte doesn’t work for oily skin. Okay, I don’t apply much but what I do apply I’d like maybe an hour or 2 feeling less shiny. Not completely matte as that doesn’t feel like me. I feel if it didn’t have as much mica it might work on oily skin.
Thank you for stopping by! Are you a pressed powder or loose powder person? I switched to loose as it’s less likely to contain talc and one colour generally fits all being translucent.