Too Faced Primed & Poreless

I wasn’t in the market for a new setting powder. But when I had my make up applied by a Too Faced MUA at the Times Square Sephora in New York, I really really liked the effect this gave to my make up. I hadn’t heard or read much about this yet and so I decided to buy it and put it under review. Meet Too Faced’s Primed & Poreless Pressed Powder.

Too Faced Primed & Pored Pressed Powder Skin Smoothing Priming Powder & Finishing Veil

This face powder is one of Too Faced’s most recent addition to their make up line. I have tried a few Too Faced products before. My favorites are their their Shadow Insurance and I own a few of their make up palettes, but Too Faced as a brand is not one I veer towards. I do have their Milk Chocolate Soleil bronzer, which I love now that I am getting paler again, but overall, it is not my first pick for browsing whenever I encounter it. I certainly would not have found this powder on my own that is for sure.

One of the reasons why I decided to buy it were the astonishing claims this powder has. It promises to prime and set your make up. But that is not all, it also promises to minimize pores, hide fine lines and create an airbrushed effect. It should create a flawless finish that locks down make up and control shine. Now what intrigued me most was the claim of using this as a primer as I don’t see how you could first apply a powder and then your liquid foundation. This product retails for $30 and you get 10 grams of product.

The claims on the box. Some people adore Too Faced packaging. I am not one of those people. I think it looks a little tacky and cheap. Primed & Poreless comes in a light pink box with a light pink compact inside. For Too Faced standards this is a very toned down look when it comes to packaging.

The compact itself is made of plastic and is fairly small. It is slim and includes a large mirror in the lid. And I like that, because that means that this is a perfect size for bringing along in your hand bag or when you’re traveling. It will easily fit into your make up bag or purse without adding any unwanted bulk.

When you open up the compact you can see that using this powder as a touch up product throughout the day is exactly what Too Faced had in mind when creating this. Inside there is a little powder puff sponge which easily allows you to touch up your make up and take control of any shine or oil that your skin may have produced throughout the day.

Unfortunately after just a few uses, my sponge has lost its cute ribbon that allows you to firmly grab a hold of the sponge. The ribbon was a little flimsy and it tore off quite easily. The sponge works quite nicely when you want to press some product onto your face, but I still prefer to apply this with a large flat top kabuki brush.

The powder itself looks matte in the pan, but Too Faced promises this powder adapts itself to your skin tone, which most likely means that it is meant to be transparent. I have found that is not the case. If you use the amount needed to properly set your foundation this powder easily leaves a white cast, even on my extremely fair skin. So I wouldn’t recommend this if you are anything darker than medium.

Up to this point, I may have sounded quite negative about this product. But where packaging and accessories are nice additions, what truly matters is of course how this powder works. And on that aspect the Too Faced Primed & Poreless powder scores major major points. I am a big fan of the MAC Prep + Prime Transparent finishing powder and I have to say that this powder works in a similar way.

Swatch

This face powder is one of the most finely milled powders I have ever used. It is not as stark white as the MAC version and just a little swirl in the pan with your finger produces a good amount of product. Swatched, you can see the powderiness of this powder and the effect this powder has on your skin. Because, no that swatch picture is not blurry: that’s the effect of the powder.

No make up – just foundation – with powder

To demonstrate the full effect of the Too Faced Primed & Poreless powder I decided to show you my face without make up, with foundation and then with powder. As you can clearly see in these pictures, the powder adds a definite porcelain skin finish to your skin. My skin looks more flawless, more radiant and velvety smooth after using this powder. I think this powder gives my skin exactly the kind of look I need before I start playing around with adding some color.

Full face

In this full face picture, where I am wearing my complete make up look, you can see that the powder lives up to the many claims it comes with. Well most of them: I do not find this powder locks down make up as well as when I use the Catrice Nude Illusion Loose Powder to ‘bake’ my make up. At the end of the day, my T-zone shows some oil and shine when I use this. I also feel I have to use quite a bit in order for it to work properly. So this isn’t a very economical powder. I have only been using this for a few weeks on a daily basis and I can already see a dent forming in the middle.

However, if you are looking for a powder that gives you a flawless make up look that lasts a good few hours and comes in a compact that is travel friendly, then this is for you. It is not the most budget-friendly product out there, but the MAC powder I mentioned earlier also didn’t last me a very long time either. Overall, I feel this is a great make up setting powder that gets the job done.

What face powder do you use?