Review: Sephora Microsmooth Foundation Face Powder

25 Beige

I ordered this bad boy last week and finally got around to trying it on Sunday. I ordered 25 Beige for my NC25 skin tone. It seemed that color wise, I may have been able to use 15 Nude instead, but the undertone for Beige was warmer. This is a little bit dark on me, but since the coverage is light, buildable to light medium at most, it's pretty forgiving. Since summer is around the corner, Beige would probably end up matching me. Darn you California sun!

 Compared to my Studio Fix Powder, the Microsmooth powder is a lot more golden. It looks nearly orange in comparison! That could also be from oxidation since I have oily skin. For comparison purposes, here are both side by side. I use NC30 in the Studio Fix Powder range since it runs lighter than Mac's liquid formulations. Sephora carries 8 shades in the Microsmooth Foundation Face Powder range.

The coverage of the Microsmooth powder as I mentioned before is light. Sephora claims that "coverage can go from sheer to high". However, I found that the more I applied with a kabuki, the more I can feel it on my face. Applied with a kabuki, the most coverage I got out of it was a light medium coverage. I feel I picked the right time to do a review for this one since I have a lot of acne going on right now as you will see in my before application picture. To get a little more coverage, I'd press the kabuki onto the area and gently buff. It did manage to cover up some of my cheek's redness but some of my acne is still visible. It also slightly emphasizes flakiness, but nothing like a matte powder would, so I would say it is forgiving in that department.

This didn't last very long on my oily skin. I tried this out on a work day by itself and around the 3 hour mark, the oil on my nose was already breaking the foundation down. I was shocked because I had my HG sunscreen/primer on! I have yet to try this out on top of foundation. It might work better that way (and I will make sure to write another post updating on that aspect) than used as a foundation by itself on oily skin. It has zero oil control alone. I'm telling you now that it would be a recipe for disaster! I do have a theory to make it last on my skin by prepping my skin with oil absorbing powders underneath (a la silica powder or Laura Mercier). I will definitely put that to the test as well.

Sephora did manage to pull off the satin finish successfully in this powder. It looks like your skin has a natural glow going on. Like an aura. It's what I'd imagine Guerlain balls to look like on the face. I feel that it diffuses light with the slight sheen that it has. It's not a garish sheen nor glitter. It's just... natural. That's the best way to describe it, in my opinion.

Here are some before and after shots to show the coverage it gives on the face. I took these in the shade because someone was in the pool and giving me the stink eye for having the camera out.. I'm not creepin' neighbor, I promise!

Full face done!

No Foundation

As you can see, it doesn't entirely cover my blemishes, but it does a good job of evening the redness. My dark circles are still visible, too, but I wasn't expecting this to cover them! ;) There are some areas where the application looks patchy. It's actually from sweating since it's really hot in my area. So if you are sweating, I recommend applying this in front of a fan to get the most even coverage possible. This has also happened to me with mineral make up, so it's not a factor of the Microsmooth powder.

In case you wonder how color magically appeared on my lips, it's because I applied Laura Mercier Courtesan Stick Gloss on because my lips look so dead and zombie like. They're also dry, so I decided to spare you guys from that. 

Bottom line: Yay for light coverage and normal/dry skin. Use with caution on combo/oily skin.

Available at Sephora for $22

Ingredients for 25 Beige:

Mica, Talc, CI 77891 (Titanium Dioxide), Dimethicone, CI 77492 (Iron Oxides), Isopropyl Palmitate, Polysorbate 20, Acrylamide/Sodium Acryloyldimethyltaurate Copolymer, Magnesium Aluminum Silicate, Octyldodecyl Stearoyl Stearate, Cetearyl Ethylhexanoate, Isohexadecane, Caprylyl Glycol, Sorbitan Stearate, CI 77491 (Iron Oxides), Lauroyl Lysine, Coral Powder, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Dehydroacetate, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Tocopheryl Acetate, Polysorbate 80, Hexylene Glycol, CI 77499 (Iron Oxides), Nylon-12, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Sorbitan Oleate, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Tocopherol.