My ULTA shopping trip didn’t end with the Neutrogena miracle. I actually got what I went for, which was pressed powder (and I may have picked up another tube of Telescopic - I’m so bad). My coupon didn’t apply to any of the fancy-schmancy brand ones, so I went cheap and grabbed Ulta’s own. I was dubious as I had a rather negative experience with an Ulta-brand concealer once, but the label says “Mineral”, which is all the rage in makeup right now. Another major concern was the limited color choices: they only offer “Light to Medium” and “Fair to Light”.
I finally chose Light to Medium since I don’t like the geisha look, and my skin has warm yellow undertones. (Yes, you should know these things about your skin.)
The package was attractive and opened easily, but when I first used it, the powder settled kind of cakey and seemed still too light. (I don’t even tan, people. Seriously.) By the way, I don’t use the packaged pressed-powder applicator sponges, I use brushes. I find them considerably better for blending with blush, bronzer and eyeshadow and for even coverage overall. It took some work, but after a few minutes I was able to buff the powder into a finer-looking texture. My favorite element was when I felt my skin - it felt amazingly soft. The powder smelled nice as well. Still, I had to overbronze and blush a bit to counteract the lightness of it - why don’t they offer darker skin tones? I’m not exactly dark, and it doesn’t seem smart to limit your market to white and Asian buyers, since neither of these colors are plausible for even lighter Hispanic skin colors. Despite the shade problems, the coverage was nice and even-looking and finished matte but not in a plastic-y way.
The verdict: 7/10 - I’d probably give it a 9 if they offered a better selection of colors. Very nice feeling and looking powder, but the work I put into it was a bit much, so I’d save it for finishing the undereye concealer since lighter shades don’t tend to be a problem in that area.
Ulta Mineral Pressed Powder sells at Ulta.com for $14.00.
[...] Powder Duo finally bit the dust) and I noticed the coupon could be used online, so I snagged the powder and this stuff. I have a rather embarrassing confession to make. I’ve had the most disgusting [...]
[...] You have fair skin with pink tones like Scarlett - Use a black kohl pencil to line under your eyes. Feather dark brown shadow underneath the pencil - don’t go all the way to the corner with this and don’t go more than 1/4in. down. Line top lashes with black liquid eyeliner like L’Oreal Telescopic and sweep on enough black mascara (Diorshow is great for a plump and not spidery look) to cover those light-colored lashes you’ve got. Lining the inner rim of the top lid with the black kohl pencil will help achieve the effect, but don’t poke your eye out. You can do this on the bottom inner rim with white pencil to make sure you don’t get that raccoon look. Top lids with brown eyeshadow and do the crease in a very dark shadow; purple or maroon is very flattering on fair skin. Angle the dark shadow out into a cat-eye shape pointing up toward the end of your brow. Line lips with a dark berry-colored liner. Use a berry-colored lip stain, then after it’s dry, top it with the closest matching lipstick you can find. Sweep a rosy blush subtly down the cheekbone, but don’t touch the apples of your cheeks. Keep skin matte with a finishing powder like Ulta Mineral Pressed Powder. [...]