PSA: MATTE IS BACK!

After a decade of blinding highlighters, dewy skin, glass skin, and all the iterations on dewy and glowy you can think of, everyone with oily skin can breathe a sigh of relief because matte skin is the hot new trend.

RIP Anastasia Beverley Hills Amrezy highlighter.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed more than a few highlighters back in the day – Becca Rose Gold was my jam (rip Becca, but thankfully the highlighter is still available) – but maintaining perfectly glowy skin without veering into greasy oil pit territory, especially during the summer, was truly a work of art for me. It required the best mattifying primers and luminous, yet oil controlling foundations, copious amounts of powder, and a delicate tap of highlighter. If that sounds like a lot of work, it was.

Let’s also be clear that when I say I want matte skin, I’m not talking about the flat matte look of the 90s – even though I’m loving 90s makeup these days. When I say matte these days, I want my skin to look healthy and have a natural glow, but just without the excessive shine that becomes reflective over the course of the day. I want to look like my skin balanced, my makeup to look effortless, without any obvious mattifying agents (even though I always use mattifying products) or without any glittery shine. 

I’ve tried more than my fair share of mattifying powders over the last 15+ years I’ve been wearing makeup and have a pretty solid idea of what makes an exceptional powder. My basic criteria for powder are that it has to be:

• Lightweight

• undetectable on the skin

• matte but not flat finish

• oil controlling for at least 8 hours on a normal day 

A ‘normal day’ might look different for everyone but for me, it means a day that isn’t excessively  hot or humid – for me that’s any day under 80F/25C degrees or a day when I’m not running around or being super active, meaning that it can last for a day in the office or some errands. Summer weather in DC is another level of hot and humid and expecting a powder to last a full 8 hours on oily skin is asking for a lot, so I set the threshold to a non-summer day as a normal day.

Here are my favorite mattifying powders to set my makeup and touch up throughout the day, starting with loose powder that I prefer to use as setting powders versus touch up powders, since loose powders can obviously be a pain to carry around:

By Terry Hydra Powder – I’ve used this one for years and it is still one of my favorite setting powders. It’s super lightweight, undetectable on my skin, and leaves this soft filtered matte finish that just completes my makeup. It’s great for anyone with combination skin because the hyaluronic acid keeps my skin from looking or feeling dry in the winter, but it also works in the summer to keep my skin looking fresh. For those with very oily skin, this might not be quite enough mattifying powder, but don’t fret because I have other options below.

Laura Mercier Ultra Blur Translucent Setting Powder – It’s very hard to de-throne By Terry as my everyday setting powder, but this newer iteration of the iconic original Translucent Setting Powder is so much better. While the original formula can provide a velvety finish, it tends to look a little heavy on my skin and doesn’t keep my skin matte for more than a few hours. This newer version feels much lighter and is virtually undetectable on my skin while still providing a soft blurred matte finish. It also seems to keep my skin matte for longer than the original formula too, so this powder is the clear winner for me. For this one, I don’t have the translucent shade – I have Honey, which is a yellow-tinted powder, and Rose, which is pink-tinted. I usually opt for translucent but I find that these tits are sheer enough to brighten up my face without looking like there’s any actual coverage. I share more thoughts in this reel.

Moving on to pressed powders, these are my top picks for both setting my makeup and touching up throughout the day:

Chantecaille Perfect Blur Finishing Powder – This powder is absolutely beautiful for a super blurring powder that doesn’t feel or look like powder. It almost feels like a gel cream product and even an intense swirl in the powder doesn’t result in any kickup. This instantly blurs and mattifies my skin and keeps my skin matte for hours. I can use this both as a setting powder and touch up powder but I like to bring this with me on the go because it’s a) in a pressed formula and b) not a very delicate powder. I have had mine (in a limited edition packaging) for a few years, using it fairly often and it doesn’t look like it’s near to hitting pan. 

Fenty Invisimatte Instant Setting and Blotting Powder – For my super oily friends, this is the one to get. This is the most mattifying powder of all of the powders in this roundup. This is my go to for summer touch-ups because this absolutely holds up in humid weather. It’s easy to go overboard with this one, so a little goes a long way to just blot down some shine for the day. I also love the actual compact and the fact that it’s refillable.

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Gucci Matte Beauty Powder – This is newer to me and I mostly overlooked it until Natalie (of MySkinterest – go give her page a read!) bought it for me for my birthday. If you’ve walked past this because you were just paying for a very expensive and beautiful compact – well, you’re getting that AND a very good powder. It has a silky texture that doesn’t feel too powdery or too creamy but just blends into my skin really well. This has some light coverage so it’s great for touching up and adding a bit of coverage to places where my concealer or foundation has started to wear off. It also has a pretty decent puff for convenience and it has the added bonus of just being so beautiful to use. I wear shade 03^.

Make Beauty Diffusion Set Powder – If you lean on the combination to normal and maybe even the slightly dry, I’ve got you covered as well! This powder from Make is super light and silky and gives more of a luminous matte finish – meaning that it will take down most of the shine so that I don’t look greasy or oily at all, but it’s so lightweight that it won’t completely suck all the natural glow out of my skin. I like to use this one more in the winter when my skin leans more combination. Bonus points again for beautiful mixed silver and gold packaging and for being refillable. I wear shade Translucent Light/Medium.

And finally, I have a runner up that I think is a good option, if not for the not so convenient packaging. One of the newest matte powders I”ve seen on the market lately is the Tower 28 GetSet Blur and Set Pressed Setting Powder, and it’s actually a very good powder at a reasonable-ish price point ($28) for a Sephora brand. In fact, it’s the second most affordable full-sized powder only after Sephora’s house brand. The finish is light, it’s visibly blurring, and it leaves a very modern looking matte finish that wears great on a normal day – if it’s excessively humid like it has been in DC recently, it only stays matte for about 6 hours on my skin. 

My one but pretty significant gripe about this powder (that I also discuss in this reel) is that despite its very cute and lightweight packaging, there’s no mirror inside, meaning that this is totally impractical for me to take on the go. I’m often touching up powder on a bus or train, or in some dire emergencies, walking down the street, and I simply do not have the hands to hold up a separate compact mirror in addition to a powder and powder brush. Maybe it’s just personal preference, but if I”m going to have a pressed powder, I need it to have a mirror. If not, I’d rather it just be a loose powder. If the lack of mirror is something that doesn’t bother me, this is another great option, formula wise.

How do you feel about matte skin coming back? Love it or hate it? What are your favorite powders to set with? Spill all the tea below, and add in your skin type while you’re at it. 

As always, thanks for reading.

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