Review: Laura Geller Filter Finish Setting Powder
Finding the perfect setting powder isn’t easy. Too often, I hear girls’ frustration of powders being chalky, drying, and thick. Luckily, we’ve been able to get away with avoid powders lately altogether since dewy skin has been a stable trend. As warmer weather approaches, finding a trust-worthy setting powder that will keep your face makeup in place will be crucial. Dewy foundations are beautiful and radiant, but you don’t want it sliding off your face.
Laura Geller’s Filter Finish Setting Powder in the shade “Universal” is that holy-grail powder for spring and summer 2017. It’s lightweight, easy to apply, and doesn’t “cake up” on the skin—even when it’s hot out.
This powder is called “filter finish” and it’s not just to get attention on social media. This powder has actually made my skin have a flawless finish and show up incredibly in photos—flash on or off. It’s really like the real-life version of the filters that you use on Snapchat or Instagram—minus the whole changing eye color or face shape effects.
My sister introduced me to this product just a few weeks ago. I first saw it in her makeup collection and just thought it was a pretty ambient-looking highlighter. It’s not. It’s a setting powder that does give your skin a sheer glow. I assure you that it doesn’t make your skin sparkly or glossy. It gives a similar effect that the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder has. It ends up diffusing and softening the appearance of your complexion. When looking at it in the compact, it has patches of orange, green, yellow, and lilac that shine delicately in the light.
These color combinations act as color-correcting powders. The lilac brightens your complexion, the green neutralizes red areas, the orange balances out any blueness, and the yellow helps blur under-eye circles. It’s basic color-theory for makeup. When all of these colors reflect in light together, they give off a beautiful sheer glow that almost blurs your skin.
For someone like myself that has always had bad under-eye circles, this powder became my friend very fast. I’ve also struggled with foundations always looking too warm on my skin. With having the green and lilac colors in the powder, my skin doesn’t look too warm or too cool—in fact, after putting this powder on top of my foundations that tend to be too warm, my face ends up looking completely balanced and neutralized.
For those of you who may be more on the pale side, you might not love this product as much as I do. I’ve read reviews of girls who are pale saying that this powder washes them out—most likely because of the lilac and green tones. However, I feel as if you are paler, simply applying a thin layer of bronzer before the Filter Finish will allow you to keep a more vibrant skin tone.
The one caution I would take when using this product is to be very light-handed with it on the nose area. If you apply too much to your nose, you end up losing the cute nose highlight we’ve been seeing on Instagram, and making the whole thing too shiny. I would do your nose highlight (if you do that) after applying the Filter Finish powder to your face.
The best way I’ve found to use this powder is to apply my foundation and concealer like usual, and then head directly into contouring and highlighting. Basically I do my makeup exactly like I normally would. Then, as my last step, I take a big, flat top powder brush and buff a light dusting of the Filter Finish powder onto my face. I use it to set and blend my face at the same time. It helps blend out any harsh contouring and melt any highlight into the skin seamlessly. Sometimes I apply a setting spray, but I’ve found that I don’t really need it with this powder.
All and all, this powder is definitely worth giving a try. I’ve been using it nearly everyday since I got it, and I only love it more each time I apply it. It makes my skin feel silky and smooth, and sometimes I forget that I even have powder on because it’s so lightweight. If you give it a try, let me know how you like it. Like always, if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out!
