The Low, Mid & High End Loose Setting Powders

The Low, Mid & High End Loose Setting Powders

I don’t know what got into me a few months ago but suddenly I went on a mad loose powder binge (I have one more which I’ve not featured as part of this post, that hasn’t really been tried because… well three loose powders at once is quite enough, and it’s a little bit different to these three). I tend to buy one powder at a time, use it till it’s gone and then try something else. These powders are at three different price points and I thought it would be good to test them out and compare, and see whether there’s any worth in paying more for a loose powder.The Low
W7 Matte Dreamer Loose Powder
// RRP £6.95, I bought mine for £3.99
20g of product

W7 I tend to find to be a very hit and miss brand, some stuff I have absolutely adored from the very use friendly brand, others I’ve really struggled to be impressed by. Known for their very cheap and affordable dupes it’s quite rare that I stray past their dupes into their ‘regular’ products if you will. But when I saw this I decided at £3.99 it was worth a punt.

Unlike the other two this isn’t a pure white colour, intact it comes in the shade ‘Classy Cameo’, which is a pale cream colour, personally I prefer this, whilst it does pay off translucent I find that it takes the edge off what I white powder can often do. When I saw Cameo, I immediately thought that actually, I’m pretty sure Ben Nye has a Cameo Powder, and it does, so whilst packaging wise this isn’t a dupe, and name wise it’s not that similar either.

The packaging of this isn’t my favourite looks wise, however it’s one of the most practical in terms of design for me (you’ll here more about the other two later), I tend to actually tip a bit into the lid of the product and swirl my brush into the lid. The one thing with this is that it’s not great for travel, whilst it’s easy to get the product out, there’s a lot of quite large holes which has a tendency to get a bit free and go everywhere. I can’t take this powder anywhere unless I want to be covered in it when I take the lid off for the first time.

The powder is made up of a mainly talc base which is one of the cheapest ingredients when it comes to powders.


The Mid
L’Oreal True Match Minerals Mattifying Powder 
// RRP £12.99
10g of product

I know what you’re thinking, L’Oreal… classed as a mid level product? This product is over the £10 Mark (When I think of low, mid, high – anything under £10 – low, and over £20 high, and this falls in between), which I think is pretty pricy for L’Oreal! The packaging of this on the surface is pretty nice looking with a bright mint chrome lid, and a square design, it doesn’t feel like L’Oreal to me at first glance if the product had no logo.

In reality this packaging is terrible, why is there a need for a lid this big? I was suckered in by its big shiny appearance, but it makes the product so unnecessarily bulky. This doesn’t fit in the drawer where I normally keep all my powders/bronzers/highlighters lined and stacked up, it’s had to live on my dressing table. Add to that it has more problems with the packaging too, this has a fabric/mesh sifter in it, very similar to some much higher end brands, but it’s so deep into the product, it’s very hard to actually get product onto my brush without having to smush the brush in so heavily that I risk damaging it over time.

I’ve found the easiest way is to actually tip this upside down with a large powder brush ready and waiting and tap the bottom of the pot to get the product out lightly. I’m actually tempted to cut the mesh out though to make it a bit easier to use the product.

In terms of its pot size compared to the W7, it’s just half the size and just short of triple the price, it is a mineral based powder so I’d expect the ingredients to be a bit more expensive – but this is still a predominately Silicia and Talc Based powder.

This feels very fine and the white cast of the powder pays off completely translucent on the skin as soon as it’s applied. Overall, I’d describe this as okay, it feels very nice on my skin, but for a Mattifying powder it’s qualities doesn’t last very long – I find somewhere around 3/4 hours after application that my T-Zone is feeling pretty oily if this has been my powder of choice for the day.


The High
Make Up For Ever Ultra HD Loose Powder 
// RRP £24.50
8.5g of product

This is just a sample size of a product, but I’ve been through two of these in the past – This has been a super handy thing to keep in my clutch bag for touching up for events and I’d reserved it for my wedding day, and since then it’s still been going strong.

The full size of this has a mesh sifter similar to the L’Oreal one, however the packaging is a lot less shallow and it’s much easier to get the product out. I was surprised out of the three powders that this was the smallest of the three, I thought it was going to be at least as big as the L’Oreal powder because it’s slightly smaller, for a lot more money.

That price however for me is justified as out of the three powders, this is my favourite. It’s the finest milled out of the three, even above the mineral powder it feels really soft and light on the skin. It mattifies the skin well and really helps set the makeup in place better than the reset. I find myself getting oily the least out of these three powders and overall I’m impressed with it. To the eye I feel like out of the these this one has the best blurring effects to the skin and is also best for demattifying the skin after you have got oily.

The ingredients of this have been near on impossible to find – other than I know that it’s talc free, I don’t know how else this differs from the others. One thing that’s worth noting with this powder is that it does supposedly give terrible flashback, not something I have a problem with about in my day-to-day life,  but that being said I’ve looked at photos of me late into the evening at my wedding and I can’t notice big glaring white cast that makes me look like Casper the friendly ghost.


Product Information

W7 Matte Dreamer Powder L’Oreal True Match Minerals Makeup Forever Ultra HD Powder
Total Product Weight 20g 10g 8.5g
Total Product Price £6.95 £12.99 £24.50
Price per g £0.34 £1.30 £2.88

So there’s my view on three different powders, The High, The Mid & The Low. I’m really pleased to have gotten this post out the way as I’ve been really testing these for a few months and I’ve not touched the Urban Decay Velvetizer I bought back in September yet!

What’s your favourite powder?

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29 Comments

  1. November 29, 2017 / 6:09 am

    I haven’t tried any of these, but I have been loving Glossier’s Wowder and Tarte’s Smooth Operator Finishing Powder.

  2. November 29, 2017 / 6:29 am

    The packaging on L’oréal’s is so beautiful but so dysfunctional 😍 great reviews x

  3. November 29, 2017 / 7:36 am

    I’d definitely recommend you trying to Cody Airspun when you run out! It’s quite strongly perfumed but it is amazing! Xx

    • November 29, 2017 / 9:47 am

      That’s been on my list for years, last time I looked on Amazon it was £17, and I couldn’t find it in NY when we went. I know you said you can get it a lot cheaper online so it will definitely be one I try now!

      • November 29, 2017 / 9:05 pm

        I’ll try and find you the seller I got it from on amazon and message it to you! 😍

  4. November 29, 2017 / 8:44 am

    I like the NYX SFX one. The popular HD one was fine, ’til I saw a photo of myself and I looked like Caspar too😂 It’s best for combo skins like mine, so it’s not a long lasting mattifying powder. The heavier ones make my drier but still oily patches a mess x

    • November 29, 2017 / 9:49 am

      I tried the HD pressed one and I liked it but went through it very quickly! I haven’t tried or heard of the SFX one though, I’ll add that to my list for when I need to repurchase one!

  5. November 29, 2017 / 12:41 pm

    ben nye banana powder is my favorite! i hate the ashy look from some setting powders

    • November 29, 2017 / 1:04 pm

      I love Banana Powders, but only when I’m more tanned – I think different translucencies and tones work better for different skin tones!

  6. My Lifestyle Fix
    November 29, 2017 / 8:18 pm

    I’ve just started using the L’Oreal power and feel exactly the same; it’s hard to get the brushes in to get the powder and it’s doesn’t last too long. For now it’s okay but I’ll be trying something else when it’s finished.

  7. lipstickdenimandcoffee
    November 29, 2017 / 8:30 pm

    Honestly I am obsessed with the Charlotte Tilbury one 🙂

      • lipstickdenimandcoffee
        December 1, 2017 / 11:02 am

        My favorite lip by her right now is Hot Emily . I do want walk of shame so bad right now 😁

  8. November 29, 2017 / 9:07 pm

    I don’t know if you can get NYX over there, but their HD powder is a dupe for the Make Up For Ever one. They feel exactly the same.

    My personal favorites though are the Coty Airspun, Ben Nye Neutral Set Colorless Powder and Dermablend loose powder in Translucent.

    • November 29, 2017 / 10:02 pm

      We can get nyx , only in the past 18 months or so. I do like their pressed hd powder but when ever I’ve looked for the loose one it’s sold out!

      We can’t get airspun very easily here but it’s one I’ve always wanted to try!

  9. November 29, 2017 / 9:20 pm

    Great post! The makeup forever setting powder really irritated my skin 🙁

  10. November 29, 2017 / 9:51 pm

    I have not tried any of these but should! I was surprised by a NYX one I got in a Glam Bag and loved and I have been addicted to a nice setting powder since.

  11. November 30, 2017 / 2:41 am

    I didn’t know that L’Oreal made a loose powder! It’s made in Italy – not bad.
    I also realized recently that I in possession of several loose powders, also ranging from inexpensive (Revolution), to mid (Bourjois), to expensive (Annua Sui, Nars, ByTerry)… I’m sure I have more but these are off the top of my head. I mainly use them to dust under my eyes to set concealer but I should step it up and use all over my face. I do find that some of them accentuate dry patches on my face. I’m actually itching to try the Coty Airspun since people rave about it so much.

    • November 30, 2017 / 7:10 am

      Same! We can’t get it very easily here and the last time I checked it was really expensive! I tried to hunt it down in New York but I couldn’t find it!
      Yes I was impressed it was made in Italy too, shame the product was the worst of the three!

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