This is why you need Pink Sugar’s 349-peso face powder in your life

Powders

Dec 10

Often, at the drugstore beauty counter, a “good bargain” is just a bargain more than it is actually good. Many of us settle for mediocre products because they’re cheap and they work well enough. Often we would pay for these with a shrug. “It’s alright,” we tell ourselves. Once in a while though, something seriously good comes along and we are reminded why we should keep our standards even when faced with all manner of cheap temptations. That’s how I felt when I tried the Pink Sugar Our Lil’ Secret All Day Matte Powder, which is only P349 for 10 grams of product.

Typically, translucent pressed powders in this price range are chalky AF and make my skin look more terrible than it is. I usually just use them to retouch with ONLY on my t-zone since a full application makes my makeup look cakey in the middle of the day! Given all of this, I had pretty low expectations with Pink Sugar’s powder. It didn’t look special. There’s no sponge nor there is a mirror. How am I even going to retouch with this?

And so I tentatively used it as a setting powder.

Holy crap guys, this is so good as a setting powder on top of liquid foundation! It makes my makeup look matte but not flat - you can see in the close up below that it makes my skin look skin-like, even with so many layers of product. It also doesn’t add much coverage even when layered a few times, so you can really powder up your wet base without altering how it applied. You know what I mean? I think you will understand if you like to layer your bases.

This powder delivers a poreless, skin-refining finish. If you’re looking for that blurring effect but hate using those micro HD powders, this is a really good alternative IMHO.

It also makes my makeup keep its integrity better during the day. I notice I oil up only after three hours with this on; when matched with a good long-wearing foundation, I find that I don’t have to retouch my powder even with eight hours on the clock. I just blot with tissue or paper and I’m good!

There are three shades available, all of which are barely distinguishable to me. Medium Beige is darkest, but I find Beige and Light Warm to be almost identical to each other. I suppose Beige is a bit more yellow? Honestly though it doesn’t matter so much because the powder does melt and blend onto the skin’s natural color; it’s translucent, after all. If you have light to deep medium skin tone, these shades should work for you.

My only true complaint is that the compact doesn’t have a mirror or a sponge. I would love to retouch with this on the go! I asked one of the brand’s founders, Laveen Mirpuri, why this is the case. He said that they didn’t include those features so they can keep the price down. They released a powder foundation before (it was P499 if I remember correctly) and they observed that their customers valued a lower price point more than a good sponge or mirror.

Still, at P349, I find the Pink Sugar Our Lil’ Secret All Day Matte Powder to be a steal. It sets makeup incredibly well and functions like some of my favorite high-end powders! I will probably finish up what I have and buy more when I run out. That’s how much I like it.

Let me know what you think, and if you’ve tried this as well!

You can buy Pink Sugar products in this list of locations. They’re also on BeautyMNL and Lazada.