Magic Or Mayhem? We test out the Pond's Magic Powder BB

In the words of the wise men of Bowling for Soup, high school never ends. I started to believe it when my cringe-worthy high school days haunted me back in the form of the Pond's Magic Powder BB. This bottle of powder had been making rounds online as a super cheap yet effective oil-control powder so I made sure to pick up a bottle during my Bangkok trip last year. You can find this at any neighborhood 7-Eleven in Thailand but in the PH, availability is limited to online sellers.

From the raves I've seen, this has been praised as a finishing powder that keeps even the oiliest of faces matte for hours and hours and hours! As an oily-skinned girl, that struggle is definitely true for me so I had to find out if it was really worth the hype. Any guesses on how this powder performed?

It's always important to check the label before using a product. In this case, the ingredients were listed on the bottle in English but everything else was in Thai! I wanted to know what it said so I found a provided translation on the Peeping Pomeranian blog:

Fine BB loose powder helps covering blemish scars, melasma and freckles.

- Gives very light coverage compared to foundation cream or pressed powder foundation
- Absorbs extra sebum on the skin
- Double UV protection~ protects skin from UVA and UVB rays
- in order to achieve higher effectiveness, use it together with the Pond’s White Glow Beauty Pinkish White Glow Lightening Facial Foam

Directions/use: apply loose powder on the palm of your hand and lightly pat all over your face.

Now when I saw all that it promised, I ain’t gonna lie: I scoffed at them all. Can a powder really do that much for me and my oil spill of a face? 

Upon opening the powder, the scent of high school pervaded my stuffy nose. You know: the scent of teenage crushes, cheap body spray bought with a student allowance, boys playing in the courtyard. Even design and packaging-wise, this powder seems to be marketed for teens.

The powder is finely-milled, and if you look really closely, it has very tiny silver shimmer. It has a beige skin tone color, but it doesn’t seem to affect the color of your base, so it should almost be like a translucent powder. On my NC37 skin, it looks a bit pale, probably due to the Titanium Dioxide and Zinc Oxide which give that white cast to sunscreen. 

Freshly applied

I put a thin layer of my favorite Bourjois CC Cream to test out the Ponds BB’s coverage and oil control. Upon application, I noticed that it can become cakey and powdery if you put on too much, so make sure to blend well! And while it mattified the CC Cream, the powder gave a skin-like, velvety finish. It doesn’t offer any coverage, as my spots and redness are still peeking through.

Now, here’s the catch: the BB powder made me look a bit pink! I suppose this is the “pinkish-white glow” thing that Pond's is known for. It doesn’t look like much on the photos but IRL my friends were already questioning my life choices like I was a naive high school girl once more.

The pinkness dissipated a few hours later so I can now focus on its oil control abilities. I usually oil up on my T-zone by midday so this is normal. I look like how I want to look like though: glowing without me looking like an oil spill.

Four hours later

Nine hours later

At the end of a nine-hour day, I looked like a total greaseball, as always! This is my usual face after commuting and facing MRT hell but on the day that I tried this out, I was in vacationing in a place with cool weather and just casually walked through some hilly areas. I expected my makeup to hold out a bit better given the easier conditions, so I'm admittedly let down.

Verdict: I’m not sold on the Pond's Magic Powder BB. It reminded me of the bad decisions I made in high school (hello, thinly-shaved brows). I thought it looked nice at midday and the velvety finish it gave was so promising, but I’m an oily-skinned girl and I need some heavy-duty mattifying. It’s also very messy since the container is your typical baby powder dispenser - it would be better to decant this prior to use. And the pinkish tinge it gave my skin? Nope, hard pass! I’d rather go through organic chemistry all over again than have to put this on my face and rely on it for oil control. There are plenty of other powders that are effective, affordable, and a lot more accessible to mattify your face without giving you the espasol baby powder face.

Have you tried this powder? How did it work for you? What powders do you rely on to keep your face shine-free?

Ingredients: Talc, Cyclopentasiloxane, Titanium Dioxide, Zinc Oxide, Cl 77492, Fragrance, Cl 77499, Cl 77491, Mica, Aluminum hydroxide, Aluminum stearate, Niacinamide