Review and Swatch: ELF Essential Clarifying Pressed Powder.

ELF Clarifying Pressed Powder is my favourite pressed powder. It's cheap and it works! It claims to mattify skin and treat breakouts. I don't really think this product contribute much in reducing or treating break out, but it does works in eliminating shine by absorbing oil.

I used it most of the time to set BB Cream or foundation that is too dewy. I have oily skin, so dewy look looks good for the first 30 minutes only. Longer than that, I would look line frying pan. What makes this powder works great for that purpose is the ingredients. It contains talc, mica, kaolin and cyclomethicone. I think most of you already know how kaolin works wonder on oily face.

Packaging of this product aren't that good since it's only price $1. It comes it cheap flimsy plastic container with useless powder puff. I use brush to apply this product. The lid of this product comes off easily and the hinge breaks with little amount of pressure. The powder have no noticeable scent and the texture varies, I think depending on which batch it was made. I have some that are just okay, some that is to hard to pick up using brush and some that crumbles with the slightest touch.

Finding the right shade is months long quest for this powder. I first started with Rosy Beige, but it's too light and too pink for me. So I tried Honey for the next spree, but it's too dark eventho it have correct undertone. So I thought Apricot Beige would be a good match, and yes it is. I also bought Spice and Toffee as I thought it might work as matte contouring powder. I haven't properly used the two for that particular purpose, but from the swatches below, you can see how orange Spice is. So I might used Spice for blusher or something. Toffee shade is okay for contouring.

In swatches picture below, the product applied over UDPP on the lower half (across my arm horizontally) of the swatch and over bare skin on the upper half of the swatch. That's why the bottom part appear a little darker.

Powder in the pan and swatches.

Top: Natural light. Bottom: With Flash

I would definitely recommend this product, especially if you can find shade that works for you.
I wouldn't repurchase at the moment since I'm still on makeup shopping ban, but once it over, I'm gonna restock tonnes of Apricot Beige.