Although I do love the Korean dewy-faced finish with a glow, I do not follow trends that blindly. Like my OTT enthusiasiam for shopping, my sebum glands are also the same. Halfway through the day, I’ll be producing my own glow. Hah.
That said, I’m not a fan of matte finishes too, so I’m quite happy to find that Givenchy’s Prisme Libre loose powder is a great balance between glow and matte.
Givenchy Prisme Libre Loose Powder – $86
Available in 3 color variations
Mousseline Pastel No. 1: sugar-coated colours which correct and reduce imperfections for a very natural opaline effect.
Taffetas Beige No. 2: a cocktail of beiges, apricot and yellow, which delivers a healthy glow in just one stroke of a brush. The skin appears to have been invigorated by fresh air.
Voile Rosé No. 7: sensuality and voluptuousness in a mingling of pinks and mother-of-pearl. The result on the skin: a halo of light and radiance.
I say…
- Application technique : Holding the puff firmly against the container, flip it upside down and tap it gently (to dispense the powder onto the puff). It should come out in the 4 Gs that you see above.
- Press the puff gently to the apple – cheekbone area.
- Use a large brush and gently brush outwards to the rest of your face – towards the nose, downwards to the rest of the face, backwards towards the ears.
- That sounds like a pretty newfangled way to apply loose powder, no?
- Alternatively, since I’m a lazy bum ass, I decided to just tap the sides of the container to dispense the powder, and used a large powder brush to pick up the grains and apply directly to my face.
- Now in terms of packaging, it’s really pretty – the twist-open cap has a leather-grained texture and gives you a firm grip cos of its square angled-shape.
- The puff is really soft as well – not fussed about this.
- There’s also a very slight scent to the powder – can’t quite identify this , but I somewhat like the scent :D
- However, in terms of product dispensing, here’s where I have a problem.
- There’s no mesh net/ catchment area for me to store the powder (like Hera’s Powder), so it just sits on the opening. Because there are four shades of powder (pastel pink, lilac, green and blue), the coloured grains might sometimes fall into the wrong compartment i.e. pink to blue, green to lilac etc.
- Also, because there’s no catchment area, it’s a bit hard for the powder grains to be mixed up thoroughly before application. I counter this by making sure I sweep the large brush over my face several times in different directions, to ensure even distribution of the colours.
- The powder grains are really finely milled, so they don’t settle into the pores and create unsightly potholes (thankfully).
- Since it’s so fine, you can’t expect any coverage; it’s more of a setting powder.
- That aside, I’m loving the finish of this powder! It brightens up my face with a believable fairness, has a very subtle glow that comes out at the most strategic locations (i.e. the nose bridge, the cheekbones) – none of the Twilight sparkling going on here.
- It doesn’t oxidise much, but instead, disappears over time – I clocked about 3 hours of wear time for a very light sprinkling of powder.
This is great for those who aren’t fans of the dewy glowy look, and want to stick to a mostly matte finish. It’s also really suitable for brightening up your overall radiance if you’re feeling slightly under the weather.
