FOTD/Review Using an Asian Makeup Tip: Johnson's Powder Pure Essentials All Day Pink

One of the things I've noticed in my travels and experiences living abroad is that beauty tips are highly idiosyncratic, and I never fail to pick up beauty tips everywhere. I found out about using Monistat Anti-Chafing Gel as a primer from my awesome USA girls (although I was too chicken to try that out), and I learnt about the awesomeness of Sleek and Barry M from the lovely UK bloggers. And now that I'm in Asia, I've learnt another little tip that I thought I'd share with you.

I've been seeing a lot of Asian girls using a Johnson's body powder for their face. The full (and very long) name of this product is Johnson's Powder Pure Essentials All Day Pink. I don't know what it is with Asian products, but it seems like the longer the product name, the better. You know, like an eyeshadow isn't just an eyeshadow over here; it has to be XXX Brand Luminous Shiny Eyes Ultra Light Eye Powder With Pearl Reflector or something like that in order to sell :P



I get my bottle imported for awesomely cheap from Thailand, hence the Thai wording on the bottle. The lady who sold it to me swore that it was TEH AWESOMEZ as a face powder, even if it wasn't made as such. I was very dubious about it's qualities as a face powder, until I googled it and it seemed like she wasn't the only one using that Pure Essentials powder on her face.

The powder itself seemed adaptable for use as a face powder. The ingredients are simple and few - there are, in fact, a grand total of five ingredients (Talc, Dimethicone, Titanium Dioxide, Perfume, Iron Oxide) and all of them are found quite commonly in makeup items anyway, and nothing in the ingredients list seemed pore-clogging or irritating.



The powder itself is also pretty decent. It's finely-milled, and had a good texture. Maybe not as smooth as it could have been, but it wasn't a major issue with me. The only thing I was worried about was the colour. It was a shade of light pink, which could look potentially quite odd on my skin. However, the good thing about this is that because it's not actually meant as a face powder, the pink tinge in the powder doesn't really show up.

Here's a swatch of the powder on my skin. You can see that you need to really apply a lot before you get any major pink showing up. I do feel like this could still look ashy on more tanned girls, however. But for relatively fair girls (NC/NW20 and lighter, perhaps?), I think this would be fine.



And of course, the review wouldn't be complete without an FOTD showing how the powder looks on my face, so here's a shot of my face with the powder. Here, I mixed the Johnson's Pure Essential Powder with some of my own silica powder to give the powder better mattifying and oil-controlling properties, since the Johnson's All Day Pink Powder wasn't very mattifying on its own.



This is just concealer and powder on my face. Here's the breakdown for anyone interested:
MAC Select Cover Up Concealer (spot applied on face)
MAC Studio Finish Concealer (spot applied on undereye area)
Johnson's Pure Essential All Day Pink mixed with Coastal Scents Silica Powder

I actually thought it looked pretty decent. Firstly, I was worried about the pink tinge in the powder, but when it was mixed with another transparent powder (the silica powder, in my case), it didn't leave a pink cast. I suspect that even if I had used it alone, it wouldn't have left a pink tinge either, since it was quite sheer colour-wise. Which brings me to my second point - don't expect this powder to provide any coverage or any skin-transforming properties. It's good as a basic powder, and that's it. I think this will be good for setting makeup or for people who don't need too much coverage.

So, if you're looking for a cheap, cheery basic powder that doesn't offer too much coverage, this is worth a go. If you're worried about the pink tinge, mixing with a clear powder, as well as a light hand, will help prevent the powder from appearing ashy on your face.