Laura Mercier Smooth Finish Foundation Powder

While NARS All Day Luminous Powder Foundation came up a few shades short leaving me new powder-less, an earlier launch from Laura Mercier filled the gap somewhat…lol. The brand sent over a sample of Laura Mercier Smooth Finish Foundation Powder in shade #20 and as a supporter of powder foundation (lol), I’m pretty elated on its performance.

Official description

What it is:
A second-skin, oil-free powder foundation that can be used wet or dry.

What it does:
This silky smooth innovation offers a natural veil that imparts a color-true finish that lasts up to eight hours. It glides on effortlessly, camouflages, hydrates, and blurs fine lines, never settling into them. Ultra fine micronized pigments flex with skin for coverage that is even and flawless. Use it as a sheer to medium powder or build coverage using it wet.

What else you need to know:
This powder is formulated with conditioning agents vitamin E and shea butter to provide hydrating, lightweight comfort. This product is dermatologist and allergy tested and suitable for all skin types, even sensitive.

Shade #20 (brown with red undertones) is the closest to my shade (see which shades I wear in other brands here) but only when I use it dry. It’s not an exact match, but it’s the closest to my shade. When I use it wet, the undertones become more apparent (mine are neutral though when I tan I get redder) and it’s clear it’s not a match. But when worn dry it’s not as noticeable because the coverage is less sheer dry than wet (of course this won’t be an issue for you if you have a match in both shade and undertone in the 20-shade range). Because powder foundations can have the tendency to give a “flat” look, if you’re like me and naturally lighter in the center of your face and slightly darker around the perimeter, I recommend using a powder 1-2 shades darker than your skin tone around the perimeter and to lightly contour to give the face more dimension so it doesn’t look “flat.” This gives you a more natural look anyway since our faces aren’t one-dimensional. An alternative is to apply blush and/or bronzer which helps to bring dimension back to the face as well.

(I’m wearing BECCA powder in Cacao around the perimeter, Illamasqua Excite on my cheeks, and testing Laura Mercier High Coverage Concealer for Under Eye—review coming soon)

I LOVED it worn dry—it gave me enough coverage to even out my skin (I’d still need concealer of course to cover dark spots) and it’s so easy and fast to apply. I apply with a big fluffy brush (Esum X51) and it takes like 10 seconds to put it on. I still needed to touch-up several times throughout the day since it was still pretty warm out when I tested it, but the coverage lasted me the whole day (about 8 hours). When wearing it dry, depending on your skin type you might want to finish your makeup with a few spritzes of something like MAC Fix+ so it doesn’t look too powdery.

Worn wet (I dampened the enclosed sponge applicator after swiping the surface of Smooth Finish Foundation Powder—I try to not get the compact itself wet as I fear bacteria growth from the wetness) it gives slightly more coverage with a satin finish. But on me the color looks off like I explained earlier.

Bottom line: If you’re a powder foundation lover or looking to try a new fast and easy-to-apply formula, I think you’ll like Laura Mercier Smooth Finish Foundation Powder. I personally rarely ever make use of the “wet” version of wet or dry foundation formulas, but it’s great to have this duality especially if you have an exact match in the 20-shade range. Worn dry it gives a nice light to medium natural coverage.

Price and where to buy: $46 at Sephora (plus 8% cash back when you use eBates); Bloomingdale’s (plus 6% cash back when you use eBates); Macy’s (plus 6% cash back when you use eBates); Nordstrom (plus 6% cash back when you use eBates)