When it comes to loose and pressed powders I, like a lot of darker skinned women into makeup, have fallen into one of two camps; either Team MAC Mineralize Skin Finish, or Team Ben Nye Banana Powder (and its many variants). Why these two in particular? Because they were the only powders I could personally find that catered to my skin tone. While I do like the two mentioned above, the powders aren’t as finely milled as I would normally like and it would normally make me appear as some kinda ghostly figure in flash photos.
I was sent the Poudre Caresse Setting Powder* from Swedish brand Marena Beaute  from an amazing new UK based makeup & skincare site called Melariche. Melariche is dedicated to providing and curating cosmetics tailored to women of colour and darker skin tones. Already they have a huge catalogue of European brands on board which offer everything from foundations and powders, to lipsticks, exfoliators and skin treatments.

Since discovering that I had combination skin, making sure that my makeup stayed as matte as possible throughout the day has been a prime (ha!) concern in my routine. While the banana powder is good for setting concealer under the eyes, I do find it rather chalky at times and it does tend to fizz out around Midday. The Poudre Caresse sheer setting powder is specially formulated for darker skin tones and claims to eliminate shine while instantly smoothing the skin’s appearance. The powder is available in 7 shades, with this shade being called Acajou. 
WHY is this powder so good I hear you ask? It’s staying power. The powder is silky to the touch and is extremely fine milled. When I apply it to my face, it feels like I’m wearing nothing at all, however it seems to eliminate shine in the blink of an eye. I can put this powder on at 6am and now need to re-apply until about 8pm. That’s practically unheard of in any of the products that I’ve ever used. The powder has the ability to absorb oil like nobodies’ business and my face retains it’s matte finish all day.
What’s more with this powder, is that I have started to wear it on it’s own on the days where I cannot be bothered to apply foundation and let me tell you something, the coverage is pretty decent! My face appears smooth and somewhat buffered and I’ve received hella compliments on my “makeup” when in actual fact, it’s just been the powder alone. Take the photo below: I’m only wearing the powder, lipstick and some highlighter and it was taken about 8 hours after I’d initially applied the powder. GOOD INNIT? #DatGloTho

If you are darker skinned and struggle to find a good setting powder, I would HIGHLY recommend this. Not because I was sent this to review, but because I cannot argue with the sheer (again, HA!) quality of the product. It does what is says on the tin.
Want to find out more? Visit melariche.com for more POC friendly beauty products!