If there is one thing I appreciate, it’s a product that can offer you multiple uses. That superstar in your handbag that you can rely on in different scenarios and beauty needs. Naturally, when a new makeup product has ‘multi-tasking’ in its name, I am all ears – show me what you’ve got! Add the word ‘perfecting’ and now you’ve got me really excited. This was the case when the new BECCA Cosmetics Multi-Tasking Perfecting Powders* arrived at my doorstep. BECCA says you can use them as a foundation, to highlight and contour, set your face or to touch it up on the go. Are they really a ‘do-it-all’?
The Multi-Tasking Perfecting Powders come in seven shades – Fair, Light, Beige, Tan, Warm Honey, Dark Golden and Deep Bronze. Granted, you would need more than one shade to be able to use these for different purposes. This brings me to an important point – these pans are small. They’re in the same compact size as the BECCA blushes, but contain even less product offering 5.67g, when the blushes contain 6g. If you were to use these as your foundation (or even as a setting powder), you’d be forking out USD $36 regularly as you’d run out of product very quickly. I really wish BECCA had made these in the same size as their Shimmering Skin Perfectors – that’s a good size for a face powder. The good news is this is my only gripe with this new release.
Onto some more positive points… I really love the texture of these powders – they are silky smooth, creamy, almost like butter. As soon as I swatched them I knew they would go on the skin so beautifully! The shade range is a good start; but I’m hoping that BECCA will extend it if they’re popular. Although some won’t find their perfect match, I am still impressed by the shades in this line, my ideal match being Beige – it has yellow/olive undertones which is so hard to find.
So, how did they perform? I put them to the test in several ways to see just how multi-purpose they are.
Foundation
Using the shade Beige as a foundation had to be my favourite use. This was surprising to me because I love my liquid formulas best, and rarely do I venture out to powders as a base. The best way I found to apply it was with a damp Beauty Blender. The results were amazing – I’m talking about perfected, smooth skin that still looked natural with a satin-matte finish. My main concern was ending up looking powdery, but this was far from the case. I was able to move on to the rest of my makeup without a problem – other powders (like my bronzer and blush) layered on without a hitch. If you were to use this as a dry powder foundation, you will get a lighter coverage. It can look a tiny bit powdery at first, however this does settle after a few minutes.
Set
I ask a lot of my setting powders. For the most part I expect them to set my liquid base so that it’s no longer tacky, whilst adding a bit of coverage, smoothing imperfections and where possible extending the wear of my foundation. Tick, tick, tick, tick. The Multi-Tasking Perfecting Powder did those things beautifully. I set my face with the shade Beige, and then used Light to set my under eye concealer. I ended up with a seamless, matte finish without looking dull. It did a great job at smoothing pores and didn’t accentuate fine lines.
Highlight/Contour
I was skeptical about using these to highlight or contour. When highlighting, I like to use a yellow-toned banana shade, as it’s what works best for my olive complexion. For contouring, I tend to get away with warmer shades, but typically I like something in the middle – not too warm, but not too cool. I was glad to see the shade Light had slight yellow undertones, and it did a fantastic job at setting my concealer and brightening my eye bags – much needed, especially when you’re lacking sleep! The shades Warm Honey and Dark Golden both worked to bring some structure to my cheekbones, but did so in a very natural way which I prefer.
Touch-Up
A positive about the small compact size is that you can throw it in your handbag or clutch for touch ups without it taking up too much space. I have used this on busy days when I’m on the run and need to settle down the oils that come through my t-zone as the day goes by. I’ve had other powders make my skin look cakey when used for this purpose, but BECCA’s offering manages to look natural every time.
L-R: Fair, Light, Beige, Tan, Warm Honey, Dark Golden, Deep Bronze.
The BECCA Multi-Tasking Perfecting Powders do live up to their name – they work amazingly at any capacity. If you can get past the product size, I think they are definitely worth a try, especially for those with normal to combination skin.
Have you tried these? What’s your absolute favourite setting powder/powder foundation?
*Products provided by BECCA Cosmetics for editorial consideration, however all opinions are my own. Read my disclaimer here.