How to Use Setting Powder: 3 Mistakes to Avoid when Applying Setting P

As a Beautyblender babe, you’ve got all (or at least a whole lot) of the answers.

What does setting powder do? You mastered that months ago.

How to use setting powder? You could teach a class.

But how much do you know about the messy mistakes people make with setting powder? That’s what we’re going to break down today.

Here are three key things you need to know about how to apply setting powder the wrong way so you can steer clear.

3 major setting powder mistakes to avoid

1. Selecting the wrong shade

In general, there are two types of setting powders:

— Translucent powders, which won't change the color of your foundational makeup, but also won’t add any coverage

— Colored powders, which help brighten or deepen your complexion, correct tone, and warm up or cool down a foundation

If you opt for a translucent shade, how to use setting powder is easy: just follow these steps, avoid the mistakes below, and you’re good to go!

If, however, you need a little more coverage (✋🏾!), you’ll want to opt for a colored or tinted powder in a shade that matches your skin. The problem there is that many brands offer dozens and dozens of setting powder shades to choose from, which makes getting an exact match tricky. If you’re a diehard lover of any of those brands, you’ll *probs* need to hit up their brick-and-mortar store to get matched.

However, if you’re less about that mall life these days, go with a setting powder that’s somewhere in between: translucent with just a slight hint of color so that skin won’t look ashy or washed out. Enter BOUNCE Soft Focus Gemstone Setting Powder.

BOUNCE comes in five tonal translucent shades, so it’s easy to match to your skin tone:

Buff – Light range
Canary – Brightening
Topaz – Medium range
Nutmeg – Tan range
Chocolate – Deep range

If you like things even simpler, there’s one totally foolproof shade—Canary—that’s specially formulated to brighten every skin tone. Talk about an easy A!

2. Blending too late

One big question a lot of people have is when to use setting powder in the makeup-application process. Luckily, the answer is easy.

Apply these three products first, just as you normally would:

Primers
Foundation or skin tint
Concealer

Wet, squeeze, and bounce them on with your Beautyblender, being sure to get a blend you like before you move to the powder step.

The big mistake people make when it comes to how to use setting powder is applying it between foundation and concealer, or even before both. But “set” is right in the name! Setting powder, used properly, will set all your makeup in place, so you want to be sure you’ve got a flawless foundation laid down before you lock it in.

3. Waiting for everything to dry

All that said, you DO want to work fast!

The last major mistake people make in terms of when to use setting powder is letting all their wet products dry fully before applying it. But in order to create the right wet-dry bond between products, you need to apply setting powder to still-sticky foundation, skin tint, or concealer.

So as soon as your products are on and beautifully blended, grab your weapon of choice:

— The POWER POCKET PUFF™ will give you a soft, diffused, all-over finish. Pressing instead of brushing will prevent wet products from moving or streaking, and it will help correct skin textures, smooth scars, and blur discoloration and blemishes.

— Use your BIG BOSS™ Powder Brush & Cooling Roller for areas where you need a more precise application, like baking under the eyes or giving a little extra dusting to oily areas like the T-zone.

— And, of course, you can always use a damp Beautyblender with a mesh trampoline to pick up powder and lightly disperse it all over your face.