Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Johnson & Johnson's Face Powder SPF15

This face powder was probably one of the most requested items from my vacation haul for a review:

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It comes in 3 versions: Translucent, Beige, and Pink. I picked Beige because from swatching at the store on my arm the translucent seemed to have a white cast. Pink was definitely out since my neck skintone is super yellow.

The compact is typical of most pressed powders, a slim plastic case with a mirror, and sponge (appears to be latex type material).

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The colour Beige was perhaps just a touch darker than my NC20 skintone but as a finishing powder it worked fine. Probably not if it was a foundation. This shade would still work for someone up to NC30 at least.


Ingredients list
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First, since this is a drugstore powder it does contain talc, as most cheaper powders do (for example Maybelline). I do like that it uses a physical sunscreen, zinc oxide, as the sunscreen ingredient for UVA and UVB protection, since zinc oxide is supposed to be more stable than some other chemical sunscreens. I wouldn't be depending on this for full protection, since it would be impossible to apply enough product to get the full SPF 15 protection. However, it is a nice way to touch up any foundation or tinted moisturizer that may have worn off, while adding some SPF as well.

The powder itself is ok. It isn't the most finely milled, but the texture is good enough to do what its supposed to - mattify and touch up skin. I have found it a bit cakey sometimes, especially in drier weather. However, on hotter days it seems to set my foundation just right, so I think this is best suited for oiler skins in temperate climates, or just more humid climates overall.

I found the included sponge to be quite bad. The sponge itself picks up too much product, and will definitely give a cakey look regardless of skin type. The sponge also picked up foundation OFF my skin, which defeated the purpose of touching up. Only when I changed the sponge out for a cotton puff did the powder work much better for me. If you do get this product, just toss that included sponge right out and get your own. It should fit most similar sized puffs that are sold at drugstores.

The powder has a fresh scent which is faint and not at all off putting for me. However if you are sensitive to scents you might want to be careful with testing this out first.


Pros
- mattifies well
- slim and portable
- contains some UVA/UVB protection
- inexpensive (approx US$4 converted)
- expendable; not something you'd cry over dropping it

Cons
- cakey for drier skins
- included sponge sucks unless you get your own
- hard to come by unless you are in Asia
- limited colour range


Overall
For the price, this compact performs well as a touch up powder, and is priced right for something you would have knocking around at the bottom of your bag. Unlike say a Guerlain compact, which I would shed tears over if there was a scratch...lol

7 comments:

Miss Shopcoholic said...

i remember using this powder when I was still in high school =)

Anonymous said...

you are on a roll with posts :) love it~
I wish that the J&J brand would extend their beauty line to NA...but then again they probably wouldn't make enough profit with the rest of the competition.

AskMeWhats said...

awww I missed this! :) I don't use a lot of powder because my skin is dry to start with, my mom loves to use this though yup..upto this very moment :D

Shop N' Chomp said...

I've seen this on other blogs but never a review so thank you! It's so weird for me to see Johnson & Johnson in the makeup business.

P.S Oh yeah, it was strategic...haha! :o)

Bernadette Villanueva said...

Reminds me of my HS days! Too bad I broke out, but a lot of my friends are all "hiyang" with it, so maybe it's just me. =P

izumi said...

weird! i started using their lotions awhile ago and they work well but i don't know if i'd go for a powder from them.

Xin yi said...

Does Singapore watson or guardiab sells this ? How much is this ?

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