Face Makeup Review: CoverGirl Clean Pressed Powder

Brace yourselves, ladies: it’s another CoverGirl review. I don’t mean to be hard on the brand  – I love their ads and the many beautiful women who represent them, including the adorable-if-constantly-windswept Taylor Swift – but I just have had little to no success with anything they have to offer. Which begs the question: why do I keep buying it? What exactly is my problem? Do I just not like money, skin that looks good, and/or happiness?

In any event, in a Starbucks-fueled haze at the grocery store, I’ve somehow purchased yet another Cover Girl dud: Clean Pressed Powder. I bought it in Creamy Beige #250, which was more chalky than creamy. This pressed powder is as equally horrid as the CoverGirl Clean Makeup liquid foundation I reviewed a couple of days ago. It’s heavy, cakey, and it doesn’t blend well with anything – not even the companion foundation! Also, “pressed powder” is a bit of a misnomer; this is the loosest pressed powder I’ve ever used. If you’re wearing something black while applying it, prepare for your clothes to be a dusty mushroom color thereafter.

The plus side is this: if you have oily skin, this powder will absorb every bit of excess oil and keep you matte for awhile, and my teen readers will especially know how tough a mattifying powder can be to find. Still, such a heavy product will look fake on younger girls. CoverGirl’s going to have to step it up.

The verdict: 3/10 – It’s only good for getting oily skin matte, and it doesn’t even do that particularly well. Pick up the Ulta brand pressed powder instead – it’s just a few more bucks but still affordable, mattifying and wonderfully textured.

You’ll love it if: Your skin feels like a Slip n’ Slide; you have a $5.00 makeup budget
You’ll hate it if: You don’t want to look like a geisha

CoverGirl Clean Pressed Powder sells at Amazon for $6.89, if you’re for some reason inclined to buy it.