CoverGirl Professional Finish Powder Review

CoverGirl Clean Professional Loose Powder comes in five translucent shades, ranging from light to dark (fair, light, medium, honey and tawny). I bought "Translucent Light" #110, which is the second colour in the range.

The loose powder comes in a 20g transparent plastic tub with a burgundy coloured screw top lid. Once the lid is removed, there's a very fluffy powder puff inside (it looks more like a mini body powder puff than a face powder puff) and under that is the sifter with a protective sticker.

CoverGirl Clean Professional Loose Powder can be used in two ways; by removing the sticker on the stifter and placing the powder puff on top before reattaching the lid, invert the tub and lightly tap the bottom to get powder to flow through the sifter and onto the powder puff. Turn the tub the right way up, remove the lid and apply the powder on the puff. Or it can be used by tapping a small amount of powder into the lid and then dipping a large powder brush into the lid, tapping off any excess powder before sweeping it lightly over your face.

Personally, I prefer to remove the puff completely (I don't use a powder puff to apply my powder, unless I'm setting concealer under my eyes or on blemishes), then replace the lid, invert the tub, tap it a few times to get powder through the sifter, turn the tub the right way up, tap it twice to settle the powder away from the lid, open it and use the powder on the sifter with my brush. I find this to be less messy than working out of the lid, especially when the lid needs to be replaced on the tub and it's full of powder.

I think I may have received a faulty tub, as when I opened mine, I found that I had to turn the lid for a long time before it unscrewed and the same happened when I put the lid back on; I had to turn the lid for a long time before it tightened up and didn't leak powder everywhere. I ended up decanting the powder into an old, empty powder sifter that I had from a different brand, as the loose lid started to ‘leak’ if it wasn’t tightened properly.

So, does it live up to expections? Personally, I found the strong clove-like smell of this powder to be rather overwhelming. I'm not a fan of the smell of cloves, so I didn't enjoy using this product. It's also quite a 'chalky' powder but it does leave a nice, matte finish when applied lightly with a powder brush. It can look a little cakey when used with a powder puff, and it does give off a white cast when a camera flash is used, so avoid using it for special occasions where there will be lots of photos, or use a setting spray after applying the powder to help minimise the flashback.

Would I buy this again? Probably not. Would I recommend it? I'm not sure. It's not a bad powder, if you don't mind the smell and possibly flimsy packaging.

Purchased this covergirl powder as farmers was having a great buy one get one free deal on their range, needing to get a new powder I grabbed this loose powder - Not had much experience with loose powders so was excited to give this a go. Retails for $20 or so - not bad price wise - If only this was a good powder. The first thing that you can't not notice with this powder is the very strong scent, that smells herby and like fancy toilet spray and is very off putting when you're trying to apply this over your face. The fluffy puff they provide is useless when using this product. The packaging is awful and flimsy and the powder is orange and goes on patchy with minimal coverage. Would not recommend and will be passing this on.