Etude House’s new powder compact was a big surprise to me. It looked just like the Precious Mineral compact that I used on lazy days. The old one was almost too dark for me, so when I saw this one came in more shades than the previous ones I was really happy and hopeful about this compact.

I truly didn’t do much research about this compact, instead looking at the 5 different shades and hoping that it would be better than the previous one. I wasn’t sure which color to get because the Etude House website swatches all look quite similar so it is a bit deceiving. I went with the lightest color because almost every powder I’ve tried has been way too pigmented or the undertone is completely wrong for me.

Claims:

Multi-function compact that achieves makeup expression for 2 kinds of face styling with one product

Ingredients:

#Vanilla:

Talc, Mica (Ci 77019), Titanium Dioxide (Ci 77891), Silica, Dimethicone, Polymethyl Methacrylate, Boron Nitride, Zinc Oxide, Triethylhexanoin, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Trifluoromethyl C1-4 Alkyl Dimethicone, Methicone, Disodium Stearoyl Glutamate, Iron Oxides (Ci 77492), Aluminum Hydroxide, 1,2-Hexanediol, Pearl Powder(2,000Ppm), Glyceryl Caprylate, Iron Oxides (Ci 77491), Fragrance, Trimethylsiloxysilicate, Water, Iron Oxides (Ci 77499), Glycerin, Trehalose, Urea, Sodium Pca, Sodium Hyaluronate, Polyquaternium-51, Pearl Extract, Phenoxyethanol

Volume: 10g

How to use:

Apply foundation or BB cream to the skin. After puffing, spread the contents evenly on the skin.

My skin type: Dry, easily dehydrated skin with mild rosacea.

Etude House Precious Mineral Compact Vanilla Review:

This compact comes in a white round compact, with a flat top and bottom. It has a metallic gold part to open it – it’s misleading in that it looks like a button but it actually isn’t. The top part can just be lifted up or pulled up quite easily. It clicks into place when you close it. It has a different sort of puff, or at least it was different to me. It is a double-sided puff, so it comes without a ribbon or handle.

One side of the puff is white – which is apparently for expressing smooth skin, and the other side (which is beige) is an air puff that can be used to control oil and even out the skin. When I used this puff I found that one side (the beige I think) was harder to use. It seemed hard to pick up the contents with it so I mostly only use the whiter side of the puff.

I bought the compact in the “vanilla” shade which is supposedly pink-based and equivalent to #19 in the Korean shade range if that makes any sense. I find the name confusing because “vanilla” to me should have a slight hint of yellow to it and in fact, I find the compact powder does have a hint of yellow to it as well. I think it’s more neutral than truly pink, but again that could just be me.

I’ve been using this compact on and off since last year, I don’t use it all the time but only sometimes because I don’t always find it that easy to use. From the swatches, you can see what kind of color it is, it is very light almost completely white with a slight hint of yellow to it. Well, that’s how it looks on my hand.

Personally, I find it’s quite hard to work with it, it’s easy to put too much and then I get patches of yellow which looks a bit odd on me. I mean it looks quite white, but once you start applying it, the yellow undertones show up more strongly. I also tried the petal compact (which is the next shade up), and that was too pigmented for me. Even using it very lightly made my skin look a strange peachy-yellow color that looked really unnatural.

Because it is hard to work with this powder I don’t use it very often unless I have no other powder to use. I also find that it dries my skin out or makes it look drier and patchier than when I use other powders. I think it actually matches my skin quite well if applied lightly but that seems difficult with this powder.

I have also tried using it instead of bb cream, and the color and coverage is fine but it doesn’t last very long. After two hours my skin looks really flaky and patchy and quite frankly terrible. I don’t think this powder suits my dry and dehydrated skin, it’s more drying than some of the other powder compacts I have used in the past.

The best way for me to use this powder is just to touch up my bb cream. Because the powder matches my skin quite well, I often find that if I ruined a small patch of my bb cream, or some of it got wiped off then I can use this powder to touch it up. Of course, it is more drying, but in small areas, it isn’t too noticeable and it matches the bb cream and my skin so it looks alright and more natural.

So, it’s not my favorite powder compact, which is a shame because the shade is pretty spot-on for me. It’s just too drying and easy to overdo it, which is why I don’t use it often. However, I do like having it on hand as a backup, but if I can find a better compact then I won’t repurchase this one. I think it’s best suited for people with oily, combination, and normal skin and not for dry or dehydrated skin.