12 Days of Tarte - Door 4 - Smooth Operator Finishing Powder

Smooth Operator Amazonian Clay Finishing Powder

Door number 4 of my advent calendar revealed a small container of Tarte's Smooth Operator Amazonian Clay Finishing Powder.  To be honest, I haven't heard a lot about this powder.  I feel like I've seen it mentioned a few times, but I've never seen it as a "holy grail" item or something that is mentioned repeatedly by anyone.  I'm not sure why this is.  My feeling is that it is good powder, but for the price it may not be a great powder.  This is my thought at least.

From the first use, an issue I found that has nothing to do with the actual product, particularly if I had a full size, is that it is hard to get my brush in this tiny container to apply it.  I use the Real Techniques Powder Brush, which is a rather fluffy, large brush (perfect for applying powder).  However, I have a terrible time trying to get it into this container without spilling the product.  As I said, this isn't an issue I would deal with if I had the full size of this product.

It doesn't take much of this stuff to get a good finish on the skin.  It is mattifying without making the skin look cakey, and is super light weight and very finely milled.  It seemed to have kept my skin matte for most of the day.  I didn't have a chance to touch it up much (mainly because I left it at home and went out for the day...whoops!), but by the end of the day the only areas that needed touching up were in my t-zone.  This is pretty standard for me.

All in all, I wouldn't say that I'm underwhelmed by this product, but it didn't "wow" me enough to feel like the price point is worth what I got out of it.  To be honest, my tried and true finishing powder is a drugstore powder; Rimmel's Stay Matte powder.  It is at a great price point ($4.99 as opposed to $32.00 for Tarte) and gives me the same finish and staying power as the Tarte powder.  I do have to say though, after some thought, that I think I will try using this powder to set my under-eye concealer.  It is a perfect size to get my little brush I use for setting that part of my face in and will last me until the product inevitably expires.

Thanks for reading!

Have you used this product?  What do you think of it?  Do you have an absolute favorite setting powder?