Ben Nye Luxury Powder Swatches & Review

Today I'm coming at you with a review of one of my holy grail products, the Ben Nye Luxury Powders!

These are extremely finely-milled setting powders that go on smooth and set to a beautiful matte finish. They come in 5 shades: Beige Suede, Buff, Cameo, Banana, and the newest addition, Rose Petal.

c/o twitter @kimkardashian

These powders have been the secret weapon of makeup artists for years. They gained popularity in the mainstream market when Kim Kardashian tweeted this picture of her contour and highlight. Her highlight shade is Ben Nye Banana Powder. Since then, contouring and highlighting has taken the beauty world by storm with many brands jumping on the bandwagon and releasing similar powders.

At first, I hesitated purchasing these because I was turned off by the packaging. They used to only come in sifter jars. Basically the same idea as a baby powder jar where you sprinkle the product in the tiny cap. It looked like a giant mess to me. If a product isn't easy to use, realistically I know I just won't use it. So when I saw that the Ben Nye Luxury Powders now came in a dome jar, I pulled the trigger and purchased three shades, Banana, Rose Petal and Cameo, from CRC Makeup.

Banana

Lets start with the most famous of the Ben Nye powders, Banana. It's similar to Bare Minerals Well rested, but more yellow in tone. This is marketed as being able to suit any skin tone. It is a color corrector that can fix redness as well as neutralize blue under eye circles. I use this as a finishing powder to set my under eye concealer. Since I have a more fair skin tone this wouldn't work for me as an overall setting powder, but it would be beautiful for more tanned/olive skin tones. Olive and tanned skin tones can also use this as a highlighter, as seen on Kim in the above photo, for a brightening candlelit glow.

Rose Petal

This is the fairest of the Luxury Powders. It is described as being micro-milled to give you that silky smooth finish, as if you were grazing your skin with rose petals. It is also pink in tone, hence the rose name. I use this as an under-eye setting powder when I want to really light up that area. It's pink color makes it an excellent brightener. If you have a very fair skin tone you could use this as an all-over setting powder.

Cameo 

This is a beige toned powder with a slight hint of blush. This powder gives me a slight brightening effect when worn to set my concealer. I can also use it as an all-over setting powder to my foundation. It works on my skin right now because I'm very pale, but it won't work once my skin gets a little more color in the summer months. Like the Rose and Banana powders, it lays beautifully on the skin, especially under the eyes, without giving that dry, powdery look.

Here's a side by side shot of Rose Petal (left) and Cameo (right). As you can see Rose Petal has a more prominent pink tone while Cameo has just a hint of pink.

Final Thoughts

These are amazing powders that can be used for a wide variety of tasks. They lay smoothly on the skin and do a great job in keeping me matte. I apply them with a Real Techniques Setting Brush. It's the perfect size to pat a light dusting of powder exactly where I need it.

Even though the powders are colored, they all have a translucent quality so you don't necessarily see that color on your skin once blended. They produce a natural neutralizing or brightening effect.

Have you tried any of the Ben Nye powders? How do you use them?

Shop this post:

Ben Nye Cameo and Banana Luxury Powders

Ben Nye Rose Petal Luxury Powder

Real Techniques Setting Brush