The 18 Best Translucent Powders for a Complexion Refresh

Best Overall

Hourglass Cosmetics Veil Translucent Setting Powder

$25 at Sephora $49 at Ulta $25 at Nordstrom

As we said, today’s powders are anything but chalky and, perhaps, none less so than this formula. Byrdie associate editorial director Holly Rhue swears by the finely milled, featherweight pick, which boasts light-reflecting particles to blur away the look of any blemishes. Espinoza is also a fan, lauding the truly translucent formula that leaves an invisible finish on all skin tones. As if that weren’t enough, there’s also actual diamond powder in the mix to impart the prettiest (and subtlest) shimmer. Bonus points for the packaging that dispenses just the right amount of product, making powder overload a thing of the past.

A heads up: After eight hours of wear, this powder might not be able to overcome the gradual creasing of makeup that naturally forms across the eyelids and under the eyes.

Who It’s For

Many of us know that when an oily T-zone—the bridge of the nose and forehead—is ready to show face, a translucent powder can oftentimes come to the rescue. Various Sephora reviewers called out the Hourglass Veil Translucent Setting Powder as their solution to seamlessly mattifying that area, along with it being delicate enough to complement dry, combination, rosacea- and eczema-prone skin types. Another plus: Hourglass Cosmetics, the vegan and luxury cosmetic brand, recently expanded this powder’s shade range, adding Translucent Medium and Translucent Deep, offering an invisible, soft-focus setting power across all skin tones. 

Size: 0.07, 0.36 oz | Cruelty-Free: Yes

Best Budget

Flower Beauty Miracle Matte Translucent Powder

$11 at Ulta $15 at ecosmetics.com $15 at CVS

From one of our favorite wallet-friendly beauty lines (Thanks, Drew Barrymore!) comes this powder, which works beautifully on its own or over makeup. Dust it on bare skin (well, bare except for sunscreen, of course) to help tamp down unwanted sheen and make prominent pores disappear. Or use it as the final step in your makeup routine to set everything in place.

We will note that this product does dispense a stark white hue when initially applied, but trust the process. And because this translucent powder can have the tendency to cling onto dry spots, the key is to go all-out on moisturizing your skin beforehand so the complexion has a hydrated grip.  

Who It’s For

Flower Beauty’s powder will give your already gorgeous vanity a beautiful vintage aesthetic due to its unique enclosure. (All at a drugstore price!) No, the packaging isn't so travel-proof, but we are still sold.

Size: 0.28 oz | Cruelty-Free: Yes

Best Mattifying

Honest Beauty Invisible Blurring Loose Powder

$22 at Amazon $25 at Ulta $25 at Target

A quick dusting of this formula immediately tamps down unwanted sheen and shine and imparts a soft-focus finish on even the oiliest of skin. Free of talc and a long list of other questionable ingredients, it uses rice starch to absorb excess oil on the skin's surface. Use it in the a.m. as a final step before you head out the door and/or to dust on your T-zone when you notice any pesky slick spots start to crop up midday.

Who It’s For

Honest Beauty does not compromise on delivering formulas that aren’t up to the standard of what sensitive and eczema-prone skin types need in their makeup and beauty care, so if you fall under that category, trust that there’s a translucent powder out there for you. In other words, if you have sensitive skin, this translucent powder will perform and live up to the delicacy of your skin type. Even as the best mattifying powder, it still keeps the skin moisturized throughout the day. The one shade it comes in will best benefit individuals with medium, warm, or olive skin tones, while reviewers with fair skin tones mentioned it was a bit dark for their complexion. 

Size: 0.5 oz | Cruelty-Free: Yes

Best Mattifying, Runner-Up

Fenty Beauty Invisimatte Blotting Powder

$27 at Sephora $37 at Ulta $37 at Target

As the name suggests, think of this as a powder version of those handy-dandy blotting papers. In other words, it’s a must if you have super-oily skin, absorbing shine and diffusing the look of pores all at the same time. We’d be happy with that, but it also helps set your makeup, too—can your blotting papers do that?

Who It’s For

Looking to escape the five p.m. mark that comes with blotchy, makeup-dense pores? Fenty Beauty’s Invisimatte Blotting Powder keeps the base complexion looking smooth throughout the day—touch-ups or without. For those who prefer a foundation-free makeup routine, this translucent powder is great for casting away the visible appearance of natural oils without sacrificing minimal makeup’s lightweight feel. 

Size: 0.3 oz | Cruelty-Free: Yes

Best for Dark Skin

Glossier Wowder

$24 at glossier.com

We wish we had come up with the clever name for this powder and the amazing formula itself. It comes in five shades—not necessarily a ton—but this does include three options that are great for darker and deeper skin tones. It tamps down shine, blurs the skin, and sets makeup, all without caking, creasing, or any flashback. Kaolin clay, Vitamin E, and diamond powder give the skin a refresh of pigment at any point of the day, and the packaging is so sleek you can slip it into however big or small the bag you walk out with is.

Who It’s For

Glossier reviewers consider this translucent powder a medium coverage option that isn’t thick and, even with a few strokes, won’t mask the skin’s natural glow. Shade G4, for one, a medium/dark shade, is subtly neutral and will suit various melanin-rich skin tones along with the Wowder in shades G1-G3. Each shade isn’t completely translucent—they all feature a tint, which makes them quite adaptable to different undertones, skin tones, and the varying textures of your beloved makeup pigments. The powder particles are refined, so we found ourselves swiping the product across our face rather than buffing it into the skin.

Size: 0.25 oz | Cruelty-Free: Yes

Best for Light Skin

Huda Beauty Easy Bake Loose Baking & Setting Powder

$22 at Sephora View on Hudabeauty.com

Another of Rhue’s picks, this comes in a nice range of nine shades, though it’s the translucent Sugar Cookie hue that we especially like for fair skin. While you can’t tell simply by looking at it, it has neutral undertones that make for a subtle radiance-boosting effect, instantly enhancing your complexion. Not to mention that it also stays on for up to 10 hours, eliminating the need for touch-ups.

Who It’s For

This setting powder—with four shades dedicated to light skin tones—will especially help illuminate the undereye area (if that's what you’re specifically after), as well as set the entire base with the thick particles it dispenses. It’s a translucent and setting powder that’s equipped for baking the under-eye area as well. It won’t crease or cake up the skin while delivering a beautifully finished look.

Size: 0.71 oz | Cruelty-Free: Yes

Best Full-Coverage

One/Size Ultimate Blurring Setting Powder

$18 at Sephora $18 at kohls.com View on Onesizebeauty.com

Renowned makeup artist Patrick Starrr actually snapped with the creation of the ONE/SIZE Ultimate Blurring Setting Powder. This setting powder adheres to the skin for up to 24 hours of wear, whether you're in the mood to take part in a full-on makeup baking session or simply setting your makeup on the go, the brand notes. It does feature talc—but, the brand says that the included mineral is free of asbestos fibers. From delivering a soft matte finish to the complexion all the way to its thoughtful double-lid packaging design, this setting powder is mess-free, buildable in coverage, and won’t wash your hands in powder once opened. 

Who It’s For

This powder comes in a mini or standard size (the travel size actually measures out to be what most full-size setting powders on the market are), so it's a great choice if you prefer testing a translucent powder out before committing to the full buy. As a loose, finely-milled powder, it thrives across Sephora reviews for its ability to help makeup last all day, even when you’re caught in sweaty situations. With a diverse shade range, there is the universal translucent shade (suitable for fair and medium skin tones), Sweet Honey (made for medium to deep skin tones), miss Ultra Pink (the TikTok queen of the four shades), and a Dark/Deep shade for melanated skin. It does apply thick against the skin, so it can be built up to a full-coverage matte finish and might be most useful for oil-prone skin types. 

Size: .24, 1.2 oz | Cruelty-Free: Yes

Best Lightweight

Ami Colé Skin Melt Loose Powder

$22 at Sephora View on Amicole.com View on Thirteenlune.com

With the Byrdie Best Loose Powder Beauty & Grooming Awards stamp of approval, we’ll always bring it back to Ami Colé’s Skin Melt Loose Powder. Its differentiating quality here is, having two types of deep shades that were specifically designed to tailor to the varying undertones of melanin-rich skin. While the true-to-form translucent shade is suitable for all skin tones, shade Rich/Deep matches Rich 1, Rich 2, and Deep 1 undertones, and the Deep/Medium shade follows through with catering to Deep 2, Medium 1, and Medium 2 undertones, the brand notes. Natural coverage is what you’ll get, with an influx of hydrating ingredients (Baobab Seed Extract and hyaluronic acid) that mattify your makeup and feed your natural glow. 

Who It’s For

One product can take your makeup finish from looking filter-like to dull. However, this talc-free powder helps your base, blush, and bronzing pigments remain in the spotlight from start to finish. It smoothens out the complexion without the surprise of unwanted camera flashback and has the versatility of complementing a full coverage look or natural makeup finish. Oil-prone, dry, or mature skin will love this setting powder, as it blurs out pores and conceals texture.

Size: .29 oz. | Cruelty-Free: Yes

Best Splurge

Givenchy Prisme Libre Loose Setting and Finishing Powder

$31 at Sephora $60 at Nordstrom $60 at QVC

You’ve probably seen her roaming through TikTok, and that's because Givenchy Beauty’s Prisme Libre Loose Setting and Finishing Powder features four different quadrants per shade that give the complexion a soft-focus blur, help with color correcting, and give a sheer coverage finish. On product packaging alone, we’re gushing over this content creator’s review showcasing this luxurious translucent powder’s Givenchy logo engraved dispenser case. The small and circular powder puff it comes with is the perfect size for precisely touching up the chin, under the eyes, and forehead with finishing powder. The entire application process just feels rich. It’s safe to say jaws have dropped while testing this product. 

Who It’s For

Givenchy Beauty recently launched a mini-size of this translucent powder with a shimmering finish to add to the six-shaded group for either matte or ultra-sheen outcome. Remember: this powder is not meant to dispense the individual pigments featured but instead dishes out all four as one to enhance fair, medium, and dark skin with varying individualistic undertones.

In terms of versatility, we need a translucent powder to rely on through both winter and summer as we adapt to everything that the environment has to offer. We’ve found this translucent powder to be an all-year-round smoothening product that adapts to our changes in tone, evens out our texture, and delivers just enough coverage that doesn’t take away from our preference for dewy skin. 

Size: 0.14, 0.42 oz | Cruelty-Free: No

Best for Touch-Ups

Make Up For Ever Ultra HD Pressed Powder

$23 at Sephora $39 at kohls.com View on Makeupforever.com

Keep this compact—a fave among pro makeup artists—on hand when you need to powder your nose. Specially made to be completely undetectable with even the most intense HD cameras, you never have to worry about it caking or settling into fine lines. Plus, because it’s pressed, it’s ideal to keep in your purse (no worrying about spills) and comes in a conveniently portable mini size, too.

Who It’s For

This translucent powder is great on the go, but for big events where a camera flash snaps at every turn, we recommend looking at the full coverage bunch of the group. It is the definition of translucent, and reviewers noticed it works well when covering the redness on their skin while pointing it out as a great introductory product to powders of any kind. 

Size: 0.21 oz | Cruelty-Free: No

Best for Picture Days

Range Beauty Smooth Out Translucent Powder

View on Rangebeauty.com

Makeup flashback—a whiteish cast that shows up in photos due to a camera flash—is a very real thing. If it’s an occasion where you know you’re going to be photographed a lot (a wedding, perhaps?) or you just love a good selfie, reach for this guy. The mineral powder comes in four tinted shades, all of which are translucent, so there’s never any risk of flashback. It’s lightweight with the ideal demi-matte finish and works equally well dusted all over or swiped just onto spots prone to an excess sheen.

Who It’s For

Beyond picture days, this translucent powder overpowers dry spots and large pores and is completely scent-free, with a focus on tending to acne- and eczema-prone skin. A tip from the brand: if you have oil-prone skin, first sweep this product onto those areas right after applying primer, and then carry on. It’s “plant-powered” and has kaolin; an absorbent ingredient derived from the mineral of kaolin clay that helps soak up excess oil.

Size: 0.67 oz | Cruelty-Free: Yes

Best Shade Range

Kosas Cloud Set Baked Setting & Smoothing Talc-Free Vegan Powder

$35 at Amazon $18 at Sephora $35 at Nordstrom

This aptly-named pick does have a lighter-than-air feel on skin and looks equally light. It offers the softest, barely-there wash of mega-sheer color and, to that point, comes in an impressive array of 10 hues.

Since it does have some oil-absorbing properties, it’s best for balanced, combo, or oily skin. There is a listicle of charming ingredients in the recipe, such as bamboo stem extract, passionfruit leaf extract, and Chinese peony, which target the pores for gentle mattification that caters to excess oil production and skin hydration. 

Who It’s For

If you’re looking for the one—a translucent powder that’ll give you a different perspective to their dense and oftentimes chalky rep—Kosas’ Cloud Set pressed powder comes in a “baked” formula with a mousse-like texture that transforms in consistency when applied against the skin. In other words, removing gradual shine and setting your makeup in place with a sheen and airbrushed result, all made to complement fair, warm, tan, and melanin-rich skin tones.

Size: 0.1, 0.33 oz |  Cruelty-Free: Yes

Best Pressed

Bare Minerals Pressed Setting Powder

$35 at Amazon $35 at Sephora $33 at Ulta

Sure, it may be the mineral foundation from this brand that gets all the buzz, but don’t sleep on its pressed setting powder. “This is one of my favorites because it not only sets makeup to extend wear, but it also improves the appearance of pores over time,” says Espinoza. It comes in six shades, including a translucent option. All of them are talc-free and infused with not only minerals but also hydrating ingredients, such as vitamin E and shea butter, ensuring a non-chalky, non-cakey texture. Plus, if you don’t want to worry about messes and spills, a compact, pressed option like this is the way to go.

Who It’s For

If you prefer the feel of a bare complexion, then BareMinerals’ Original Veil Pressed Setting Powder might just be what you’re searching for. Because it’s pressed, this powder will only target your preferred areas instead of dusting onto all other areas of the complexion, decolletage, and clothes, as loose powders like to do. It leaves a “blurring effect” on the skin, so if touch-ups are the last thing you want to think about, this pressed setting powder will outlast the day with an initial buff-up or sweep-through of product.

Size: 0.3 oz | Cruelty-Free: Yes

Best for Radiant Skin

Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder

$27 at Sephora $47 at Ulta $35 at Walmart

As a general rule of thumb, powders are associated with a matte finish, but not this one. It imparts a gorgeous (yet natural) glow to the skin, more of a luminosity than anything else, thanks to the addition of a pearl blend and amino acid powders. Still, it also blurs away the look of blemishes and somehow manages to absorb oil as well—and lasts for up to 12 hours. “It’s super dense and smooth and creates a beautiful soft skin effect,” says Espinoza of another one of his favorites.

Who It’s For

We have baked our under eyes, let the powder sit, and continued on with applying makeup to every other area of our face for longer than you’d typically expect. And still, somehow, at the end of our makeup session, when it was time to blend it out, it did so seamlessly without settling into the cream-colored pigment underneath. So—if you’re worried about the powder particles separating liquid or cream-based makeup products, fear not. This translucent powder is versatile like that, where you can either pat it into the skin, bake with it, or simply give the complexion a good ol’ swipe through and go. 

Size: 0.33, 1 oz | Cruelty-Free: Yes

Best for Combination Skin

Saie Airset Radiant Loose Setting Powder

$30 at Sephora View on Saiehello.com

If your skin has some dry parts and some oily parts, reach for this guy. “It has squalane in it, which is super hydrating and keeps the skin looking plump and radiant,” explains Espinoza, who is a fan. And for the slick spots, this touts a unique aerated-cream technology that helps to absorb excess oil, too.

Who It’s For

With a cream-to-powder texture, this translucent powder by Saie imparts a velvet-like finish that feels weightless and moisturizes the skin, so it won’t dry out your complexion as far as those with combination skin are concerned. It is slightly pigmented (even the standard translucent shade), though we love that the inclusion of mica is ethically sourced. And if you liken the highest point of the cheekbones to feature a glare, setting the area above it with this powder won’t dim that glow only your natural complexion has the power to give.

Size: 0.14 oz | Cruelty-Free: Yes

Best with SPF

Supergoop! Mineral Setting Powder

$35 at Sephora $35 at Ulta $35 at Dermstore

We love a formula with sunscreen, and this powder helps you mattify skin with 100% mineral, SPF 35 protection. The powder is a non-nano setting powder that works great to banish shine as you reapply SPF throughout the day. It has a sheer and light texture, so it is the perfect tool that’ll help you instinctively remember to reapply sunscreen every few hours. In any sunscreen powder formula, a minimum of SPF 30 is recommended by dermatologists. Just as you rely on this translucent powder to help your makeup last, it’ll also follow those universal SPF protocols. 

Who It’s For

If your version of gearing up for the day ahead is stepping out of the house for several hours on end, this portable powder will absorb shine (on the go) and add to your sun protection regime in both summer and gloomy months. Especially if you’re active, you can rely on this powder pre and post-workout session. And when you simply need to touch up your makeup, the pigment of this formula won’t take away from the color of your blush and bronzing products. 

Size: 0.15 oz | Cruelty-Free: Yes

Best Drugstore

Wet n Wild Photo Focus Loose Setting Powder

$7 at Amazon $6 at Ulta $12 at Walmart

Trust the thousands of reviews for this drugstore brand favorite. We love its silky, weightless formula that can be used to set, mattify, absorb oil, or bake. With a couple of blots, you can create a soft-focus effect and subtly blur the look of fine lines and imperfections. This setting powder doesn’t have a scent to it and upholds its transparent claim, reviewers say. We were hesitant to try this stark white translucent powder after the change of weather caused dry patches to form on our complexion—but thankfully, no dry areas were accentuated though it did make an appearance after taking a couple of selfies with flash. 

Who It’s For

Rely on this powder when you’re working with lots of color, such as high-impact eye shadows and a bold lip. It is completely translucent, so during the Halloween season (a time when we look to the drugstore emporium to experiment with funky hues at very low costs), be sure to pick up this drugstore powder to help your makeup last through all the spooky festivities. 

Size: 0.7 oz | Cruelty-Free: Yes

Best Pro-Grade

RCMA No Color Powder

$15 at Amazon View on Beautybay.com View on Rcmamakeup.com

This multi-use powder by the Research Council of Makeup Artists brought light to our hallowed under-eyes in an instant. We found it to complement cream-based products beautifully—such as liquid foundation and concealer—without creating a cakey look and feel on our complexion. While concealing shine comes into play once a makeup look is complete, we love setting our T-zone and under the eyes with this translucent powder as it helps mattify our skin just enough and remits the chance of shine from creeping in. We do recommend starting small with the undereye area, as reviewers mention this powder can accentuate fine lines and dry patches. 

Who It’s For

If you’re in the market for a no-frills translucent powder that can work on a bare finish and a full coverage look, you’re in luck. We discovered this powder during a wedding makeup trial, later learning that this under $20 powder defies flashback. To get the full effect, we found that buffing out this powder with a beauty sponge best helps concealer illuminate the under eyes. You can alternate with this powder, meaning either put it to work as the final step or in-between concealing and using contouring products. From fair to melanin-rich skin, you can use this 3 oz. product (the most powder we’ve seen a translucent powder on this list feature so far) on special days, every day, and especially for special-effects beauty.

Size: 3 oz | Cruelty-Free: Yes