Compact powder for UAE heat

A UAE day is two climates

You sweat on the walk from the metro, then sit in cold, dry, air-conditioned air for eight hours. Makeup slides in the first and flakes in the second, which is why a powder that behaves perfectly in Manila does not always behave the same way here.

Oil is the problem on the walk; dryness is the problem at the desk. A powder handles the first. How much you use is what keeps it from causing the second.

Choosing a powder

• Match the depth of your neck, in daylight. A powder lighter than your skin reads chalky in person and grey in photos.
• Pressed rather than loose if you carry it in a handbag. Loose powder in a bag ends one way.
• A finish you can live with: matte for oil control, satin if you like a little glow. Shimmer in a summer powder shows texture and shine.
• Treat "oil control" and "long wearing" as descriptions of the formula, not promises about your day. Try one and see how it behaves on you in July.

Apply less, in fewer places

Start with clean, moisturised skin — a dry face grabs powder unevenly. Press rather than sweep, with a sponge or a dense brush, and work only where you actually get shiny: usually the T-zone, the sides of the nose and the chin. Leave most of your cheeks alone and the whole face reads like skin instead of a layer.

Set once in the morning and resist the urge to set again before lunch. Powder laid over powder is what creates the dry, cracked look people tend to blame on the formula.

Touching up at 3 pm

Blot first, powder second. A tissue or a blotting paper pressed over the shine lifts the oil off; powder laid on top of oil goes patchy almost immediately. Then press the smallest amount over the blotted areas only. Two blots and one light pass will carry you to the evening more cleanly than three full reapplications.

Looking after the compact

Keep it out of a hot car. Pressed powder is held together with a binder, and heat plus the knocking around of a handbag is what cracks a cake. Wash or replace the sponge weekly, keep the lid shut so the mirror stays clean, and don't share it — it goes straight onto your face.

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