Ellana Sheer HD Finishing Powder

I first fell in love with HD makeup after I tried Make Up Forever's (MUFE) HD line.  My heart beat and broke when I first tried their HD finishing powder -- how fine, natural and soft it made my skin feel made me believe in the concept of sheer goodness again, the price tag of Php1850 for a small canister, however; broke my heart.

Nonetheless, good things are hard to find but a year after I found a cheaper version -- Ellana's HD finishing powder.  For those, uninitiated with MUFE's finishing powder, the whiteness of the powder might scare you a bit making you thing you'll either end up like a zombie or Michael Jackson - which is practically the same now I suppose but then I'm watching This is It on HBO, hence - that you wouldn't even try. Fret not, though, the powder is so fine it practically disappears on your skin.

my skin after class, hello pores

a much closer, but clearly more even, closeup

I still find the MUFE version better though. But surely, the Ellana version is highly comparable and not bad at all. Considering how the Ellana version is like 80% cheaper it surely is the best deal.

I find it very useful as well for these functions:

• Primer: to even our your skin tone and make pores appear smaller and at the same time have your liquid foundation slide perfectly.  I use those silicone base primers but they're kinda pricey and quite hard to find. I use Bare Escentuals.

• Finishing powder, if you wanna do three layers for perfect staying power as when you're going to an event or something and the only thing you can sneak in in your purse is an oil blot.

• Dusting powder, for those moments when you need to wear dark eyeshadow and it's just so hard to avoid getting eyeshadow on your undereye area.

Ellana Mineral makeup may be ordered online at www.ellanaminerals.com. 

Other products you might want to buy too are their:

• Foundations: good coverage, and natural.  The downside though is since they don't have such wide range of colors, you might need to get other brands to even out your tone.
• Eyeshadow. Very highly pigmented. It's almost comparable to MAC pigments
• Bronzers. Also very good pigments...a little goes a long way.

What I wouldn't recommend are the brushes though. I use Shu Uemura's brush, from the Holidays Edition, and comparing it to Ellana's brushes surely negates the claim that it's made of the softest materials...I suppose it wouldn't be bad for eyeliner brush or crease brush, though, since you would need stiff brushes for that one.

Conclusion:
If you love good quality makeup but don't want to pay an arm and a leg for it, Ellana is surely a (online) store to visit.