Did Silica Powder cause Nicole Kidman’s makeup malfunction?

Recapping Nicole Kidman’s makeup malfunction recently, Connie had pointed out that it might have been a makeup artist who had too much silica powder on the brain.

It was an intriguing thought, so I decided to run a little experiment to see if I could dupe the makeup malfunction My silica powder is contained in the Laura Mercier Secret Concealing powder thingy which I will review a little further on. I picked this up due to the hype and hey! It contains silica, among others.

So, what I did was pile on the silica powder and then take a picture with and without flash. You can see the results below. Careful – large pics ahead!

Without flash, the silica powder is less obvious on the skin. In person, you won’t notice it at all. What it does is make my skin look smooth with subtle highlight.

When I force flashed the picture, you can see quite clearly the white patches under my eyes and on the tip of my nose where I had applied the silica powder quite liberally. Granted I used a heavier hand than normal to attempt to replicate Nicole Kidman’s look. Still, it doesn’t look as obvious as hers although you will notice the white patches.

So Ms. Kidman might have looked flawless in real life. But due to an overzealous makeup artist who possibly piled on silica powder with a trowel she’s going to be forever remembered for the ghastly look that came out in photographs of her red carpet look for the “Nine” premiere.

What a way to end 2009!

Paris B