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
prettybeautiful says
December 28, 2009 at 9:09 ami remember seeing one of my mom”s last year pic, she had the exact white cast on her face too!!! she was using powder foundation, now i bet it contains similar ingredients too
ParisB says
December 28, 2009 at 4:54 pmHi Prettybeautiful
OMG maybe it was titanium dioxide? Some foundation with that can cause light reflection.
cat says
December 28, 2009 at 9:14 amsorry for the ignorance. how does silica powder do as a makeup? to set makeup?
ParisB says
December 28, 2009 at 4:54 pmHi Cat
Silica powder helps to set makeup and absorb oil so skin looks oil free for longer. It also forms a primer for makeup so makeup stays on longer.
Connie says
December 28, 2009 at 10:26 amyou can pile on even more silica powder and not notice that you’ve overapplied in real life! I’ve tried >.< looks horrible. Like I have some kind of fungus going on…
ParisB says
December 28, 2009 at 4:53 pmHi Connie
Yup yup! LOL at the fungus. Great Halloween look eh? 🙂
Nikki says
December 28, 2009 at 11:32 amher makeup artist probably got fired 🙁 This is a wonderful experiment!
ParisB says
December 28, 2009 at 4:52 pmHi Nikki
And they should be too! Unless Nicole herself dabbed on the excess 😉
Jean says
December 28, 2009 at 2:39 pmwow..so the mysterious revealed!!!
ParisB says
December 28, 2009 at 4:51 pmHi Jean
I think most people already knew about it but I had to try it for myself. Now we know not to overdo it!
Shay says
December 28, 2009 at 10:33 pmI think I read somewhere that talc in powder foundation would refect too much light with flash photography as well.
yuki says
December 29, 2009 at 2:21 pmwow… I didn’t know abt this… great discovery… new tips for girls wearing silica containing products… Take a pic with flash before leaving the house… hehe…