I have combination skin with an oily t-zone and large cheek pores, so a good setting powder is essential in my makeup arsenal. While I don’t “bake,” I do like to lightly set my cream products to create a smooth, blendable surface for powder products. However, most powders I’ve used end up looking cakey, settling into my pores, and emphasizing my lines and emerging wrinkles. What better place to go in this situation but a professional makeup artist known for her dewy, luminous looks?

Danessa Myricks Evolution Powder #1,which I purchased from Camera-Ready Cosmetics, is soft and smooth to the touch. It is finely milled, so it smoothes over the skin without looking obviously powdered from a normal viewing distance. After application of enough to remove shine from the t-zone and set concealer, it is visible from a very close range, settling a bit into fine lines. But neither the camera nor the people around me are an inch away from my face, so I don’t find this bothersome. And it does not appear to sink into my cheek pores at any viewing distance. Other powders–including the Laura Mercier powder everyone loves– more obviously sink into my lines and pores.

I also like the way this powder softens and melds into the skin as time goes on, lending a more natural finish and not drying out my skin. I find that I need to blot lightly at about midday and right before dinner, either leaving it at that or re-powdering with a light hand; but this is a normal routine for me, and I would expect this from any powder. It does settle more as the day goes on, becoming a bit more visible after a work day.

The Evolution Powder is not a miraculous product, but it is the best powder I’ve had the pleasure of using. At $24 for 11 grams, it isn’t cheap. However, if you are typical makeup user who isn’t going to be baking your face regularly, it is likely to last quite a long time. The packaging is glass, and unlike the last Covergirl powder container that broke before I was even halfway through it, I expect it to hold up much longer. In general, I find that I get better performance with less of it than other powders I’ve tried. Give it a go and send a talented, hard-working makeup artist your financial support!