Related

Class	Doing what	Names on the label
Bulking / slip	The body of the powder	Talc, mica, sericite, silica, starch (rice, corn, tapioca)
Absorbent	Takes up sebum	Silica, kaolin, starch, nylon-12, PMMA
Pigment	Colour, if tinted	Titanium dioxide, iron oxides
Binder	Holds a pressed cake together	Esters, dimethicone, magnesium stearate
Preservative	Low water activity, so little needed	Phenoxyethanol, sometimes none

Pressed powders are the same materials compacted with a binder. Loose powders skip the binder and are finer, lighter and messier.

• Tinted pressed powder — light coverage plus oil control; the compact in a bag.
• Setting powder — see Setting Powder. Usually translucent, applied over liquid makeup to lock it.
• Finishing powder — very fine, often with light-diffusing spheres, applied last for a soft-focus surface rather than for coverage.
• Mineral powder foundation — higher pigment load, buffed on as a foundation substitute; usually titanium dioxide-heavy, which brings flashback.
• Blotting powder — pure absorbent for touch-ups.

Talc is an excellent cosmetic powder — soft, slippery, cheap, chemically inert — and it is mineralogically associated with asbestos in some deposits, so contamination is a real and recurring finding rather than a theoretical one. The regulatory position as of this writing:

• MoCRA directed FDA to establish standardised testing methods for asbestos in talc-containing cosmetic products. A proposed rule issued in December 2024 and was withdrawn in November 2025, leaving the requirement unfinalised.
• Talc itself is not prohibited in the US or the EU. Asbestos is, and an asbestos-contaminated cosmetic is adulterated under FD&C Act sec. 601.
• Litigation over talc-containing body powders has been extensive and has changed what major manufacturers sell.

Talc-free powders using mica, sericite, silica and starches are widely available and perform well. That is a reasonable preference to hold; it is not a claim that all talc products are contaminated.

Face powder is the category with the worst historical record of any cosmetic. Venetian ceruse — white lead — was the prestige face powder of the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries and caused lead poisoning, skin destruction and death. Mercury compounds followed. Both were used for centuries by people who had every reason to trust the market they bought from, which is a useful thing to hold in mind when reading modern reassurance about any ingredient.

FDA's December 2022 final guidance recommends a maximum of 10 ppm lead in externally applied cosmetics, including face powder — a recommendation rather than a regulation, and the number industry works to.

Less than you think, on the areas that actually get oily. Press and roll, do not sweep — sweeping disturbs the makeup underneath. Over-powdering is what makes makeup look flat and settle into texture; on dry or mature skin, powder only the T-zone and leave the rest.

Cosmetic — FDA primary category (08), makeup preparations (not eye), or (03) for anything used on the eye area, where only eye-approved colour additives may be used. Certified colours must come from FDA-certified batches.

Loose powders raise an inhalation question that is genuine — fine respirable particles around the face — and is the reason applying loose powder with a heavy hand in an enclosed space is worth avoiding, particularly around infants.

Very low water activity, so microbial growth is slow and powders keep well — 18–24 months after opening for a loose powder, similar for a pressed one. The practical failure is the brush or puff, which carries sebum and skin flora back into the pan and produces the hard glazed film on an old compact. Wash puffs, wash brushes, and scrape the film off a pressed powder that has hardened.

• Makeup — the shelf this sits on, and the rest of it.
• Cosmetics — what the label is legally allowed to say, and the full catalogue.
• The rest of Face — Face Primer · Foundation · BB Cream · CC Cream · Tinted Moisturiser · Concealer · Colour Corrector · Setting Powder · Setting Spray.
• Body Powder · Baby Powder — the same talc question, higher stakes.
• Regulatory statements here follow the FDA and EU sources listed on Cosmetics, read 16 August 2026.