Organic Wear Pressed Powder

It's taken me a while to post this review because my interest in this line waned quite a while ago, but I want to take the time to write about my experience with the Physicians Formula Organic Wear Pressed Powder.
I had high hopes for it initially, the price point is so low and the ingredients are great. I matched the color to my current compact--translucent medium seemed the closest. The wording of the colors threw me off, to my mind translucent means that it offers no real coverage, but is mostly used for setting foundation or concealer and creating a matte finish. I wasn't sure if Translucent Medium meant it would actually be a powder foundation or not.
It turns out that it was a powder foundation and the first time I used it, I was really impressed. It had a soft glowy finish and covered amazingly well.
Once I looked at it in natural light, however I saw how wrong it was. It was far to shiny and highlighted pores and fine lines. It was very similar to the finish I experienced with Bare Escentuals Bare Minerals foundation.
I used to work for BE and I would leave my house feeling beautiful only to find myself blending frantically once I checked my makeup outside in natural light.
However, they were the first mineral makeup I was exposed to and I still believe that minerals are the way to go. Bare Escentuals just isn't the right brand for me.
And it's no wonder they seem similar, here are the ingredients:

Organic Wear

MICA, SIMMONDSIA CHINENSIS SEED OIL*, ZEA MAYS (CORN) STARCH*, MAGNESIUM STEARATE, KAOLIN, CALCIUM CARBONATE, OLEA EUROPAEA (OLIVE) FRUIT OIL*, GLYCERIN, GLYCINE SOJA (SOYBEAN) OIL*, GLYCERYL CAPRYLATE, CINNAMIC ACID, SODIUM LEVULINATE, TOCOPHEROL, WATER. MAY CONTAIN: IRON OXIDES, TITANIUM DIOXIDE. * PRODUCED FROM ORGANIC FARMING


Bare Minerals

Bismuth Oxychloride, Mica, Iron Oxide
*Bare Minerals Foundation May Also Contain:
Titanium Dioxide


It is definitely the mica that gives it the bizarre finish. It is wonderful in highlighters and shadows but terrible as a foundation. BE recommends that you follow up with the corn-starch based Mineral Veil and *surprise!* PF has a corn-starch based finishing powder. Although mica is, again the first ingredient leading me to believe that there is just no way to avoid a waxy-shiny finish with the Organic Wear powder products.
Also, if you'll notice that the BE products have a much shorter ingredient list since they don't add the gratuitous organic ingredients. I call them gratuitous because they could have a very similar product without adding any of the small amounts of botanicals that they did, leading me to believe that they just wanted to have a line that they could call "organic."
I really don't want to use more than one powder product, not only do I not want to take the time but I live in a warm climate and don't want to pile on a lot of products. I am very happy with my Glominerals foundation and you absolutely do not need a finishing powder. It is three times as much as the PF powder but once you factor in using a separate finishing powder, it's not much of a bargain time or money-wise.

Bottom Line:

My overall opinion of these products isn't very high, but I still like that companies such as this one are making more natural options widely available, I think that is very important. This line may work beautifully for some people, and most definitely Bare Minerals fans will love this foundation and it is about 1/3 of the price.
When I returned the concealer and powder that I bought I was hoping to exchange for the tinted moisturizer, but it was out of stock. If I do try it I will review it on makeup alley and link it here, to avoid yet ANOTHER post about this line.

Physicians Formula Organic Wear Concealer Review

I have finally tried the Physicians Formula Organic wear line.
After some consideration I finally decided on the pressed powder and the concealer.
I wanted to get the light color, but all they had in stock was soft yellow and soft green. Yellow-toned anything looks terrible on my pink skin so I went with green. I have always avoided colored concealers, writing them off as too gimmicky.
But the soft green looks just like a soothing cream I used to use when I was doing salon work. It contained kaolin clay which has a green tint and covered redness amazingly well. I don't know if that was necessarily what it was intended for, but it was a pleasant side effect. People tend to get really concerned when they see (even normal) post-waxing redness and it takes away from the effect of the finished brow, so I really loved that product. (whose name I can not for the life of me remember.)
When I took the concealer out of the package I noticed that the bullet extended above the top of the case. It didn't retract any further into the tube. That was slightly annoying to me and became even more so when, the first time I tried it, the top 1/2" broke off. I wrote it off as a bad batch, put the nub in a sample cup and applied it with a brush and blended with a sponge. It removed all traces of redness from my skin, which is amazing since I have so much pinkness to my skin tone. I was very impressed. The texture was incredible, smooth and easy to blend. The problem was, it turned my skin from ruddy to a gray corpse-like tone. So it has to be followed by a product with color. I used the Organic Wear Pressed Powder (that I will write a separate entry for) and in my bathroom it looked beautiful. I did not notice any offensive odor, like some reviews have mentioned.
I took my mirror outside and it was a mess. Very cakey and artificial-looking and it settled into every place I would have rather it not.
I'm not giving up hope on this concealer, though. I am going to exchange the one I bought today and hope I just got a bad one. I may skip the green and get the light if they have it back in stock or I will experiment with using my little broken nub with a tinted moisturizer or liquid foundation. I think the light concealer would be amazing when paired with a translucent powder, I'll keep you posted!

*Photos: Top, the products I used in this experiment, photo 1 me before, photo 2 and 3 me with just concealer, photo 4 and 5 me after.

Hot and Cold

In the basic Hauschka regimen warm compresses are used to increase circulation, soften dead skin cells and relax the pores. A cool compress or splash after cleansing will constrict the pores and force any excess oils out, preparing the a skin for either toning or conditioning.
Hot and cold also have an impact on an emotional level, warm will relax and soothe and cool will energize and refresh.
Lately I noticed that I am rushing through my twice-daily ritual, not breathing and getting the full effect of the products, hurriedly splashing a bit of cold water on my face at the end. Although the lavender bath is great all year-round and for all skin types, there are times when the other baths in the line can be very beneficial.
A good alternative is the spruce bath. Spruce is also very relaxing but more importantly it promotes deep breathing which I really need help with. After doing five or six warm spruce compresses, (you can do just one but it feels so lovely after a long day so I do several) rinse your compressing cloth and bowl with cool water, then fill about 1/4 full of cool water and one squirt of lemon bath. Finish your regimen with five or six cool lemon compresses, inhaling deeply. You can also do a few on your neck, throat and decollete'. This feels especially nice during warmer months or during a fever or hot flash.
I usually only do the cool lemon compresses in the morning since it is too energizing for me in the evening. I do the cool splash in the evening.
It can be too expensive to collect every aromatherapy bath, so what you can do is purchase the kit (pictured above) and decide which baths you prefer. I can get about six uses or three days' worth for facial compressing and two full baths per glass vial, and you get one of each bath: lavender, lemon, spruce, sage, and rosemary. Rosemary is NOT for use on the face, it is far too warming and could be irritating.
Happy compressing!!