Struggling with acne-prone skin is a daily battle. Not only do you need to find the best skin care products to help deal with your breakouts and texture, but you also need to find the appropriate makeup products to best conceal any active acne that you may have, while also focusing on not aggravating it!
One of the most “hit or miss” products you can have in our routine is definitely a setting powder. They may seem unskippable if you have excess oil you have on your face, but some products may exaggerate your texture or not last throughout the day, leaving you in limbo as to whether wearing this powder was worth it.
What are the best setting powders for acne-prone skin? You need to keep three things in mind. Firstly, ensure that the powder is noncomedogenic (it doesn’t clog pores). Then, check out its oil-absorbing properties. Finally, consider its color-correcting abilities as well — especially if you have red and irritated skin from acne or rosacea.
Thankfully, the makeup world is vast and super accommodating. You’re in no shortage of quality setting powders just because you’re dealing with finicky conditions!
Qualities Of The Best Setting Powders For Acne-Prone Skin
Let’s learn more about the factors you should consider if you’re acne-prone and looking for a new setting powder.
Noncomedogenic
The term has grown in popularity over the years, especially with the rise of clean, “good for you” cosmetics. Noncomedogenic may seem like a foreign term if you’re a skincare/beauty novice, but it’s just a fancy term for a product being non-pore-clogging.
You’ll see this label on a lot of different products, and when you do, you can have peace of mind knowing that it was formulated with ingredients that aren’t too heavy on the skin!
This is a life-saver for all skin types, but it’s especially great for acne-prone skin since noncomedogenic products don’t anger or worsen existing acne, and they won’t cause future breakouts either.
Oil-Absorbing
Acne doesn’t discriminate! You can have oily, dry, combination, or normal skin and still suffer from breakouts.
However, regardless of what skin type you have, your setting powder should always have an oil-absorbing property to it. Acne is primarily due to an excess of oil and bacteria, so using a setting powder on the affected areas of your face can offer relief.
Though oil-absorbing and mattifying are sometimes used interchangeably, but there are minute differences you should be aware of.
Mattifying powders absorb oil at the moment of application, but may need to be reapplied throughout the day in order to keep everything shine-free.
Oil-absorbing powders take care of the grease and shine when you press the powder into your skin, but also control any oil and sweat that may try and peek through during the day.
Color-Correcting
It’s more likely than not that the most difficult part of dealing with a breakout is the bright red to purple hues that rear their heads.
These are super difficult to cover up with concealer or foundation alone and may be so bright that you need the help of a color corrector (or two!) to keep the unsavory colors from peeking through under all of your hard work.
When looking at a color wheel, you’ll see that red and green sit directly across from one another. This means that they do a stellar job of canceling one another out, so placing a green setting powder on top of red acne can keep your skin tone looking acne-free and evenly toned all day!
Best Setting Powders For Acne Prone Skin
We’ll break down our favorite setting powders for acne-prone skin for all skin types, so you can keep your makeup in place with total confidence. Here we go!
| Rank | Product | Features |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | I’m Meme Compact - Oil Cut Pact | Sebum control, green tint, botanical ingredients |
| 2 | Etude House Zero Sebum Powder | 80% mineral ingredients, clean ingredients, sebum-controlling |
| 3 | NYX Mint Green Pressed Setting Powder | Photographs well, color-correcting, texture-reducing |
| 4 | Covergirl Clean Matte Pressed Powder | Noncomedogenic, lightweight, comes in different finishes |
| 5 | Dermablend Loose Setting Powder | Good for all skin types, dermatologist-tested, noncomedogenic |
| 6 | Kokie Cosmetics Green Setting Powders | Loose powder, green tint, comes with powder puff |
| 7 | Neutrogena Color Correcting Compact | Mattifying, contains niacinamide, noncomedogenic |
| 8 | Catkin Dreamworld Loose Setting Powder | All-day wear, good for warm and cool undertones, brightening |
| 9 | Jolie Invisible Pressed Oil Control Powder | Covers texture, blurring effect, oil control |
| 10 | Neutrogena Skin Clearing Mineral Powder | Prevents breakouts, microclear technology, different finishes |
| 11 | Revlon Colorstay Blot Face Powder | Great for oily skin, non-cakey, shielding from all aggressors |
1. I’m Meme Compact – Oil Cut Pact
Not worrying about reapplying your powder throughout the day is important, especially if you’ve never been the type to retouch your makeup once it’s on.
However, those with oily skin types know how difficult that may be — that’s when oil- and sebum-controlling powders like this one from I’m Meme come in handy!
This is a pressed powder, so it’s lightweight and buildable, but don’t let its delicate feel fool you! In a single application, it leaves skin looking soft and oil-free, blurs texture, and keeps your problem areas looking matte where they may be the oiliest.
When it comes to the ingredients, you can rest easy knowing this powder was only made with the very best! Plant extracts, squalane, and Acacia flower make up this stellar formula, keeping your oil production in balance without drying out your skin in excess.
2. Etude House Zero Sebum Powder
Etude House is a Korean skincare brand known for its sensitive-skin-friendly products and focuses on designing formulas that are truly good for your skin, working to improve it with continued use.
This Zero Sebum Powder isn’t just affordable, but it’s also very telling of the quality of products that the brand releases. It’s a loose powder, but so finely milled that it sits extremely lightweight on the skin. It also comes with a powder puff for an easy application process!
This powder can be used both immediately after skincare and as a setting powder for your makeup, controlling the oil production on your face and keeping your cosmetics from drawing too much attention to texture or redness.
As for the formula, you’ll be impressed to hear that this powder wasn’t made with any talc, mineral oils, or artificial ingredients. It’s also vegan, making it environmentally friendly as well!
3. NYX Mint Green Pressed Setting Powder
NYX is a trusted makeup brand, known for providing high-performing products at drugstore prices! What we love about the brand is its accessibility.
This pressed setting powder is perfect for acne-prone skin types with all levels of oil production. It boasts a vegan formula with a minty green tint that neutralizes the look of acne and any bouts of redness or irritation that may accompany them.
Though the tint may look intimidating, it’s quite a sheer powder, so it can work on all skin types when used lightly.
On top of correcting any redness, the powder also has a fantastic blurring property that makes it perfect for those who may have fine lines, wrinkles, or under-the-skin spots that are caused by clogged pores.
4. Covergirl Clean Matte Pressed Powder
There’s nothing wrong with keeping it clean! This matte pressed powder from the highly revered drugstore makeup brand Covergirl is a miracle worker for acne-prone skin.
One of our favorite things about this formula is that it wasn’t formulated with any oils during production, so it’s compatible with all skin types (including those with super shine-prone skin).
Mattifying during initial application, this powder also does a knockout job of reducing your overall oil production throughout the day! It has an 8-hour lasting time, making it great for the work or school day, and can be reapplied without leaving you looking cakey.
There is a slight skin-toned tint to this powder, so you may be able to get away with using it in place of foundation — it even comes with multiple formulas (even for those with super sensitive skin)!
5. Dermablend Loose Setting Powder
You may have heard of how deeply loved the brand Dermablend is, but if you have yet to try anything from the brand, we highly recommend this loose setting powder as your first buy!
This is a loose setting powder, and one of the longest-wearing ones on the market. From application, you can expect this product to keep you matte (and your makeup in place) for 16 hours — which is almost unheard of for a setting powder!
This product comes in a number of different shades, but all of them perform with the same quality you would expect from Dermablend. They’re all noncomedogenic as well as phthalate- and sulfate-free.
However, if the clean ingredient list isn’t proof enough that they’re a great choice for acne-prone skin, surely learning that they’re dermatologist-tested and allergy-safe will have you adding this cosmetic staple to your cart!
6. Kokie Cosmetics Green Setting Powder
For those who deal with a lot of redness (from acne worsened by rosacea or irritation especially), you’ll be big fans of this tinted setting powder from Kokie Cosmetics — not only is it color correcting, but since it’s a loose powder, it can cover redness that spreads across the whole face rather than in one area!
Kokie formulated this set powder due to a major concern in the skincare world: cream color correctors just don’t work well with textured, acne skin.
Thankfully, they were able to remedy this problem by designing a product that, not only takes care of redness, but blurs texture, controls shine, and looks like skin.
It has a matte finish and can be worn both over cosmetics and after you’ve freshly cleansed your face to keep redness and irritation at bay.
7. Neutrogena Color Correcting Compact
Neutrogena is a brand you can count on for both your skincare and cosmetic needs. Due to their affinity for keeping your skin as healthy as possible, it’s no surprise that their makeup products are chock-full of nourishing ingredients!
For example, this color-correcting compact works great on acne-prone skin, not just by easing up the red tones you may be experiencing, but also by improving the look of your skin when you’re makeup-free!
How, you may ask? With the smart addition of niacinamide, a vitamin B derivative that improves the tone of your skin with consistent use.
So, not only will this makeup product keep your skin looking great with it on, but it’s also working to keep your face looking calm come your evening cleansing routine as well!
8. Catkin Dreamworld Loose Setting Powder
Though the color that we most commonly associate with acne is typically a bright red, those who are dealing with deeply rooted or cystic acne know that painful breakouts may leave you with blue- or purple-hued pimples or under-the-skin spots.
For acne of this nature, a green color-correcting powder won’t do anything but leave your skin looking sallow and grey. Instead, a yellow setting powder should be used to keep your breakouts looking neutral!
This loose setting powder from Catkin works as a color-correcting product for impacted acne or bruised-looking breakouts, and the ultra-fine-milled finish keeps you from looking cakey.
Keeping your skin looking cake-free is definitely important, considering this setting powder is truly built to last you all day and night. It fights sweat, oil, and sebum production, but on top of that, it also shields against the humidity you may deal with while you’re out and about!
9. Jolie Invisible Pressed Oil Control Powder
Perhaps one of the worst parts about applying powder on top of acne-prone skin is the fact that, though it keeps your makeup and concealer in place, it can make any especially textured areas all the more apparent.
Thankfully, on top of being oil-controlling, this pressed powder from Jolie works like real-life photoshop on textured skin!
Blurring, lightweight, and translucent, you will be blown away by the fact that this powder still keeps your skin looking like skin, which is almost unheard of for a powder of this quality!
Best of all, you can wear this either on its own or over foundation for a filtered look, regardless of how much effort you’ve put into your look!
10. Neutrogena Skin Clearing Mineral Powder
If you love Neutrogena products, but prevention is more your style than color correction, then we definitely have a great alternative for their previous product on this list!
This mineral powder comes in an array of different shades, but they all share that incredible formula that keeps acne-prone customers coming back for more and more.
Not only is this powder compact noncomedogenic and oil-controlling, but it was also formulated with salicylic acne and other acne-fighting ingredients so that your skin continuously heals with every application!
This skincare cocktail is known as “Microclear Technology” and it’s patented by Neutrogena as being an effective way to fight breakouts while healing existing acne.
11. Revlon Colorstay Blot Face Powder
Coming in at under $10, this incredible face powder from Revlon is proof that good, nay, fantastic things do come in unassuming packages!
This powder is mattifying, oil-controlling, and blurring — it disguises acne, fine lines, pores, and other skin concerns for a whopping 16 hours!
On top of shielding your skin from bacteria, germs, and other environmental aggressors, this face powder was also formulated with the cleanest of clean ingredients.
This face powder boasts an incredible combination of superfoods (including broccoli, aloe, and citrus juice) that your skin will yearn for again and again!