Setting powder for olive skin

Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder has the best record for olive skin, with 17 of 19 shoppers saying it set their makeup without looking ashy, white or changing their shade, and it is also the best pick sold on Amazon. Huda Beauty Easy Bake Loose Setting Powder follows at 10 of 12, then bareMinerals Original Mineral Veil Powder at 9 of 13 and Hourglass Ambient Lighting Finishing Powder at 5 of 9, though all four records rest on small groups. Each record counts just shoppers who said they have olive skin.

  • 118 store reviews counted
  • Ulta and Sephora shoppers
  • Sep 2008 to Sep 2026

Updated . How we count

Did the powder set without a cast on olive skin? What shoppers said
  1. Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder 19 said either way
  2. Huda Beauty Easy Bake Loose Setting Powder 12 said either way
  3. bareMinerals Original Mineral Veil Powder 13 said either way
  4. Hourglass Ambient Lighting Finishing Powder 9 said either way

Share of reviewers who stated an outcome for ashiness or shade change. Ranked by the lower bound of a 90% confidence interval, so a product needs both a good share and enough reports to rank high.

Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder Best record Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder 17 of 19 say it set their makeup without looking ashy, white or changing their shade See price & reviews on Amazon
What stands out

Not every miss here was a white or ashy cast. For each of the four powders, some shoppers with olive skin said it gave their skin the wrong tint instead, such as too yellow, too pink or too red.

The ranking, product by product

Praise and complaints are the points reviewers repeat most, shown as a share of each product's counted store reviews.

1 Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder

Laura Mercier

Translucent Loose Setting Powder

Best for keeping makeup in place

17/19 say it set their makeup without looking ashy, white or changing their shade

More shoppers stated a result for this loose powder than for any other here (19). 27% of its reviews say it keeps makeup in place and 12% say it blurs pores and texture, while 6% call it too expensive.

What buyers praise

  • Keeps makeup in place 27%
  • Blurs pores and texture 12%
  • Fine on dry skin 9%
  • Doesn't look cakey 9%
  • Natural finish 6%

What buyers complain about

  • Too expensive 6%
Where buyers said it
  • Ulta 2 of 2
  • Sephora 15 of 17
By skin type (Sephora reviewers)
  • Combination5 of 6
  • Dry4 of 4
  • Normal3 of 4
  • Oily3 of 3
By skin tone (Sephora reviewers)
  • Light-medium to medium8 of 8
  • Medium-tan to tan5 of 7
Acne-prone reviewers
  • Said it worked5 of 5
2 Huda Beauty Easy Bake Loose Setting Powder

Huda Beauty

Easy Bake Loose Setting Powder

10/12 say it set their makeup without looking ashy, white or changing their shade

17% of its 30 reviews say this loose baking and setting powder blurs pores and texture, and 7% say it keeps concealer from creasing.

What buyers praise

  • Blurs pores and texture 17%
  • Keeps makeup in place 7%
  • Fine on dry skin 7%
  • Stops concealer creasing 7%

What buyers complain about

No repeated complaints yet.

Where buyers said it
  • Sephora 10 of 12
By skin type (Sephora reviewers)
  • Combination5 of 5
  • Dry3 of 4
By skin tone (Sephora reviewers)
  • Fair to light1 of 3
  • Light-medium to medium5 of 5
See price & reviews on Amazon

Share of 30 store reviews that mention each point. A full bar is 50%.

3 bareMinerals Original Mineral Veil Powder

bareMinerals

Original Mineral Veil Powder

Best for oil control

9/13 say it set their makeup without looking ashy, white or changing their shade

Reviewers praise the oil control on this loose powder (16% of its 25 reviews), and 12% say it doesn't look cakey.

What buyers praise

  • Controls oil and shine 16%
  • Doesn't look cakey 12%
  • Keeps makeup in place 8%
  • Natural finish 8%

What buyers complain about

No repeated complaints yet.

Where buyers said it
  • Sephora 9 of 13
  • Brand site 1 of 1 shown, not counted
By age (reviewers who gave one)
  • Under 407 of 9
  • 40 and over2 of 3
4

Hourglass

Ambient Lighting Finishing Powder

5/9 say it set their makeup without looking ashy, white or changing their shade

Price splits the reviews of this finishing powder, with 17% calling it too expensive and 13% calling it good value.

What buyers praise

  • Blurs pores and texture 13%
  • Good value 13%
  • Fine on dry skin 10%

What buyers complain about

  • Too expensive 17%
Where buyers said it
  • Sephora 5 of 9

Share of 30 store reviews that mention each point. A full bar is 50%.

Where these numbers come from

The 4 products ranked here carry 46,621 reviews at Ulta and Sephora. We searched them for ashiness or shade change and read the newest matching reviews, up to 40 per product and store, posted between Sep 2008 and Sep 2026.

A review counts only when the reviewer used the product themselves. We drop reviews written in exchange for a free product or a sweepstakes entry (0 on this page), and products that are no longer sold.

Ulta also shows reviews first posted on brands' own websites. They run much more positive than store reviews of the same products (across 19 products with both, 76% of brand-site reviewers said the product solved the problem, against 55% of Ulta shoppers), so we show them on product cards but never count them.

Because we searched for the problem, people who had it are overrepresented. Compare products with each other rather than reading a share as your own odds.

Skin type, skin tone and age splits use what reviewers chose on Sephora's review form (and age on Ulta's when given). We only show a split when enough reviewers fall on each side.

Amazon buttons appear only on products that most reviewers here say fix the problem (at least 60%, with enough reviews to trust it). Everything else gets no buy link.

An AI model labels each review against a fixed list of points, and we spot-check the labels before publishing. We publish counts, never the reviews themselves.

Read the full method

Product pages we read

  1. Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder Ulta and Sephora (33 reviews counted)
  2. Huda Beauty Easy Bake Loose Setting Powder Sephora (30 reviews counted)
  3. bareMinerals Original Mineral Veil Powder Ulta and Sephora (25 reviews counted)
  4. Hourglass Ambient Lighting Finishing Powder Sephora (30 reviews counted)

Questions buyers ask

Which setting powder works for olive skin?

Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder has the best record (17 of 19), followed by Huda Beauty Easy Bake Loose Setting Powder (10 of 12), bareMinerals Original Mineral Veil Powder (9 of 13) and Hourglass Ambient Lighting Finishing Powder (5 of 9).

Which setting powder works for a medium or tan skin tone?

Among shoppers with olive skin who also gave a medium skin tone, Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder had 8 of 8 and Huda Beauty Easy Bake Loose Setting Powder had 5 of 5. Among those who gave a tan skin tone, Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder had 5 of 7 and bareMinerals Original Mineral Veil Powder had 8 of 10. These are small groups, so treat them as a hint.

Does Hourglass Ambient Lighting Finishing Powder work for olive skin?

Less often than the others here. It has the weakest record at 5 of 9, with 4 of 9 shoppers saying it looked ashy, gray, white or chalky, or changed their shade. That is a small group, so the record is a hint, not a promise.

Which of these setting powders are sold on Amazon?

Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder, bareMinerals Original Mineral Veil Powder and Hourglass Ambient Lighting Finishing Powder have official Amazon listings, sold by the brand or by Amazon itself. Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder is the best pick sold on Amazon, and it is also the leader. Huda Beauty Easy Bake Loose Setting Powder is sold there through third-party sellers, not by the brand.

Related problems

Setting powder Setting powder with no flashback Top pick: Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder 261 buyer reports Foundation Foundation for olive skin Top pick: MAKE UP FOR EVER HD Invisible Cover Foundation 214 buyer reports Setting powder Setting powder that doesn't look cakey Top pick: Fenty Beauty Invisimatte Setting Powder 314 buyer reports Setting powder Setting powder for oily skin Top pick: Fenty Beauty Invisimatte Setting Powder 294 buyer reports

HiveTried earns a commission when you buy through the "See price & reviews on Amazon" buttons. It never changes the ranking: the order comes from buyer reports only, and a product gets an Amazon button only when buyers here say it works.