Paul & Joe Face Powder S

I have quite the history with Paul and Joe and their balls. It consists of my missing out on them ALL THE TIME. Disney balls. Flowery balls. Bottled balls. (Okay those ones kind of freak me out.)

But this season I was forewarned and forearmed. And now, I have in my possession Paul&Joe's limited edition Face Powder S. Which shall for convenience be known henceforth as 'bird balls'. As in, 'and then, to complete my fairy princess look, I patted bird balls all over my face with a grey squirrel kitten paw brush'.


Look at it sitting pretty in a shaft of light!

Both square outer and round inner boxes are cardboard, which is disappointing-for-the-price on the one hand (also, no delivery by paired turtledoves, pout pout), but on the other hand its dainty allowance of 35g (which doesn't sound too bad mass-wise but volume-wise these seem to be about 1/2-2/3rds the quantity of balls in a jar of Meteorites) means that most people could finish these before the case crumbles into dust. On the third hand/first foot, I actually appreciate the softness of the textured paper case -- a posher metal one would jar with the vibe of these dainty little morsels.

Also, A PUFF! Wi' a widdle blue satin bow onnit! This is airy-soft and puffs up ridiculously into an actual sphere when washed -- even after air-drying it's still fairly plump (over 1" thick) and fluffy -- definitely not a miserly, thin, afterthought pad. I don't actually find this too handy in practice -- my Suqqu Cheek (aka grey squirrel kitten paw) brush seems to both pick up product and lay it down more effectively -- but I defy you not to go into a swoony trance while bouncing this over your face (and décolletage, natch, I mean it's practically obligatory innit). And it looks tres fancy perched in your hair.


Let's take a look at the balls themselves in a few different lighting conditions. Because we're here For Science, after all.

natural light, indirect

natural light, angled bright sun

natural light + direct strong flash

You will, my esteemed peers, have noted that:
1. There is absolutely no glitter / shimmer / sparkle. The white and blue balls are smoothly silky matte, while there's a very subtle pearlescent sheen on the yellow and pink ones.
2. These aren't actually perfectly round balls but rather gently ovoid eggs. *suppresses squeal* Er, anyone else suddenly craving sugared almonds / Cadbury's mini-eggs?
3. These are genuinely pale pastels. Many shades of Guerlain Meteorites read as blush or even muddy quasi-bronzers on my pasty skin [currently at my palest and wearing Graftobian Porcelain / Mehron LT-1], but these meld invisibly.

Therefore, I couldn't swatch these bird balls properly on my inner arm, and resorted to white paper instead, scribbling several times, fairly hard with each shade:

natural light

natural light, max contrast

Angled with flash, hoping to pick up some of the sheen in the yellow and pink scribbles:
As an indication of how pale the bird balls are, I added a swipe of Graftobian HD Glamour Cream Foundation in Silk Sprite, the palest shade they make (white with a hint of pink) which in MAC terms would be about an NW3?:


So what do these invisi-pale balls do, then? I hear you ask. (Those of you who didn't gallop off to your nearest P&J r/etailer after the first pic because PRETTEH BALLS.) Here's one pic I managed to snap, with scary macro lens and shooting in RAW (thanks, Selphia!):

left: bare skin  |  right: Paul&Joe Face Powder S applied with Suqqu Cheek Brush

I hope you can tell that my skin texture looks smoother with balls than without, because taking a billion pics of my wrist made me late today :P Again, there is absolutely NO shimmer, even on my extremely true-to-texture skin (see review of Chanel Notorious for example), but the effect isn't a flat matteness so much as, well, exactly the skinlike-but-refined veil P&J promise. Used alone, it's not a miracle worker that makes skin look sinisterly plastic-perfect (you can still see skin texture in the 'with balls' patch above, just less of it...), but I find a light dusting after my usual primer/foundation bumps up (or rather, de-bumps) my skin from 'nice-' to 'seriously pretty-' looking and also makes me want to surreptitiously stroke my own smooth silky face aaaaaall day.


PERVERSE CAVEATS:
My skin being so dry and pale, and my hating 99.9% of all powders out there, I'm really not a representative reviewer of them. The fact that I love this one means that:

1. It may not be effective at controlling oil or prolonging the wear-time of makeup -- never problems I experience.
2. While great at blurring the dry-skin bumpiness I struggle with, it may not work as magically on enlarged pores, wrinkles or other kinds of skin textural issues. Conversely, If you have no skin texture issues, I shouldn't think this'd have any effect at all and your £25 would probably be best spent elsewhere.
3. Because this is so invisible on my skin, it may read as ashy / chalky on darker skintones.
4. These balls are hard/tight (*pause for snickering*) -- it's pretty much impossible to pick up 'too much' product on a brush, and even shaking the tub violently won't create much 'ball dust' -- since I like to wear as little powder as possible, this is perfect for me, but be aware of that if you're the kind of person that likes to really veil yourself in a cloud of powder after picking up Meteorites dust. 
5. IT STINKS! For me, that adds to the experience of all-round LA! I AM FANCY POODLEPANTS when using this, but I think its strong, old-fashioned powdery white-floral scent will revolt many. Those with sensitive noses should sniff before you buy.