Physician's Formula Mineral Wear Versus Neutrogena Fresh Finish Loose Powder

With the newfound popularity of Bare Minerals, almost every mainstream cosmetics company is jumping on the powder-to-foundation bandwagon. Though most of these products are not "mineral make up" in the truest sense, they are fairly high quality powders that can double as a light foundation. Two such products are Neutrogena's Fresh Finish loose powder and Physician's Formula Mineral Wear powder.

The main benefit of both of these products is that they are widely available at nationwide drugstore chains, as well as in stores like Target and Wal-Mart. They are much easier to procure than the mail order only mineral make-ups seen on the popular infomercials. For this comparison, I purchased Physician's Formula Mineral Wear in Translucent Light, and Neutrogena's Fresh Finish powder in Fair. The prices were quite similar between the products, with the Mineral Wear setting me back $9.99 for .49 Oz., and the Fresh Finish costing $12.98 for .70 Oz. These are both extremely fair prices for the amount of powder given. Giving a slight edge to the Mineral Wear powder is that Physician's Formula products routinely have instant coupons stuck to their boxes. About 85% of the Mineral Wear powders I've seen have has three dollar off coupons attached, making the Physician's Formula Mineral Wear an extra great deal.

In terms of packaging, the Neutrogena Fresh Finish powder comes in a square plastic container with a lid. Inside there is a small sifter and a spot for the included powder puff. This is a decent package, although the sifter has no stopper. Due to this, if the powder is dropped or overturned in transport, there is nothing to prevent it from spilling completely onto the powder puff. It has the potential to be relatively messy.

Comparatively, the Physician's Formula Mineral Wear powder arrives in a clear plastic dome, that has both a hook to secure the included powder brush, as well as an inner lid to prevent the powder from spilling. Additionally, the clear plastic used for the Mineral Wear bottle allows you to see when your powder is getting low, something that cannot be determined with the Fresh Finish powder.