Ever heard of this brand? Me neither. I saw a small stand for Zao Essence of Beauty at a beauty store when we travelled to Biarritz earlier this summer. This French brand is all about being sustainable and ecological. They aim to reduce plastic and the packaging is made of bamboo.
All of the makeup if refillable. And expensive.
Due to the price point and the fact that I knew nothing about this brand, I only risked trying out one product, and the one that made more sense for me (and was in stock) was their Mineral Cooked Powders, which are bronzers for the most part – but I think you can use them as face powders if the shade should fit you.
Shade 347 Apricot Beige is a warm, medium brown with a bit of red in it. On the pan, it looks matte; there is no visible shimmer, glitter, shine, none of it, but once you swatch it you can tell there is this luminosity to it that makes the powder look very natural and gives you a healthy tan look. That luminosity is very flattering on the skin, and I would dare say it has almost a blurring effect.
The powder is very soft to the touch. It kicks up a bit of powder on the pan (as you can see in the swatch picture), but it does not look powdery at all once applied to the skin. In fact, it instantly melts into the skin and blends in very easily. It’s also very easy to blend out. Pigmentation is nice but nor overpowering, which makes it very easy to apply.
Longevity wise, I noticed some fading at around the 8 hour mark on my forehead, where my skin gets oilier, but it was very much the same on my cheeks (that are drier) as when I first applied it. At around the 10 hour mark, it completely faded away from my forehead and I could still see it very faintly on my cheeks (tested over a longwearing foundation, but with no setting spray).
This comes is a small fabric pouch, and the powder is 15 grams of product, which is a really nice amount. This is 23€ for the product with the compact, but it’s considerably cheaper if you only buy the refill (13€ ), so if you have a compact where to put these, you can save some serious coin. That being said, I don’t mind having paid full price for this, because I really like the bronzer. I like how easy it is to apply, how good it looks on the skin, and it’s only fault for me is longevity, but even as this fades, it fades so evenly that it never looks bad.
Also, this as a nice, very soft scent. Smells like a woody lotion. Weird description, I know, but it’s a pleasant, comforting fragrance. Thumbs up from me.
