Setting Sprays: a makeup essential or just another step?

 As someone who suffers from oily skin, I have experimented with nearly EVERYTHING humanly possible to regulate the shine on my face. I grew up in Colorado, so my skin adapted to the dry climate. Now living in Austin, my skin freaks out in the humidity, and thus, I become a giant greaseball. I will preface my slick-face woes by stating that I am a girl who LOVES a matte finish to my skin- like zero dew/ luminous look. I'm fine with a lovely "glow" to my skin, but if there is even a hint of glitter/ gleam in a product what-so-ever I will not purchase it. I also must mention that ( as oxy-moron as it may sound) I am a very simple girl in my makeup routine. I don't do too much in regards to sculpting my cheekbones, blush or eyeshadow. I'm a "one and done"; meaning, I put on my primer, foundation, liner, mascara, shadow and finishing powder on in the morning, and that is it. I never bring my makeup bag with me anywhere, thus I never touch up my makeup throughout the day. When evaluating makeup products for purchase, coverage, mattifying nature, and staying power are my three must haves.

 After trekking my way to Sephora on numerous occasions and testing out every mattifying primer and finishing powder in existence, I still haven't found my Holy Grail matte product. My makeup was continuing to melt off my face halfway through the day, leaving me awkward and embarrassed. Since I'm not interested in touching up my makeup while I work, I began toying with the idea of purchasing a setting spray. Setting sprays are a very new step to my makeup routine. Initially, the thought of having to add another step to my process annoyed me, so I planned on using the setting spray in place of a setting powder. However, as I began using the spray, it just seemed too weird to me to not set with a powder as well, so I rarely use my spray in place of.

I originally got a sample of Urban Decay's All Nighter setting spray based upon all of the positive reviews.

Overall, I really enjoyed this spray! It has a mild, pleasant smell and applies really well. Word to the wise: when you use a setting spray, even though they are a finer mist they will still apply wet and do take a few minutes to dry. The first time I used it I panicked for a moment because it applied on so wet that I thought it was cause streaks and create runs in my makeup.

The All Nighter is said to actually lower the temperature of your makeup throughout the day (great for humidity) and keep your makeup from melting or cracking for up to 16 hours. I must admit, I was fairly impressed with the staying power of this spray. I don't know that the spray set for a full 16 hours, but I did notice my makeup stayed in place for a full day of work, as well as dinner that evening. I would say I had my makeup on for at least 12 hours and definitely noticed an improvement in the appearance of my face that far into my day. After about a week and a half of testing out the spray, I went back to Sephora with my heart set on purchasing the All Nighter. While chatting with one of the experts there, they directed me to another one of Urban Decay's setting sprays that would help hold my makeup in place, as well as combat some of my oily issues.

                                 
                   Enter Urban Decay's De-Slick Oil-Control makeup setting spray.

 Much like the All Nighter, this spray is meant to help hold your makeup in place while lowering the temperature of your makeup. However, this spray also claims to control oil/ deflect shine on the face, to keep ones' skin matte throughout the day. Intrigued by the idea of this spray offering more oil-control than the All Nighter, I changed up my choice and purchased the small bottle of this. I've been using this spray for about a month now, and overall I really enjoy it.

I do feel this spray does help to hold my makeup in place. Does it have the staying power of the All Nighter? In my opinion, no. I do feel the need to touch-up my face after working all day and before going out at night, which I don't recall feeling that need with the All Nighter. Another con for me is the scent of the De-Slick. It is nothing terrible or deal-breaking, but it does have a more potent, less sweet scent than the other spray, and is a bit more noticeable. Perhaps this is just me, but I've also noticed that De-Slick seems to burn my eyes a bit more. If I'm not careful and open my eyes too early after spraying, my eyes sting and water, and I have to quickly dab them with a towel( FYI- I wear contacts as well).

Here's a photo of the setting spray right after I sprayed it (on completed makeup). You can see all of the shiny areas, which are actually the visibly "wet" areas of the spray. I spray my face in an "X" formation twice, and then a "Z" formation- as directed. The spray takes about 2-3 minutes to fully set and dry. Also another tidbit; I put mascara on AFTER spraying. I've noticed the formula makes my mascara too wet and it smears if I apply before spraying.

The big Question- does it help keep my face matte and reduce oil-production? Overall, I would say yes. Sometimes I still catch some shine in the mirror while at work, but that is typically a good part into my shift, and I recognize it could be the change in various makeup products (like under eye brighteners, foundation, etc.) that I used for that day. I  don't know that I would call it a HG product, as I still have unwanted oil and shine at times. However, I do love setting sprays for the simple fact that I can put my makeup on once and then not have to fix it throughout the day. The directions recommend spraying your face prior to applying makeup and then again as a finish. I haven't experimented too much with this method, mainly because it annoys me. Shouldn't my primer aid with the "under makeup" portion? Isn't the setting spray meant to be more of a finishing product? I don't know that I would use the spray solely under makeup, without any primer. Primers are made to help the overall application and look of makeup, and I just don't feel the setting spray would be competent as a primer.

Another interesting observation I'd like to note about the De-Slick setting spray in particular is how it sets with various types of foundation. I usually wear cream-to-powder or liquid-to-powder products to help with my oily nature. Two of my favorite foundations include Hourglass Immaculate foundation (HG for sure!) and Benefit's The Big Easy Better Than BB Cream. De-Slick tends to be ok with my Immaculate, however, it can get VERY powdery/ cakey if I use too much of it with the Big Easy foundation. Depending on what setting powder I use, sometimes I see this over-powdered look as well. It is likely due to the mattifying formulation of the De-Slick mixing weirdly with the mattifying properties of the other products I use.


I purchased the travel size of De-Slick, so I plan to purchase the All Nighter after I use up my bottle and further compare the two. During my sample period I remembered I felt my face looked shine-free with the All Nighter, but I only tried it for a little over a week (in less humid/ non-summer weather), so I'd like to give it another try.

What are your thoughts on setting sprays? Anyone else have experience with these two products? Also, any uber oily sufferers out there like myself, feel free to comment with your favorite methods and products to combat shine!

- The POSH Lady