Enprani One-Touch Sun Powder EX SPF50+ PA+++

I'd bought this Enprani One-Touch Sun Powder EX SPF50+ PA+++ thinking it was a loose powder, because there are 10g of it in a jar, with an attached puff underneath the twist-off cap! And then it arrived and turned out to be a pressed powder... Huh?

All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

I've complained about stupid packaging in the past with Coffret D'Or Smile Up Cheeks and Ettusais Cheek Colors, but this Enprani powder takes the cake! Look at how gigantic this jar is with the puff and powder pan themselves taking up about only half the space, leaving the bottom half of the jar empty with just a spring. Yes, you read that right, a spring. How do I know? Because I hear it squeaks every time I dip my brush in, and as I whirl around to pick up some powder, the pan bounces up and down. I have no idea what purpose that serves other than to waste my precious little drawer space. And notice how the top of the cap doubles as a mirror, but then the puff is attached underneath. Erhh...how is that supposed to work?

Anyway, if you can't picture this I actually found a blog that compares 2 sun powders, O Hui Sun Science Powder Sunblock EX+ SPF50+ PA+++ and Su:m37 Sun Away Baked Essence. The O Hui powder happens to have the exact same packaging as Enprani, albeit containing 20g of pressed powder and is still in a smaller jar! The blog shows an insert of the O Hui powder, which illustrates the spring placement beneath the powder pan and how that works. But why do I need a damn spring underneath my pan of pressed powder again, other than to drive up the cost of the item for no particular reason? I paid $14.50 for Enprani, it's discontinued but is still available online via E(vil)bay, and the O Hui powder is a whopping $42-47! You can bet I won't be buying O Hui anytime soon, not in the light of Privacy and Higasunne powders.

But other than the idiotic packaging, the pressed powder itself is surprisingly good! In fact, it's one of the better powders I've encountered of late. I can't comment on the high sun protection because I can't read Korean and therefore don't know the active ingredients. But the powder itself exceptionally light and is translucent. Actually, I take that back -- it's pretty much transparent, which gives me some doubts about the sun protection. I applied it rather liberally with a full goat brush (Koyudo H Series White Kinoko) and could barely tell I had anything on at all! It just disappears on my skin, I don't feel it there, I don't see it, and it doesn't crease or otherwise shows itself after a few hours of wear. So if you're looking for coverage, this won't do at all, but if you're looking for an invisible setting powder for your sunscreen and/or makeup, this will work nicely. I'm thinking it'll be an excellent touch-up for the road too, because transparent means goof proof ^.^