This blog post has been edited due to the person making accusations having removed her post from Instagram.

Image from Rae Morris website.

Professional Makeup Artist Rae Morris has launched a new item among her cosmetic line called the Invisible Mattifier invisible face powder*. It's causing a bit of controversy which I'm going to address in this blog post.

First about the product from Rae Morris.

The Rae Morris Invisible Mattifier is a completely transparent powder which is applied to the skin for a mattifying and smoothing finish. On top of makeup it sets for a longer lasting look, and when used on its own, it mattifies the skin with a silky smooth finish.

The soft focus/mattifying effect is due to silicone resin microspheres which have special optical properties – they spread light in every direction! When the powder is applied, the resin ‘fills’ irregularities in the skin (small wrinkles, imperfections, signs of age, acne scars etc), interferes with light reflection by directing it in all directions, which reduces the visibility of the imperfections by removing the sense of depth. The result is a smoother, less shiny, natural appearance.

In addition to its light diffusing properties, Rae Morris Invisible Mattifier is infused with hydrating PCA to keep the skin soft and supple. It is perfect for everyday use either on top of makeup or on its own. The Rae Morris Invisible Mattifier is the ultimate ‘selfie’ accessory to remove that unwanted shine – no retouching required!

Active Ingredients: PCA (Pyrroidone Carboxylic Group), Spherical Silicone Elastomer Powder

Price: $55 US on Beautylish* and $62.40 on Rae Morris.
Size: 13 g / 0.45 oz
Cruelty-Free
Vegan
Made in Italy.

A full list of ingredients is currently not available and I have reached out to Rae Morris's PR team to see if they're willing to send me a copy of the ingredients or post their ingredients on their website. I am considering purchasing it from Beautylish in order to compare ingredients for myself and to test it out as I still use Mally Beauty Evercolor Poreless Face Defender.

The biggest positive thing for me is this product is made in Italy and by a manufacturer (most likely Intercos Europe) who works with many other well-respected brands including Pat McGrath, Laura Geller, and many others. This also means the product ingredients are going to be high caliber and since it's made in Italy no animal testing was done per EU laws.

There are other products on the market that are similar and all are at different prices points. Personally, I have used Mally Beauty Evercolor Poreless Face Defender for many years ($40 US; 0.46 oz / 13.0 g), CoverGirl's TruMagic (no longer made), and I didn't care for the CoverGirl version but have continued to use the Mally one over the years for personal use.

Now onto the controversy. On July 28, 2018, Karla Powell, a UK makeup artist, who apparently works for MUA Academy Cosmetics, made the accusation on her Instagram that Rae Morris copied a product called Crystal Glass Powder from the Italian cosmetic brand Madina.

Can you see the difference ? 🤔Absolutely not! _________________________ At least Rae could of changed the packaging and the photo, they are identical ! (Look closely at both pictures for comparison) It looks like they have just photoshopped their branded name onto it. Why am I seeing this so much in our industry today?surely it illegal? If you dupe a product at least try and change the original packaging. I feel so sorry for these hard working brands that design something fresh, for then someone to simply just steal it and convince their own customers it’s their idea & then charge double the price , that surely is not acceptable?😱 ______________________ The reason I feel passion about this subject is the fact that , I have supported @madinaitalia wonderful unusual product for over a year now , introducing it to all my makeup students. I was introduced to this product after that person assisted Pat McGrath at fashion week. My sister even back packed all the way to Italy to personally pick me up this product, because it was that rare to get hold of. I’m just so disappointed to see people rip off a product so easily with no care, no consideration or even imagination to say the least 😭 What are your thoughts? ________________________ I hear Madina is closing down.... so this situation makes me even sadder. Some people are saying she has bought the product from Madina, but if that’s so wouldn’t it be good to inform this to her customers before the launch? Original- €12.00 Copy- £48! #copycat #makeupartist #copyright #raemorris

A post shared by Karla Powell (@karlapowellmua) on Jul 28, 2018 at 11:57pm PDT

Instagram post was deleted on July 30, 2018.

Screenshot of the accusation made on Instagram.

Screenshot of the accusation made on Instagram.

You can see from the side-by-side comparison the items do look identical, however, Rae has stated the formulation is not the same. I mentioned above, until I see the ingredients list I can only take her word for it. As for the Madina Crystal Glass Powder (€24.00/$28) it shares its ingredients with Evercolor Poreless Face Defender. While I can't find anyone who took a picture of the ingredients as listed on the Madina Crystal Glass packaging, an Italian website called Sheen Makeup did a review of the Madina Crystal Glass Powder a few years ago and posted the ingredients in that post. From her blog:

Inci: Polymethylsilsequioxane, Dimethicone, Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Dimethicone/Vinyl Dimethicone Crosspolymer, PCA Dimethicone, Silica.

As I mentioned before, Mally's product has the same ingredients, it's the same size, and it's made in Italy as well.


So I decided to dig a little more into Mally's since her's has been around for many years now and no one has ever come for her like they did for Rae.


In this video, Mally claims her powder is the "first clear powder in the universe". So in order to try to verify her claim that her's was the first I decided to use Wayback Machine in an attempt to find older archived pages for both Madina and Mally.

I first started with Madina.com which older archived pages redirected me to MadinaCosmetics.com which in turn directed me to Madina.it. It was via Madina.it website that I managed to find archives pages for their Revolution line dating back to May 26, 2010, but the first archived date showing the Crystal Glass was June 3, 2010. Older archives pages for Madina.it website do go back a few more years but the layout was different and I was unable to find Crystal Glass sold on their site prior to June 3, 2010. The archives pages are also incomplete as the May 26 Revolution page isn't cached despite there being a link to it on the homepage. Still, I know from Rae Morris that Madina sold their Crystal Glass in their Italian store since the mid-1990s and stated she first bought Crystal Glass in 1996. Hunting down dates for Mally was also challenging due to the fact her site has changed designs several times over the years but the oldest archived page mentioning the Evercolor Poreless Face Defender was dated March 30, 2010, and that it was a QVC exclusive. She later started to sell it on her site by 2011.

So which came first? Mally or Madina? The answer is that Mally appears to be the first to sell it online while Madina was the first to sell it in brick and mortar locations since the mid-1990s. Honestly, I don't get why Rae is getting so much flack for picking up where Madina left off when Mally Beauty has outright used the same formula for her product for many years.

As for Rae's product. She has refuted the claims and took to Instagram to post this:


Personally, I'm going to give Rae's a try and will be ordering it from Beautylish (free shipping over $35). I own and still use Mally's and since that's sharing the same ingredients as Madina's then I'll be able to see for myself if the products are identical or how different it is from each other. For those of you who loved Madina's and can't get it any longer, there's always Mally's Evercolor Poreless Face Defender. ;)

* Affiliate link.