Whether you have oily skin, live in a humid climate, or just want your makeup to stay put, setting powder has a place in every beauty kit. Beyond locking in liquids and creams and mattifying your T-zone, the right formula can blur imperfections and help you achieve an airbrushed finish.

So, which powders stand out from the rest? "I recommend a finely milled powder that won't settle into lines," says celebrity makeup artist Jamie Dorman. (This typically means it's loose rather than pressed.)

After putting over 30 powders to the test, Beauty Bakerie's Face Flour was a clear winner. But to help you filter through your options, we rounded up the most absorbent formulas with beautiful finishes.

Check out the best setting powders PEOPLE Tested below.

Also available at Amazon and Beauty Bakerie

Pros: This finely milled formula soaks up grease, corrects for shine, blurs imperfections, enhances your complexion, and helps your makeup last all day.

Cons: The loose powder can be somewhat messy.

After trying over 30 highly rated, best-selling formulas first-hand, Beauty Bakerie's Face Flour won our hearts. This finely milled loose powder earned perfect scores for absorbency and look. It instantly soaks up grease, corrects for shine, and leaves you with a stunning finish that blurs imperfections and enhances your complexion.

Our tester used the shade Almond (a light brown with cool undertones). She said it was a perfect match, blending effortlessly with her natural skin tone. It absorbed quickly, blended effortlessly, and offered a brilliant mattifying effect.

Face Flour comes in six shades. The deeper hues double as a bronzer or setting powder for cream contour, and the yellow makes a great under-eye highlighter. The translucent shade delivers an invisible finish on all skin tones and promises not to appear white in flash photography.

As the name suggests, this product can also be used for baking. (The makeup technique involves allowing loose powder to sit on top creams and liquids for about 10 minutes, then dusting off the excess for a crease-free, long-wear finish.)

Though it offers a little more coverage than others, our tester said it's not heavy at all and feels comfortably light on the skin. Since this is a loose powder, applying it can be a little messy, but the lockable jar prevents it from spilling out.

Also available at Amazon, Walmart, and Target

Pros: Boasting an invisible finish on all skin tones, this wallet-friendly formula targets shine and uneven texture without looking cakey or dry.

Cons: It's hard to get the sticker off when you first open it, and it might need touching up after a few hours.

L'Oréal Pro Sweep & Lock is a great budget pick. This loose setting powder clocked perfect scores for oil absorbency and finish. The universal translucent shade blended beautifully and didn't make our tester's medium-dark skin appear chalky whatsoever. She said her face still had its natural color and dimension, though her complexion looked better than before.

This setting powder offers a soft mattifying effect without drying out your skin or looking cakey — but it doesn't stop there. Our tester said it evened out her skin texture and made her pores less noticeable. It helped her makeup stay in place too. While she was slightly shiny after a few hours in the sun, a quick dusting of powder was all she needed to touch things up.

The only other downside was that the sticker was hard to pull off the first time we opened the container. But other than that, this product was a hit.

Also available at Nordstrom, Sak's, and Bloomingdale's 

Pros: Chanel's take on loose powder sets and perfects your makeup, then blends effortlessly into a natural-looking, semi-matte finish.

Cons: If your skin is on the drier side, you might notice some flaking after a few hours.

If you're open to splurging on a high-end product, look no further than Chanel. The brand's Poudre Universelle Libre (which translates to universal setting powder) earned perfect scores for absorbency, look, and feel.

Our tester tried the shade 30 (medium with neutral undertones) and said it instantly sopped up the oil on her face and left her with a shine-free T-zone. She loved the included puff applicator, explaining that it's perfect for pressing the powder into the skin exactly where you want it.

It blended effortlessly into our tester's complexion, and the semi-matte finish didn't look heavy to cakey. Save for some slight flaking in her under-eye area, her makeup was still very much intact after a long day — no touch-ups needed.

Also available at Ulta and Laura Mercier

Pros: It controls shine throughout the day and provides a flattering soft-focus effect that won't flash back in photos.

Cons: Swirling the powder around with a brush is slightly messy.

With a special occasion coming up, you'll want to make sure your makeup not only looks good but also photographs well. We're big fans of Laura Mercier's Loose Setting Powder, which delivers a flattering soft-focus effect and promises not to flash back in photos.

Our tester tried the shade Honey. The warm, golden hue created a subtle sun-kissed glow on her fair skin tone. It was so flattering, in fact, that she said she'd wear it alone for a no-makeup makeup look.

Though swirling the loose powder around with a brush was slightly messy, the finely milled formula went on smooth. It offered a mattifying effect and absorbed excess oil. Not only that, but it helped control shine throughout the day, even in humid weather.

Also available at Kohl's and One/Size

Pros: The smooth, lightweight powder visibly blurs pores and other imperfections, leaving a soft-focus matte finish in its wake.

Cons: Oilier skin types might need to reapply it on their T-zone after a few hours.

As the name suggests, One/Size Ultimate Blurring Powder visibly blurs pores and other imperfections. The soft-focus formula earned perfect scores for absorbency and finished look in our lab tests. Our tester tried the universal translucent shade, which did an excellent job tackling excess oil and provided an instant mattifying effect.

She said the texture isn't gritty at all but rather light and smooth. After applying it over a dewy-finish foundation, this setting powder made her face less shiny.

While she typically needs to touch up her makeup by lunchtime, our tester was pleasantly surprised that it lasted until the afternoon. Still, oilier skin types might need to dust another layer onto their T-zones sooner than later.

Also available at Amazon, Nordstrom, and Sephora

Pros: It offers instant protection from the sun's damaging rays while soaking up oil and keeping shine in check.

Cons: The built-in brush isn't the most user-friendly, and it doesn't do a great job blurring imperfections.

Reapplying sunscreen throughout the day is easier said than done, especially when you're wearing a full face of makeup. Supergoop! has one solution in the form of SPF-infused setting powder. This mineral formula contains zinc oxide to instantly block the sun's damaging rays while keeping shine under control.

Our tester was pleasantly surprised by how absorbent this powder is and said a little goes a long way. Her skin was visibly less oily with a (mostly undetectable) natural-looking matte finish.

While the built-in brush is convenient in theory, we didn't find the feature very user-friendly. Plus, you're supposed to coat the brush, then tap off the excess powder, which results in a fair amount of wasted product. And although it doesn't do a great job blurring pores and other imperfections, we still think this product is worth buying for on-the-go touch-ups on sunny days.

There are two main categories of setting powder: loose and pressed. The latter is slightly less messy and may be better for travel. However, Dorman recommends finely milled formulas, which are typically loose and tend to be a bit smoother and lighter. Indeed, loose powders ended up faring best in our lab tests.

Many formulas come in a universal translucent shade that should be invisible on all skin tones. However, some setting powders are available in multiple shades. In addition to complementing a range of skin tones, darker and lighter colors can be used for other purposes, like bronzing, contouring, and highlighting.

Since one of the primary purposes of setting powder is to absorb excess oil and control shine, most have a matte finish. That said, you'll find some variations, such as soft-focus matte, which typically implies a blurring effect, and semi-matte, which will let some natural dewiness show through.

Most setting powders offer sheer coverage, meaning they won't cover or change the look of your makeup underneath. However, others are more buildable up to medium-level coverage. With the latter, you can typically apply slightly more powder, then dust off the excess without it looking cakey.

Though pressed formulas sometimes come with round puffs or pads, loose powders don't usually come with an applicator tool. In either case, the best way to apply setting powder is with a large, fluffy makeup brush. Swirl the brush head around to pick up powder and gently tap off the excess. Then dust it onto your skin, either all over your face or just in shine-prone areas. Makeup sponges can also work for stamping on the powder and blending it out.

We selected 32 setting powders to try first-hand. After inspecting the packaging and ingredient lists, our testers applied the powders per the brand's recommended instructions to see how they performed on real skin, in a real-life setting.

They took note of each product's blendability and whether the finish and formula were a fit for their skin type and tone. The powders were scored for oil absorbency, finished look, feel, wear, and shade range, and those with the highest overall ratings were ultimately selected for this roundup.

We created the PEOPLE Tested seal of approval to help you find the very best products for your life. We use our unique methodology to test products in three labs across the country and with our network of home testers to determine their effectiveness, durability, ease of use, and so much more. Based on the results, we rate and recommend products so you can find the right one for your needs.

But we don't stop there: We also regularly re-review the categories in which we've awarded the PEOPLE Tested seal of approval — because the best product of today might not be the best of tomorrow. And by the way, companies can never buy our recommendation: Their products must earn it, fair and square.

In short, PEOPLE Tested provides recommendations you can trust — every day, every purchase.