Review: Physicians Formula Happy Booster Powder

Can a beauty product make you happy? Physicians Formula claims it can. They have a whole line of beauty products now called Happy Booster which they claim will wipe your blues away, one swipe of lipstick and puff of blush at a time. I can always use a little product-inspired happiness in my life, so I gave their Happy Booster Powder a try.

A sort of combination blush, light bronzer, and highlighter, the product came in a Barbie-pink compact. The powder itself was pressed into embossed heart shapes in shades of pink, brown, and bone. It smelled sweet, and sparkled faintly in the compact and later, on my skin.

Put it this way: I've yet to encounter a decently working beauty product that didn't fill me with euphoria, and there's something to be said for aromatherapy, but I call shenanigans on the happiness-inducing claims of this particular item.

First of all, there's Physicians Formula's own claims. The feelings of happiness are supposed to come from two ingredients called Happy Skin and Euphoryl: "natural plant extracts which have been shown to promote a feeling of happiness by mimicking the effect of Endorphins and helping protect the skin from environmental stress." Try as I might, I couldn't find any information on either one of these ingredients, except a few dodgy looking sites that mentioned Euphoryl as a lab-engineered extract that was supposed to boost mood ... in high doses. Even if this works, it seems unlikely that there's enough product in this product, if you get my drift.

But what about from a purely cosmetic perspective? There, we have a winner. I loved how this looked on my face. It has a mild shimmer, which I generally avoid, because shimmery powders can be aging on folks who are older than about 16. But this produced a nice soft glow that distracted the eye from fine lines and made my skin look healthier.

Supposedly, the other mood-boosting ingredient is violet scent, but I have to say, the product didn't particularly smell like violets to me. It has a sweet smell, which I really liked, but if you're not into sweet-scented products, it might not be your bag. The texture and look are both really nice. It goes on light, and doesn't give you that super-shiny look that many sparkly powders give.

This is a hard product to use incorrectly. It has a very subtle effect, so you're unlikely to wind up catching a glimpse of yourself later and wondering alternately who brought the Oompa Loompa or whether or not you'll wind up as one of those old ladies with circles of blush on her cheeks like a doll. (Not that either of these things have ever happened to me. I'm just telling you so that you don't worry. Ahem.)

As I said earlier, I wouldn't recommend buying this as a mood enhancer, unless you just really like pink beauty products. It's pretty much an extra shiny placebo in a neat little box.

As a highlighter/blush, though, this is a great little product. I bought mine for $13 at the drugstore, but it's even cheaper online.

Price: $10 or under.

Is It Worth It?

Oh sure, why not. As long as you don't fool yourself into thinking this will be a drug-free alternative to antidepressants, you could do a lot worse. It's cheap, it works, it has a nice smell -- who cares if it won't solve all your problems? As much as it saddens me to admit it, no beauty product will.

Man, now I'm bummed out. Time to go apply more Happy Booster.