Bare Escentuals bareMinerals Mineral Makeup Review - A Personal Review

Bare Escentuals bareMinerals Mineral Makeup Review - User Review

The Bare Escentuals bareMinerals Get Started Kit includes:

- 2 shades of BareMinerals SPF 15 Foundation
- Mineral Veil finishing powder
- Warmth All-Over Face Color
- Flawless Application Face Brush
- Full Coverage Kabuki Brush
- Maximum Coverage Concealer Brush
- Bonus Gift
- In-depth How-To DVD that details how to best apply your BareMinerals makeup

Bare Escentuals bareMinerals Mineral Makeup Review - A Personal Review
The Bare Escentuals Starter Kit was just “wow.” We all know that good makeup can make any zit disappear and make scar shades lighter. Happily, Bare Escentuals does it all! First off, let’s talk about the foundation. As advertised, the Bare Escentuals bareMinerals SPF 15 Foundation is soft and weightless. The foundation completely covered my skin imperfections while still looking fresh and naturall, without that “cakey” look. What I hate most about traditional makeup, especially the liquid form, is how heavy it feels. I literally felt like I was applying paint to my face with traditional foundation. I live in a very humid region of the southern United States, and during August-October it seemed like I was wiping my makeup off every time I went to dab-up a little sweat. The tissues always had an embarrassing heavy tan tint to them. Fortunately, those days are no more. The Bare Escentuals foundations are invisible. The foundation enhances my features and softens the wear-and-tear texture of my skin. When I look in the mirror, I see a natural, better me. The best part is that it doesn’t look like I’ve spent hours painting on a new face – I didn’t.

There were some minor bumps along the road, however. Although the Bare Escentuals bareMinerals foundation does have UVA/UVB SPF 15 protection, I wanted more than SPF 15 protection for my face. There’s so much evidence for sun damage causing aged skin that I’ve developed a slight case of sun block obsession for sun protection: SPF 30 every day. Therefore, I apply a moisturizer with SPF 30 before I use the Bare Escentuals makeup. On the plus side, the added moisturizer is good for maintaining healthy skin and it also serves as a base for the makeup.

The infomercial raved about the bareMinerals Warmth All-Over Face Color, but I do not share the same degree of excitement about it, mainly because it can be very easy to use too much color for the proper amount of application. Applying too much of the Face Warmth pigment on my face can easily transform my “all natural” look to a clownish look. I found that applying a little more of the foundation powder over the Face Warmth can tone down the color and make it look more natural though. The Face Warmth powder that came with the kit lasted me nearly two years (oh yeah, don’t sign up for the automatic renewal until you know how much you use and how often you’ll need new supplies). It wasn’t until my second shipment that I realized that I can reduce the amount of powder I poured onto the lid by controlling how much of the seal I pull back. A little bit of Face Warmth goes a long way!

Now let me tell you about my favorites! The Bare Escentuals bareMinerals Mineral Veil is a life saver. It goes on light and gives that flawless and youthful glow that we all want. Sometimes I skip the foundation and blush and just sweep on a layer of the Mineral Veil. Top it off with some lip gloss and I get that effortless, no-makeup look. I can’t say enough about it! If you don’t believe me, just get the Mineral Veil and I’m sure you’ll come back for the kit (a better deal).

The cherry on top of the kit was the Bare Escentuals brushes (bareMinerals Full Coverage Kabuki Brush, bareMinerals Full Flawless Application Face Brush, bareMinerals Maximum Coverage Concealer Brush). I purchased my starter kit 5 or 6 years ago and fell in love with the brushes. They pick up just the proper amount of powder and are so soft on the skin. Personally, I would pay the price of the kit for the brushes alone. Before, I would use the standard brushes that are available at your local CVS (the ones with the synthetic, black ends). The difference between the two is amazing. The Bare Escentuals brush feels almost like a soft cotton pad gliding over your skin, while my CVS brush… let’s just say I am glad that I found their replacements.

Bare Escentuals bareMinerals Mineral Makeup Review - A Personal Review

Quick Take: good value, a great concealer, awesome foundation

Pros:
- Offers a smooth, near perfect and natural looking complexion
- Warmth All-Over Face Color gives skin a healthy-looking glow
- Very easy to apply, easy to learn
- Included brushes are solid, good quality brushes
- When combined with a liquid concealer, the foundation evens out the concealer for a flawless look, making even really bad blemishes disappear.
- Even by itself, it covers dark under-eye circles with ease.
- Incredibly light feeling... you barely even realize it's on.
- Great color, even for my very pale skin

Cons:
- The Warmth All-Over Face Color is touchy... it can be easy to use too much, but this can be corrected by running a little more foundation over it to smooth it out.
- As with any powder product, it can get messy.
- I noticed no difference between using the Foundation Primer and not, so I discontinued use of the Primer.

Overall, I'm very pleased with this product. For $60, you just can't go wrong. Even if you end up not liking the product, you still end up with three great brushes which are worth more than $60 just by themselves. I was amazed at how well it covered my dark under-eye circles, especially with the string of bad luck I've had in this regard. I use the bareMinerals Well Rested for Eyes concealer on all blemishes, besides the dark under-eye circles, and put the Light foundation on top of that using the concealer brush. The worst blemishes, scratches, and even bug bites are nearly completely invisible, which I've never been able to say when using any other product. I even like the Face Warmth...when I don't apply too much on my pale skin. It really gives my skin a healthy look, like I've been out in the sun for a bit.

Recommendation: Highly recommended!

You can purchase the Bare Escentuals BareMinerals Mineral Makeup Starter Kit or individual Bare Escentuals BareMinerals mineral makeup products at the following sites:

Skinstore.com - bareMinerals Get Started Kit ($60)
Ulta.com - bareMinerals Customizable 8-pc. Get Started Kit ($62)

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