bareMinerals
February 8, 2006 by Christina Jones
Filed under Cosmetics, Product Reviews, Skin Care
The fabulous UPS man brought my bareMinerals on Friday, 4 days early. Kudos to Sephora for their quick shipping! Even though I had read everything I could get my hands on about bareMinerals (on their website and on Sephora), and had watched the infomercial a thousand times, I sat down with the DVD and watched it through. There was not much in the way of new information on it, but I particularly enjoyed the last segments where the three women who were being used to show colors and applications finished off their makeup with other bareMinerals color cosmetics.
I ordered the Medium kit, and the color was just perfect for me. My skin is a medium-light cool tone. If you are a very fair redhead or natural light blonde, you would probably want the Light kit, but anything darker than those should probably try the medium. There are 2 foundation colors in the kit, one was perfect for me, and the other was a bit warm for me (yellow), but as far as trying to cover all medium skin tones, you should find the right one in that kit. The kit also comes with three brushes – one is a medium coverage brush, one is a full coverage brush, and one is a detail brush, used for covering blemishes and small areas like around the nose and under the eyes. The application was much less messy than I imagined it would be, the brushes are shaped to pick up the minerals out of the cap of the jars, and they really did a good job with no waste. You could use another brush to apply the bareMinerals with, but I think you would get some serious product waste if you weren’t very careful.
The coverage is surprisingly good, and really does last all day.
Gail told me in the comments of an earlier post that if I wasn’t pleased with the look at first, to come back in an hour or two and I would like it better, and even though I liked it just fine from the start, it does look even better after it has been on your skin for a little while. One of the things I learned from the DVD is that you are to use as many applications on as you need to get the coverage you want. I use about three applications with the full coverage brush, and it is perfect – it is not “masky” at all, and there is NO line of demarcation between where the foundation ends and your skin begins. Good stuff!.
The kit also comes with a product called All Over Face Color in Warmth. This is similar to a bronzer, but is more of a contour type of product than a classic “bronzer.” You use just the teensiest amount of it, it should last forever.
The final step is the Mineral Veil (also in the kit). This is a colorless powder that you apply as a final step, and gives your face a little “life,” rather than a powdery, matte finish. There is a shimmery quality to the Mineral Veil, but you would never look at it and say “shimmer.” I really think this product makes a big (although very subtle) difference in the look of your finished makeup.
The kit also comes with a product called Skin Rev-er Upper, which is a primer as far as I can tell. I really don’t have an opinion on it yet, I will give an update on this in a couple of weeks, as well as an update on how bareMinerals is affecting my skin.
There are a few other products that I would like to try next from bareMinerals, but I will talk about those in a seperate post, this one is plenty long enough. 
I’m so happy you finally got to try it and like it. I also use medium shade foundation and it’s perfect. I got the medium beige to try from my mom, and it’s a lil too orangy for me. But it’s not awful, and I use it in the summer sometimes. Really, the different shades are quite forgiving. You can also mix them in your own unique combos.
Sometimes when I don’t feel like putting make up on, but have to run to the store and don’t want to scare anyone (lol), I’ll rub my foundation brush over my face (without dipping it in minerals) applying just the residual powder that’s built up in the brush, and that’s enough to cover blotchiness and even out my skin tone.
For me, the mineral veil does wonders to minimize the size of enlarged pores.
I haven’t tried the rever-upper, so I look forward to your always honest opinion about it in the near future.
Gail
Thanks for the thoughts Gail – sounds like our skin tones are pretty similar!
This was yet another post I had to rewrite after losing it when I tried to publish it (grr again), but in my original post I said that I was going to probably order the light color, just because I do like two to play with. Have you tried anything other than those two colors?
No, I haven’t tried any others. My oldest sister uses the the light shade and I think it’s a lil too white on her, but she is very fair with white hair. I’m darker than her. I can’t afford to buy it to play with and of course “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Lol-the medium is perfect for me.
LOL Touche. I can’t afford it either.
But it does seem like it will last forever, making it a better deal – have you found that to be the case? How you you think it compares with the other foundations you have used?
Yes Bare Minerals is cost effective. It lasts so long because you use so little, and it doesn’t dry up or go bad. It is spillable though, so be careful! I had to replenish my foundation once, and I’m being very stingy with my mineral veil and bisque cuz they’re getting low. But the Glee I use as blush will literally last me forever.
You should get free samples for being a beauty blogger! Do you? At least a discount. You give a lot of products very good free advertising, and I feel I can trust your opinions.
Have a great weekend,
Gail
Oh you use Glee…that is on my try list. I think we need to get together and play makeup sometime, Gail. LOL
I do get some samples on occasion but never have in the cosmetics department. Maybe someday!
Hi! All the products in the ‘Medium Kit’ you used sounds exactly like what I was looking for but the link above doesn’t seem to be working and I can’t find this kit on their site. Can you please redirect me? I’d really appreciate it. Thanks in advance!
Hi Kat – they have repackaged things and changed the links – I hunted them down and changed things accordingly in my post. Thanks for pointing that out – and I do hope you like bareMinerals as much as I do!! Please come back and let us know what you think, ok?