BeautySolved

All right already, now that the ground work has been set, it’s time to dish the dirt (no pun intended) on what minerals make the grade.  Let’s start with the big daddy, I.D. Bare Escentuals.  Just to clarify in case there are any questions out there, Bare Escentuals is the corporate name that makes the product named Bare Minerals.

PRO’s:

Bare Minerals has now been around for about 33 years, so when looking for the originator of this type of make up it’s safe to say that they may be it.  This is good to know if you go by the belief that the original is often times best.

Only 5 ingredients in the foundation; Bismuth, Iron Oxides, Zinc Oxides, Mica & Titanium Dioxides.  No filler or binder in this foundation!  This is important for anyone battling the pore wars or concerned about what goes on their skin.

All the minerals are naturally occurring, mined for minerals.  Again, if your primary motivation for mineral foundation is to get back to nature and stop using so many chemicals, then you have come to the right place.

Full range of colors and product to choose from.  With all the brushes and color and kits, Bare minerals could become your new hobby and it so much more fun that scrap-booking.

Red/pink discoloration.  Bare, like many minerals, excels in covering red tones in the skin.

Soft, smooth, not wearing anything look.  If you already have decent texture to your skin, then Bare will glide almost effortlessly to add a smoothed and refined glow to your skin.

Accessible.  I personally do not understand how someone can order foundation off of the TV, but people do.  The nearing global domination of Bare Minerals has made it readily accessible through a handful of shopping choices.  Sephora, Ulta and Bare Boutiques offer color matching and instruction.  Target offers the basic get started kits, but no testers and the price is the same as it would be at a Sephora, Ulta or Bare Boutique.  HSN has blocks of time dedicated to exclusive sets and discounts.  The websites of any of the aforementioned retailers and  of course, the 2 am infomercial is still going strong.

CON’s

Loose.  The number one complaint I hear about Bare is that it is loose and the sifter in the container is too big.  While this is an annoying issue there is a trick to stopping the tsunami of mineral from flowing all over your counter.  When you start a new foundation it comes with a little white sticker covering the sifter.  Don’t peel it off.  Leave it on and poke some holes in it.

Brown Based discoloration.  This is usually where the foundation does not live up to some peoples expectations.  Depending on the darkness of the discoloration, most times it is difficult to achieve full coverage of brown spots.  Often a compromise of toning them down is reached.

Matching for women of color.  Recently Bare expanded their foundation range and added some much needed deeper tones.  While there is still room for about three more colors in this range to be developed, if you had a hard time finding a match before you may  want to try again.  Chances are better now that you’ll be able to find a match.  With that said, if you are having someone color match you and you are in a shade of medium tan or deeper, they need to be using a more fanned out brush, i.e. light stroke brush or an eye shadow brush.  Reason being the maximum coverage concealer (which is typically used for color matching) brush will apply too much color, allow the Mica to reflect too intensely again the deeper skin tone.  This will result in a “muddy, ashy” look to the foundation.

Full Coverage.  You can achieve a full coverage with Bare, just like you can chop down a Redwood with a handsaw.  The handsaw will do the job, it’ll just take you a while.  If you are a “full” coverage, like to see a “makeup” kinda girl, I would advise against Bare Minerals for you.  It’s meant to look natural, not like make up.

Bare Minerals has a lot of pluses, this is where knowing why you wanted to start wearing mineral foundation will come in handy.  There is a lot it can do, but a lot it can’t.  Just clearly define your expectations before you try it out.

Absolute Musts…

I strongly recommend a primer before applying the Bare Minerals foundation.  You’ll use less and it will smooth out some less than perfect skin texture.

Buff the mineral in the lid for a full 60 seconds.  This heats up the mineral and grinds it down.  The mineral will enjoy the heat, which will help bond it with the heat in you skin.  For those of you who do not think that it lasts all day, try it that way.

I absolutely love the Rare Minerals Blemish treatment and Nighttime treatment.  I’m a bit of a skin snob, and these two really exceeded my expectations.  Also try the Buxom full color lip colors, they really stay put with out drying and they are super minty.

Any experiences or questions on Bare Minerals are welcomed!  If you have a mineral line you want me to check out please post a comment and I will do my best.

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