Not quite an "escentual" for me!
Written: Nov 18 '04 (Updated Nov 18 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: eliminates shine, moderately priced, no chemicals..
Cons: didn't provide promised coverage, messy, went on blotchy... etc.
The Bottom Line: Although it may suit some people's skin, it looked blotchy and didn't provide promised coverage!
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| leafsbabe01's Full Review: Bare Escentuals bareMinerals SPF 15 Foundation |
Let me start by saying, I do love Bare Escentual's products overall.
I am an absolute addict of their glimmer eye shadows.
After receiving a 5 sample pack of the glimmer's, I headed back over to ebay to look for both the foundation and Warmth all over face color.
I suppose the reason that I was looking to try out the foundation (besides my addiction to the glimmers) was my current skin condition.
I have very sensitive skin. In general, I can't even wear silver rings or earrings... it's gold/platinum or nothing. It's causes my skin to become irritated, flaky and then a rash develops.
My face is no exception to the sensitivity, however May through September it remains in pretty good condition with a daily moisturizer.... but once late fall/winter sets in all bets are off.
Recently the skin around my nose, lips and eyes has been peeling, leaving it red, itchy and overall uncomfortable. Putting traditional liquid make-up on over that with tons of chemicals obviously just worsens the situation.
When I ran out of my Maybelline Dream Mousse Foundation (which is the only foundation I've found to date that doesn't irritate my skin this time of year) I figured I'd try out bareMinerals SPF 15 Foundation. I mean why not right? My motivation was obvious. A foundation which contains NO chemicals. Don't we all get tired of pouring chemicals on our faces daily anyways?
The CLAIM
Keep looking fabulous! Made of pure crushed minerals, Bare Escentuals Powder Foundation with SPF 15 is free of the additives, binders, preservatives, and fragrances which can irritate skin. Use as a concealer or an allover foundation for a flawless finish.
It started the pure minerals revolution Our unique foundation is made of 100% pure micronized minerals. It is free of additives that can irritate sensitive skin. Coverage is flawless, even on problem skin. Your skin looks naturally luminous as soft, creamy bareMinerals® create a beautiful play of light on your face... its featherweight property means you don’t feel it... and it’s so sheer, you don’t look made up at all.
Sounded just like the infomercials I had seen oh so many times!
I was skeptical however, as I have acne scarring from my teens and occasional blemishes. I've always needed a heavy foundation. But the product claims to cover up anything from acne to rosacea. I had nothing to lose, so I choose my foundation in #2 (Light) and hit ebay's buy it now button without hesitation.
The PACKAGING
Bare Escentual's SPF 15 Foundation comes in a round clear jar that allows you to see the foundation. My jar contained .3 oz of foundation. Although that doesn't seem like much, there is a lot in the container and you only need a tiny bit out of the lid of the jar to cover the face.
Once you twist the top off of the jar, and remove the plastic covering you will see that the powder foundation is protected by a sifter. This of course is a must. There's nothing worse than a powder/powder foundation that is just sitting open, begging to be spilled.
Although the sifter does help, the powder still gets everywhere. The bathroom counter, my clothes, etc... and can be hard to remove.
The SHADES
BareMinerals offers shades to suit anything from very light to very dark skin.
The shade's are arranged from numbers including:
#1.0
(Fair)
#1.2
(Fairly Light)
#2
(Light)
#2.3
(Medium Beige)
#3
(Medium)
#4.53
(Tan)
#5.2
(Medium Tan)
#5
(Dark)
#8
(Deep)
PRICING & AVAILABILITY
A .3 oz (9 gram) jar of bareMinerals SPF Foundation retails for $25.00. It can be purchased on qvc (the home shopping network site) or through infomercials and you can also to subscribe to bareMinerals club and receive products automatically every 60 days at www.bareminerals.com.
Both qvc and the bareMinerals club offer a refund if you happen to not like their products. It's just a matter of whether you'd be in the club or not. I personally have always hated that, I've always had a hard time trying to opt out of such clubs with customer service.
I either purchase my bareMinerals products on qvc or ebay. If you're not sure what shade you are, I'd recommend ebay. There are some samples available for $3-5 you can purchase to decide both whether it's the correct shade and whether or not you like the product.
The INGREDIENTS
Bismuth Oxychloride, Mica, Iron Oxide
may contain: Titanium Dioxide
The APPLICATION
This is where it gets tricky. If you've ever seen the Bare Esentual's infomercials you know they constantly repeat the "swirl, tap, and buff" for application instructions.
What does this mean?
Well . . .
After playing with it a while and listening to the demonstrations... I did the following:
1. Put a small amount of foundation powder in the cap of the jar
2. Thoroughly swirl the brush in the powder (at an angle), allowing all of the foundation to get worked into the brush.
3. Tap the handle of the brush to remove any excess foundation.
Then start swirling. After trying different techniques I found the best to be swirling it in small circular motions until the entire face is covered. You have to be careful to not over do it, as it can cake pretty easily. They suggest that you can go over any other problem areas that need more coverage.
If you are purchasing through their club, you receive 3 brushes with your first order. If you're ordering the foundation elsewhere, I suggest you look for deals on ebay or qvc that also include a brush. Otherwise have a high quality brush on hand, as it does really make a huge difference.
OVERALL
I spent about a week figuring out the above mentioned is the best technique, as I really wanted to love this product. However, I found the foundation to look mediocre at best on me.
No matter how many times I tried, it looked blotchy. I exfoliated as well as moisturized prior to application, making sure my skin was soft. And also took the time to make sure I had the technique down right... it looked a little "less" blotchy. But that didn't really ease my mind much.
I even joined a message board at beaddicts.com (for addicts who have mastered application for all their products) hoping I was just doing something wrong. Some people say they mix it with water or a moisturizer to make it a little "liquid". Although I did try this, in the end... the product just didn't work for me.
After reading up online and talking to people who have also used it, it seems about half the people swear by this foundation and the other half would never touch it again.
I will say that bareMinerals SPF foundation does a great job of eliminating shine, as well as feel really great and weightless on... and since I did spend about $23 on it... I've been using it as a powder over my regular foundation. When I run out I will replace it with their Mineral veil which does work very well.
Although I am returning to my Maybelline foundation, I do love every other Bare Escentual product I have tried, including the Warmth (all over face bronzer) that I bought at the same time.
In closing, although bareMinerals claims their product works for all skin types... if you have dry skin, I wouldn't recommend this foundation. That's probably the main reason it didn't work for me. I have combination skin, but in the winter... it changes to just overall dry. My Maybelline foundation is moussy in texture and really seems add moisture as well as the coverage I expect, which helps out greatly during the winter months.
Most people I do know who loved this product have found that this product absorbs oil very well. If you do have oily skin this product may just work for you.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
leafsbabe01
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Member: Christin
Location: Des Moines, IA
Reviews written: 97
Trusted by: 67 members
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