First Time Trying Bare Minerals ...

I’ve heard about Bare Minerals for a while now, I know they have been around for a long time but for some reason even though it seemed like a great product, I just never really thought that a powder would ever be able to give as good coverage as they claimed in their commercials. It’s one of those brands that you see on the shopping channel and you just wonder whether it’s genuine or just really well staged trying to sucker you in to pick up that phone and make an order. Also, the fact that it was bloody expensive totally put me off taking a chance on it and trying it out. I recently saw their 8 piece beauty upgrade box on sale in TK Maxx and decided I had to snap it up, and here are my first impressions …

In the set you get the following products –

Primer

Flawless face Brush

Max coverage Concealer brush

Bare Minerals original powder foundation

Powder concealer

Mineral Veil finishing powder

Pop of Passion lip stick in shade ‘Blushing Passion’

Lash domination mascara

I bought this set in the shade ‘Light’ as I am quite fair, when I first started applying the product I really didn’t think it was going to cover much at all, I am so used to using liquid and cream foundations that I just didn’t know how much product to use. I could see though that even after the first layer the redness in my skin had been visibly reduced and even some of my blemishes were looking better than they do under my usual foundation. I kept layering it though because I really didn’t feel like I was picking up much product, I later realised I had used way tooo much! The pots are designed for you to only be able to pour out a bit of product at a time so it really didn’t feel like I was getting much product on to the brush, but after about 10 mins when I stepped back and took a proper look at my face, I think it had oxidised a bit or maybe reacted with the oils in my skin too but it had got loads darker. I will say the coverage is great, I was actually shocked I just don’t get how it works so well, but it does. And my skin looked a lot more radiant as well which was lovely.

The concealer was great as well, again a little product goes a long way! I used way too much the first time I tried it as I didn’t know how well it covers so I ended up looking a bit pink under my eyes. It went a bit cakey and I think there was just so much pigment on my skin it was reflecting the light so much it gave me a strange pinky shimmer. The next time I tried it I used a lot less product and it was fine. The coverage is amazing and it reduced the darkness under my eyes very well. I was so surprised at how well it worked and love the fact I don’t have to think about colour correctors etc. I love a full face of makeup, I love a really polished glam look so I must say I will probably still use my other products, but on days when I literally just want to look healthy but not bothered about being glam (which is most of the time) I will definitely use this as it takes almost no effort at all and you get a really lovely healthy glow.

I should also mention that the primer was quite nice too, it didn’t smell great, but it felt hydrating and there was a nice sheen to it and it felt really nice on the skin.

The brushes were ok, the face brush I thought was a bit rough I actually expected to feel a lot better quality than it was which was disappointing. It was so rough it felt like it was scraping the product away when I was applying it, obviously the coverage turned out good so the brush works fine I guess but I really didn’t like how it felt against my skin. The concealer brush was a lot softer though, and felt like it was a lot better quality and applied the product really smoothly. I will use my own brushes with this product in future though.

The lip stick is LOVELY. I love the shade, it’s just a very subtle but gorgeous pinky shade. It felt kind of creamy/ balmy, it’s not very long lasting but felt really nice and moisturising which I loved.

The ‘Lash Domination’ mascara was a bit weird. The wand was nice it was quite small so you get more precise application and good coverage along all your lashes. My lashes looked a bit longer and thicker, but this mascara did not lift my lashes at all so I would recommend maybe curling your lashes first. It dries really hard, like rock hard, and I noticed my lashes kind of flattened more during the day (I don’t wear false lashes, so my natural lashes got weighed down by the product) it almost looked like they were facing downward by the end of the day, this has never happened with any other mascara I’ve worn so I’m not a fan of the mascara as it gave me sad eyes.

Overall the powders are amazing. I can’t believe powder works as well as it does, it reduced redness so well and the concealer worked really well under my eyes. It felt light weight and almost like I had nothing on my face, I just looked like I had a really natural healthy complexion. I also love that you really don’t need to use much product at all, this stuff really is magic! I will definitely be using it again.