Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Review - Bare Minerals Matte foundation

A while back, Sephora was giving away free Bare Minerals minis (packaged with a mini Mineral Veil and an extremely tiny kabuki brush). The sales assistant picked out Light matte as my best match.

Recently, as part of Project Use It, I've opened and started using these samples. I figured it would be a great opportunity to test out the "original" mineral foundation and see how it held up against my indie favorites.

I would love to be able to review it with my standard rubric, but I just can't. First of all, Light is too dark for me. I have been trying to make it work, with limited success. I have mixed it with the Mineral Veil. I have mixed it with silica powder. I have mixed it with highlighters. I have applied it over a sunblock that turns me pasty white. No matter what I do, it's still too dark. Today, the only reason it looks ok from afar is that I put on a bunch of a powder highlighter on top. Close-up, the caked-on powder is pretty evident.

This means that I can't review it against the other foundations because I'd be reviewing my own formula instead of Bare Minerals'.

Texture-wise, it feels like any standard mineral powder. I have a harder time than usual applying this evenly, and I can't figure out why. My kabuki brush just isn't transporting the powder well. The color mismatch makes it even more obvious. Also, it seems to take an enormous amount of product to get proper coverage. Again, the product being too dark highlights just how hard it is to get it to cover my face.

I'm disappointed. If anyone wants to send me samples of either Fairly Light or Golden Fair, so I can better judge the product's performance, let me know. An eighth teaspoon would be enough.

As for the mineral veil - its primary ingredient is cornstarch. Do you know how cheap cornstarch is? You probably have some in your kitchen. Save yourself some money and tint a jarful with a bit of your foundation.

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