Review: Bare Minerals Bare Skin Foundation

bare-minerals-bare-skin-serum-foundation-spring-2014

bare-minerals

I was on a holiday in North America last month when I first saw the new Bare Minerals foundation on a TV commercial. For someone who used to swear by the original Bare Minerals powder foundation and used it religiously every single day for 3 years straight, I literally fell off my chair. A new foundation from Bare Minerals AND in ‘liquid’ form? AND promising more benefits to your skin? How could I possibly pass this one up!

A week later when I went to New York I made it my mission to pick this baby up at Sephora. Now let me tell you all about it.

So the full name of this foundation is “bareMinerals bare skin Pure Brightening Serum Foundation Broad Spectrum SPF 20”It is;

  1. Clinically proven tone-correcting mineral foundation and brightening serum.
  2. Has skin perfecting quality to deliver a noticeably brighter, more youthful appearance.
  3. Formulated without oil, silicone, parabens or fragrance.
  4. Protect your skin from both UVA and UVB with SPF 20

The consistency of this foundation is quite watery, very similar to the Chanel vitalumiere aqua and it’s also the same in the sense that you have to shake the bottle pretty well before you use it. The  instruction suggests that you use one or two drops but I find that to be way too little and I end up using about 4 drops to do my entire face. The finish of this foundation is beautiful and very very similar to the Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation. I would say it’s a medium coverage (but definitely buildable) and a bit more on the matte side but it still allows the right amount of dewiness and glow to come through. This foundation also has an incredible lasting power and by the end of the day your skin still looks fresh without that extra shine or greasiness. I think this foundation would suit everyone, from oily skin to dry skin.

It’s also suggested that you use this foundation with the bareMinerals Perfecting Face Brush, which I also purchased. The brush has an indentation in the middle and I guess it’s supposed to be like a little pot that you can pour your foundation in. But I didn’t really get on well at all with the brush and I find it to be too dense and not that flexible. I also find that I can’t really do a circular buffing motion really well with this brush as it’s just too stiff and the indentation in the middle is a bit pointless. I also feel like because the brush is so dense, your foundation tends to disappear inside the brush and I ended up having to use much more products that necessary. So in hindsight I shouldn’t have purchased this brush at all as it’s just a completely waste of money. I now use this foundation with either the Real Technique Expert Face brush or the Sigma F80 Flat Top Kabuki brush and these two brushes help me achieve a really beautiful and flawless finish.

I also want to mention quickly that quite a number of people say they have an issue with the packaging and find it hard to get the foundation out of the bottle the first time they use it. But personally I have not experienced that problem. I am able to pour out the foundation from the bottle just fine and have been using it everyday without any issues.

So all in all I would say this foundation is definitely worth looking into if you have oily, acne prone, problematic skin and want to use a foundation that gives you coverage but at the same time will benefit and heal your skin in the long run. Having said that this foundation is also great for people with normal skin too because it’s nice to have a foundation with friendly ingredients that you know is not going to harm your skin and you can wear it on days that you might want to give your skin a little break.

Will you be trying out this foundation?