Bare Minerals (One Enormous Review!)

Hey lovelies! I hope all of you had a fantastic labor day weekend. I am here today to review a product brand that I'm sure all of you have heard of before, and that is the product line by Bare Minerals. Before I begin the review I would like you all to know that I have used this product for a good five years consistently up until this recent year when I began to branch out with other types of foundation. Being a consumer of this product for this amount of time I really consider myself quite a bare minerals expert :P and I have a lot to say about this product line. That being said, let's begin the review!

The Bare Minerals Prime Time is their foundation primer and I stand by this product 100%. To this day, this is my favorite foundation primer; so much so that I pretty much have no desire to try anything else out there, which truly means something when you are a self-described product junkie! They make an oil-control version as well which I have never tried, having combination/dry skin myself, but my good friend who has oily/acne prone skin loves the oil-control version. With this product, a little goes a long way, one pump is all you need. I focus the product on my t-zone then bring the remaining product over my cheeks and my foundation lasts all day! The texture is extremely smooth and light. It prevents excess oil but does not irritate or dry out my skin and unlike other primers I have tried, this has never caused breakouts.

 

 The Prime Time Eyeshadow Primer is as equally magnificent as the foundation primer. I swear by this primer and again, feel no urge to try anything else. I even prefer this over the makeup world's occult fave, Urban Decay Primer Potion. *Gasp* This product is super creamy, soft, blend-able, and easy to apply. This primer will prevent creasing even under the most extreme conditions! The light tint of the primer itself works wonders at creating a flawless canvas to work on, covering all imperfections visible on the eyelid, (i.e redness, veins, etc.). As someone with an extremely sensitive eye area I can also tell you this product is very gentle on the eye area and while it keeps your shadows in place all day, it doesn't create a war zone on your eye area when trying to remove your makeup at night. My final note on this product would be to apply this with your fingertips instead of the applicator since the warmth of your fingers will making smoothing out the product easier and more gentle on your eye area.

 The gem of the Bare Minerals line is their mineral foundation. This is what made the company a mega-star. I prefer the original formula. This foundation will give you light to medium coverage without looking cakey and powdery. I prefer to apply this product using a fluffy kabuki brush for the maximum amount of coverage. I truly feel like the original formula gives more coverage than the matte formula and I find that when I attempt to achieve more coverage with the matte formula it can look quite cakey and dry on my skin. One thing I did like about the matte version over the original was the fact that it didn't contain the ingredient that gives your skin a "glowing" effect, which the original formula does contain. This ingredient has been known to make some people feel itchy and I did experience this whenever I got hot or my face started getting a little sweaty. However, I really dislike the feeling and look of the matte version on my skin. My combination skin looked dry and flakey which is definitely not attractive! I think the matte version is a fantastic choice for girls with oily skin, however, since my oily/acne prone skinned friend loves it. For me, I will stick with the original formula when I decide to go back to using Bare Minerals, but for now I'm enjoying my affair with tinted moisturizers :P

 The final Bare Minerals product that I would like to mention in my review is the Mineral Veil, the most epic of all finishing powders! This product is a must-have in my makeup bag as well as my kit. This powder mattifys the face without making the skin look cakey or making it feel heavily covered by makeup. This product is light and settles right into the skin giving it a beautiful, natural finish. I use this product over any liquid foundation, including tinted moisturizers if they need some extra staying power. They also make a hydrating mineral veil that is superb for mature/dry skin.


One final thing I would like to mention about all the brand's mineral products is that the powders do NOT settle into fine lines which makes Bare Minerals ideal for all ages. Overall I adore this brand and give their entire product line a 4.5 out of 5. That half a point taken away purely for my personal dislike of the matte formula and that slight itching I get in the heat with the original formula.