Hi everybody, I hope you’re all well! Today I am going to be reviewing bareMineral’s brand new foundation, which I mentioned in this haul. It is their first ever liquid foundation, made with the same philosophy as the rest of their line to ’provide women with good-for-you alternatives to foundation’. It has been made with ‘bare minimum’ ingredients and provides a brighter, youthful finish whilst still providing a natural look and feel. Sounds almost too good to be true right?!
This will be one of my longer reviews as I feel like a lot of people want detail and in-depth info. I also think a lot of people who get the sample bottle (which is adorable btw) may not use it properly and so do not experience the beauty of this unique base product. Take the time to read about how to use this and then apply it properly and I’m certain you’ll notice its beauty!
So first things first, the best way to describe the bareMinerals bareSkin foundation (£22 from this link only) is as a tone correcting mineral foundation and skincare serum in one. According to the BareMinerals website ‘100% of women experienced more even-toned skin immediately after application’ which I do agree with, and also 95% said they found ‘measurable improvement in the appearance of dark spots’ after using this for 8 weeks.
What bareMinerals Say
I did have a little look at what bareMinerals have to say about this, and I’m going to try and round it up into one paragraph. This is a ‘tone correcting mineral foundation’ and ‘skincare serum’ in one. Non-Chemical, formulated without silicone, fragrance, water, and oil. It is super-charged with lilac stem cells, which I had no clue about either till I read on the Sephora website: ‘Lilac plant stem cells are recognized for their exceptional healing abilities and are known to provide powerful antioxidant protection. BareMinerals extracts these cells, fortifies them with their unique mineral complex, and infuses them into their formula to improve the appearance of skin and help defend against environmental stressors.’ Now that to me sounds like a whole lot of fancy mojo, and we shall see if it does make a difference to the skin, which in all honestly is hard to tell when sticking to a skincare regime anyways because is it the foundation or the skincare?? It contains SPF 20 wonderful as it means I can skip the SPF in my routine! It contains vitamin C which helps to give that brightening effect and for me personally, the best part is that this is paraben free.
The Packaging
It’s a plastic cylinder, opaque bottle with a black lid. Not luxurious and actually not very functional. You literally have no idea how much product is left, which I know will be frustrating when I do get near the end because I actually adore this foundation and when it runs out and I’m not prepared I shan’t be pleased -_- Another slight disappointment is how messy the inside of the lid gets, very much like my former favourite MAC F&B, but not a biggie.
The foundation comes out of something that is similar to a pipette, but on a larger scale. When watching demos before buying this, I was surprised to see them squeezing the bottle, I don’t ever have to squeeze it. After giving the whole bottle a thorough shake I pretty much shake out three drops on the back of my hand and they come out without a problem!
The Application and Consistency
This foundation/serum has been described as ultra-thin, and I would 100% agree with this. It is the silkiest, most liquidish base I’ve ever tried. Now the idea with this foundation is to build up drops, if you want more coverage you add more drops. They recommend starting with two drops and adding two more for medium and two more for full. I, however always drop 3 onto the back of my hand, and I find this gives me perfect medium coverage. Using my middle finger I dot the liquid foundation all around my face, and then taking the Real Techniques Expert Face Brush I spread the foundation downwards, and then buff it in anywhere it looks uneven or streaky. I did try my fingers, but found that the liquid was too thin to achieve a flawless finish, so the density of the Expert face brush’s bristles are perfect for applying this! I’d also like to mention that drops go a long way! When I read about the product I thought it was bizarre that only a few drops could get a decent coverage, but I would recommend starting off with less and adding more where you need it, whilst being sure to blend it in properly.
SHAKE SHAKE, SHAKE SHAKE, SHAAA SHAKE IT!
if you do NOT shake this, it doesn’t matter what your skin looks like before applying this, when you do put it on your face you’ll find a blotchy nightmare. Why shake it? because the reduction in ingredients means this foundation doesn’t have a binder in it, so you gotta shake it all up to merge the foundation together so it can actually work how it’s supposed to on your skin. Shaking this stuff is so important that they’ve even illustrated it on the bottle for you in case you forget! I think the main reason why the bareMinerals counters are providing samples in adorable mini size is because it is SO important to shake it up, so don’t expect nice results if you don’t follow the instructions.
The Finish
Due to it being such a light-weight liquid consistency, I cannot feel it on my skin at all when it has set. That is a pretty amazing feat because normally when you apply anything all over your face, you can kinda feel it there! This is without a doubt a dewy finish, and I would very much agree with the instant brightening claim. I was blown away by how well this evened out my skin tone and gave me the most radiant glow. It blended seamlessly into my skin, and allowed beauty marks to show through.
Now as for the buildable coverage part, I did have some trouble. The reason being is, I started with my 3 drops and then wanted to try and add more coverage over the cheeks area. However when applying more product onto of the first layer, I found that no matter how I used my brush, it seemed to disturb the under layer and simply make more of a mess. It also started to look slightly cakey on the dry skin around my nose, so honestly I would say if you want more coverage you have to be prepared to add little by little, work in sections and allow layers to set. If you ask me that is WAY too much effort to get a fuller coverage, I would rather apply three drops, see my skin even out and brighten like no tomorrow, and then go in with a concealer on blemishes and excessive redness. That is the way to achieve a flawless look from any base product, especially one with such a light and liquid feel to it.
Now as for the buildable coverage part, I did have some trouble. The reason being is, I started with my 3 drops and then wanted to try and add more coverage over the cheeks area. However when applying more product onto of the first layer, I found that no matter how I used my brush, it seemed to disturb the under layer and simply make more of a mess. It also started to look slightly cakey on the dry skin around my nose, so honestly I would say if you want more coverage you have to be prepared to add little by little, work in sections and allow layers to set. If you ask me that is WAY too much effort to get a fuller coverage, I would rather apply three drops, see my skin even out and brighten like no tomorrow, and then go in with a concealer on blemishes and excessive redness. That is the way to achieve a flawless look from any base product, especially one with such a light and liquid feel to it.
P.S again my swatch on the far right is not doing it justice at all, but you can see that it's evened up my hand haha, added brightness etc; You can see it much clearer on my instagram and there will also be a quick application video ^_^
Lasting Power
The only problem with the super dewy finish is I did have to set it in the places my face gets the most hot. Mainly my nose and around my mouth. Using a touch of the Bourjois Healthy Balance powder this kept it in place for a whole 11 hours. WITHOUT primer and powder it lasted on my skin for 8 hours, and with P&P it looks decent after 12 hours. Now I will say that if you live in a very hot country, are super oily or get hot very easily this foundation will not be your best friend. The weather here in the UK has been so bizarre, and I have found getting dressed to match the weather quite a challenge! Unfortunately the day I decide to wear my gorgeous green thick slouchy-yet-chic sweater from H&M, I’m in a lecture hall which has no AC and over 50 people. The result? (bearing in mind this was 10 hours AFTER application, but with powder) half the foundation had migrated, and I was left with very pink cheeks, the redness around my nose showing and my dark circles pretty much exposed, due to poor setting. It stayed on my forehead and chin, but simply could not handle the heat after that amount of time. Note to self: this is NOT the base to pick when you know you’ve got a very long and challenging day ahead.
Did it meet my expectations?
YES. I wanted a light/medium base that was similar to and could subsequently replace my MAC F&B as I am now boycotting MAC cosmetics. BareSkin provides me with medium coverage, a dewy finish which I can set and change to satin, it brightens up my skin, looks absolutely radiant and best of all blends so seamlessly that it could really look like bare skin! Whilst F&B lasted longer without the need for primer/powder, it did leave a slightly tacky feeling on the skin and was thicker in consistency. It also did NOT include SPF.
The ease of blending this in flawlessly as-well as the SPF, vitamin C and plant extracts make it a whole lot better for my skin than F&B! I will admit that I have relatively blemish free skin, and I don’t know if this would do a good enough job in covering up acne scars and breakouts. So if you look for medium-full coverage, I would probably avoid this because it would take a lot lot lot of effort to build this up to 100% coverage and you’re better off purchasing an actual foundation which is supposed to be thicker coverage.
The ease of blending this in flawlessly as-well as the SPF, vitamin C and plant extracts make it a whole lot better for my skin than F&B! I will admit that I have relatively blemish free skin, and I don’t know if this would do a good enough job in covering up acne scars and breakouts. So if you look for medium-full coverage, I would probably avoid this because it would take a lot lot lot of effort to build this up to 100% coverage and you’re better off purchasing an actual foundation which is supposed to be thicker coverage.
You can purchase it for only £22 from here (normally £26) which is an amazing price for 30ml of this, considering the lack of harmful ingredients and the beautiful finish you are left with. Also remember a little does go a long way, so it's a better idea to buy a mid-range base like this and use less, then to buy a highstreet foundation and use more. (Not to mention that you'd never get this sort of finish from a drugstore foundation, believe me I've tried!)
This to me is a lovely daily base and I think that bareMinerals have done a great job. I don’t know how they got a foundation/serum with such a small amount of ingredients to be able to correct my skin tone, blur imperfections and yet still look incredibly natural and effortless! It really is like nothing I have tried before. I just wish it would work better with dry patches :c
Final Verdict:
Rating: 6
Pros: light consistency, a little goes a long way, blends seamlessly, gives a natural yet flawless look, is brightening, contains no parabens, silicone, fragrance, water or oil, is MINERAL!, blurs out uneven skin tone with no effort at all, is a better substitute to the MAC F&B in many ways, comes in a range of shades, contains vitamins and plant extracts, in general just makes your skin look evened out and glowing with radiance, it provides medium coverage if you are looking for a base that will even out skin tone and boost complexion this is the one!
Cons: packaging isn’t very functional, you cannot see how much product is left, the lid gets messy very easily, I took 1 off for the lasting power, which you can extend with primer and powder as I have mentioned, but I would have loved it if I didn’t need to take those extra steps, from my experience you cannot get FULL coverage. It makes dry patches look even more terrible, which is a shame seeing as it's so runny I would have expected it to glide over them, but it can look a right state around my nose.
Repurchase? *updated* No. Since this was one of my first higher end bases I saw the difference between drugstore, both in quality and how accurately it matched my skintone. However since then I have tried many bases and can compare them to this, which I have been using for over a week. So in comparison, this base doesn't really set and I can feel it on my skin which is irritating - maybe I've become a bit of a snob after trying the likes of MUFE and Dior??? Either way I wouldn't recommend this for everyone and its one of those bases that starts off as an exciting new love and ends with later when you realise that actually compromising on the longevity and how it feels on the skin isn't really worth the pros!
EDIT: 17/4/15 So its been a couple of months since I purchased and reviewed this, I have to say I've noticed it doesn't fare very well in the heat so I had to knock off a point for that. Gotta make sure that I apply powder properly in order for it to last, not too bad but worth noting!
EDIT: 17/4/15 So its been a couple of months since I purchased and reviewed this, I have to say I've noticed it doesn't fare very well in the heat so I had to knock off a point for that. Gotta make sure that I apply powder properly in order for it to last, not too bad but worth noting!
Have you tried this yet? What are your thoughts?
Thanks for reading!
