well, this is the first time that I’ve used mineral makeup (asides from face powders that is). I was lucky enough to win this kit from Douglas Romania, who were so kind and they sent me the package within a week of winning it, so I had the opportunity to play around with it and to get an idea of mineral makeup (this is is still no sponsored post, as I have no obligation to review the kit on my blog but I thought it was interesting).

bareMinerals is a brand founded in 1995 by Leslie Blodgett and it was available only in the US at QVC. It all started with the foundation and now there are more mineral makeup products available and the brand is own by Shiseido if I’m not mistaken. However, they only recently began the be available in Romania in Douglas stores. Of course, we could still shop for bareMinerals products in several online shops.

Packaging:

The kit comes in a cardboard box and consist of 4 items: the foundation, which is full size and 3 minis: a primer, a powder and a finish brush. On the brand’s website it says that the price of the kit is for the minis and the full size foundation is a freebie.

The foundation and the powder have the same type of packaging, plastic jars with black lids, only the sifters are different. Also, the primer comes in a white plastic tube. The brush may be a mini, but it’s surprisingly handy.

The primer contains 15 ml. The foundation contains 2 grams (don’t ask me how this is a full size product, because I really don’t know). The powder contains 0.75 grams.

Texture:

Well, since there are more products, I would have to mention all of them. The primer does feel nice on the skin, like a light cream and it’s not sticky. The foundation looks and feels just like a very fine powder, but it does turn into a thick cream when it’s buffed into the skin. Finally the powder is also very fine and it sets so nice on the skin that it looks very natural.

Ingredients:

Prime Time Original Pore-Minimizing Primer 
WATER (AQUA/EAU), PROPANEDIOL, DIMETHICONE, ISOPENTYLDIOL, SODIUM ACRYLATES CROSSPOLYMER-2, BUTYLENE GLYCOL, GLYCERIN, DIMETHICONE/VINYL DIMETHICONE CROSSPOLYMER, EPILOBIUM FLEISCHERI EXTRACT, AGAVE TEQUILANA LEAF EXTRACT, BAROSMA BETULINA LEAF EXTRACT, TOCOPHEROL, CITRIC ACID, XANTHAN GUM, CARBOMER, DIMETHICONE CROSSPOLYMER, SILICA, ISOCETETH-10, HYDROXYACETOPHENONE, CAPRYLYL GLYCOL, POTASSIUM SORBATE.

Mineral Veil Finishing Powder
ZEA MAYS (CORN) STARCH, CORN STARCH MODIFIED, ZINC STEARATE, MAGNESIUM STEARATE.MAY CONTAIN/PEUT CONTENIR (+/-): IRON OXIDES (CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499).

Original Loose Mineral Foundation

ACTIVE INGREDIENTS: Titanium dioxide 12.6% Zinc oxide 21.8%
INACTIVE INGREDIENTS: bismuth oxychloride, mica, iron oxides

I have the Medium Beige shade so that’s why I included only the formula of this one. it also has an SPF of 15, which of course is not much, but it’s still something. The powder is translucent so it doesn’t have any different formula.

I know there are some controversies regarding mineral makeup because some say it’s good, some say it clogs the pores, but the ingredients look good in the analysis made by the INCI beauty app, so I think they’re ok. Of course, I would never sleep in it, like the claims on the brand’s website say, that it’s makeup you could sleep in. Of course not, always remove your makeup before going to bed.

Price and accessibility:

bareMinerals products are available in Romania in Douglas store and in their online shop and in other beauty online shops. Since I got my kit from Douglas, I will go with their price which is around 47 euros. This would be a good price if the primer and the powder weren’t minis (because the brush is good even in mini format). Personally, when it comes to loose powders there’s always a little bit of product waste going on because you don’t always pour just the right amount of powder into the lid to take it on the brush and that’s why I think the foundation and especially the powder won’t last for a long time.

My overall opinion:

I tried the makeup products in different variants: with or without primer, the foundation on its own, the foundation on top of a liquid foundation, the foundation with or without the powder and I can say that, after some experimenting of the application, the skin does look very nice and natural each time.

The primer has a nice effect in the skin, because it does make the pores appear smaller. I don’t know about how long-lasting the makeup is with this primer because it wore nicely even without it, but I do like the way it makes the skin look. However, I could do without it and drugstore primers have the same effect.

The foundation would have been excellent if it were a shade lighter but they didn’t ask me what shade I was wearing so they sent me a medium shade because they probably thought that I could make use of it. Like I said when I talked about the packaging, I think 2 grams is just too little product. I used it 4-5 times and I’m already halfway through it. I get that you don’t need as much as you need a powder, but you still have to have enough product on the brush or else you don’t have anything to buff.

The powder is very nice, I’ll give it that. For the foundation I had no comparison, but for the powder yes because we all use face powders, right? This one is so fine and it looks so natural on the skin, it doesn’t look cakey at all. I do have to say that I love it. I didn’t notice if it has a blurring effect, but I still like how it looks on the skin.

Finally the brush is a synthetic one, but it also feels so soft and nice on the skin, like it were a natural one. Personally, prefer vegan brushes for ethical reasons, so when I see one that it’s really good I’m more than happy. I would buy this brush full size because it’s that good. It has an interesting shape, it looks like a kabuki brush but it has that round space at the center that makes it easier to pick up the powder with swirling motions and the to buff it into the skin when you press lightly.

Overall, I would say that I do like the products, but I think they’re a bit too expensive because you get such small amounts. I’m not talking about the primer and the powder because they’re minis, but even the foundation. Just 2 grams? That’s a small quantity especially because it’s not like mineral foundation goes bad easily or something. I do love the brush and I think the powder is better than drugstore ones, but the primer was just ok. I’m glad I was able to try bareMinerals and now I’m more open to mineral makeup in general. Thanks to Douglas Romania for the prize and I hope that this review was also useful for my readers as well.