Bare Escentuals: Bare Minerals

I am finally getting over my cold! I have tons of stuff backlogged and things I really want to review so I'm hoping to put out a couple of reviews in the next few days. And I'm still waiting for my 50 followers so I can do a small giveaway!

I just starting trying out Bare Minerals and I will be reviewing 3 products in this post. I have 1 full size product and 2 are minis that came with small brushes.

Bare Minerals Mineral Veil can be found at Ulta, Sephora, and BareEscentuals.com for around $19. Mineral Veil is a translucent corn starch based powder that is light weight and used to absorb oil. Over the past few years my face has gotten more oily and I have been searching for a make-up solution. Normally I use Make Up For Ever HD Microfinishing powder, but for $30 I would rather find an alternative.

Mineral Veil sets my liquid foundation nicely, and mattifies an softens my complexion. It actually does a nice job reducing the appearance of my huge pores. With this product, you want to slowly build the powder on the your face because too much powder on your brush will cause you to waste powder.

It keeps my foundation matte for about 6 hours and then my face begins to get shiny and I know it is time to touch up. The lock and go is actually a nice touch, after you take off the black top, you twist the bottom to open. This allows you to control how much powder comes up to the top. I like this feature because I hate traveling with loose powders because so much comes out while it bounces around.

This kit was a door buster promo for Black Friday so it is no longer available, but I will review the powder itself. You can find the full size Illuminating Mineral Veil at Sephora, Ulta and BareEscentuals.com for around $19. Although Bare Escentuals implies you may use this as an all over face powder, it is much too shimmery. I'm not a fan of shimmery face powder, so I use it as a highlighter. I love it as a highlighter! It is very soft and looks great at the top of your cheek bones. I also like the feather light brush.

This kit was also a door buster promo for Black Friday so it is no longer available, but I will review the powder itself. You can find the full size Faux Tan All-Over Face Color at Sephora, Ulta and BareEscentuals.com for around $18. I did not like the brush that came with this kit at all. I don't know if it was because it was a promo kit, but the bristles were hard and shed a lot. I hope the full size version isn't the same quality.

I like the tone of this bronzer, it isn't too orangey looking, but it is very dark. This powder needs to be used extremely lightly, no heavy hand here! When I wasn't careful, this bronzer was streaky and much too dark. I wasn't pleased with how it blended and I don't think I will be purchasing this in the future. If used lightly, this powder could work, but I'm not willing to put in the extra effort for $18.

Mineral Veil in Original

Illuminating Mineral Veil

Faux Tan All-Over Face Color

From Left to Right

Illuminating Mineral Veil, Mineral Veil in Original and Faux Tan

With Flash

From Left to Right

Illuminating Mineral Veil, Mineral Veil in Original and Faux Tan

Without Flash

Day 11- NYX One Night in Morocco Look

What I used:

   Face:

    Revlon PhotoReady Foundation in Nude

    Physicians Formula Concealer Twins

    Bare Minerals Mineral Veil

    Tarte Mineral Bronzer in Park Ave Princess

    NYX Powder Blush in Dusty Rose

    Smashbox Face and Body Highlighter in Allure

   Eyes:

    Urban Decay Primer Potion in Original

    Eyeshadow: NYX eyeshadows from the One Night in Morocco Palette

    Urban Decay 24/7 Glide On Pencil in Zero

    Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes Mascara

   Lips:

   NYX Megashine Lipgloss in Beige

I applied the foundation all over my face and neck using a foundation brush. Using a concealer brush, I applied a small amount of concealer under my eyes and a smaller amount on my cheek bones. Using a large kabuki brush, I buffed Bare Minerals Mineral Veil all over my face. Using a powder brush, I applied bronzer lightly over my cheeks and chin. While pinching the bristles together, I swept bronzer in the hollowed portion of my cheeks on a diagonal. Using a blush brush, I swept the blush in an upward directions to up until my cheek bones. I applied Smashbox face and body highlighter in Allure as a highlighter with a highlighter brush on the tops of my cheek bones and the outer portion of my eyes.

Next, I prepped my eyes with UDPP using my fingers. In my review, I numbered the eyeshadow shades from the NYX palette. Using a fluffy eyeshadow brush I applied shade number 8 on the innermost portion of my eyes near the tear ducts and on the first 1/2 of my eyelid, slightly moving upward to the crease. Using a dome brush I applied shade number 4  over the entire crease. Then I applied shade number 3 to my outer v and blended it out with the larger dome brush. I then used shade number 5 as a highlighter underneath my brow bone. Using a stiff dome brush, I applied shade number 4 under my lower lash line, cleaning up with the highlighting shade After lining my top lid with the Urban Decay  liner, I curled my lashes and applied Lights, Camera, Lashes Mascara.

For the lips, I applied NYX Megashine Lipgloss in Beige

Day 10- Winter Wonderland Look by Makeup Geek

www.makeupgeek.com

I know this isn't really a post, but I somehow managed to come down with a cold the day before Christmas Eve, and now I am worse today! I am miserable! But I wanted to share with you guys Marlena's website which you can find here. Makeup geek is a great site, they even have their own store! There are tons of looks posted on the site, and most are done as a youtube tutorial. About two years back when I started really getting into makeup, I would watch Marlena's tutorials late in to the night. I love her makeup, it always looks flawless. Her tutorials are very detailed and easy to follow. I follow her on twitter, so I came across this look last night and I love it! I love the colors she uses, if you have the Tarte Jewelry Box Palette than I would consider this look for tonight or even New Years Ever. If you don't have the Palette but want to see how the shadows perform, you can see this in the video.
Below is the link to the page
Winter Wonderland Look

Day 9: Revlon Color Stay 12 Hour Eyeshadow in Sultry Smoke

These Revlon eyeshadow quads can be found at most major drugstores for around $6-$7. I love Revlon, I think they are one of the most consistent drugstore make-up lines out there right now. Plus, they are also one of the only major drugstore cosmetic brand that does not test on animals. I have a lot of Revlon products, and so far, not many have been a disappointment. I have also been using these eyeshadow quads for a few years. I love eyeshadow quads, trios and duos. Especially with quads, most companies set it up so it takes the guessing out of color matching. Almost everything you need is here.

Since it is winter, I have been purchasing darker, smokier eyeshadows. I have yet to do a real smokey eye, most of mine are tame interpretations. But, I love the colors in this palette. The eyeshadows, are smooth, silky and nicely pigmented. They blend easily and last a little over 12 hours, but with a base of course. It has been years since I have applied eyeshadow without some sort of base, and if you do not have one, I suggest you run out and get one right away!

Overall, these eyeshadows quads are great quality, especially for the price. I have these quads in several other shades, and most I use everyday. Check these out the next time you are at a drugstore!

Flash

Without Flash

Day 8: Hard Candy Visibly Wet: Shockingly Glossy Lip Pencil In Candy Apple

I purchased this the last time I was perusing the cosmetic isle at Walmart. You can purchase this lip pencil for about $4.65. Believe it or not, I do not have a bright red lip color, and nothing says Christmas like a bright red lip!

This lip pencil is shockingly glossy, I have never actually experienced a lip color like this before. It is right red, with red shimmer. But because the lip pencil is so glossy, it is very sticky. If you aren't careful during application you will have a sticky mess. But since the pencil is sharpen-able, application isn't too bad. This lip pencil lasted for over 4 1/2 hours before I took it off because I was getting ready to go to bed. But the color transfer of the pencil is ridiculous. It will get everywhere. Forget kissing anyone under mistletoe, or sipping a festive drink. By the time I got ready to take the lip color off, it was all over my lip area. Like a lipgloss, if you hair gets caught on it, you will have a streak of color from you hair coming in contact with your face. And then once you do have it on your skin, it is hard to get off! Mainly because of how sticky the product is. But even after kissing my hand, there was still a lot of color left on my lip.

Overall, I was dissappointed with the amount of color/product transfer from my lip. But on the upside, it lasts a long time and looks amazingly wet. If you don't mind checking in the mirror every 30 minutes for marks around my lip, then it might be ok.

Before Kiss

Kiss

After Kiss

Swatch

Day 7- NYX One Night in Morocco: Matte Smokey Look Palette

This NYX One Night in Morocco: A Matte Smoke Look can be found on nyxcosmetics.com and cherryculture.com for around $15. It comes with 8 eyeshadows, 1 nude eyeshadow base, and 4 lip colors.

I know I have been going on a NYX rampage in these last few post, but I'm still on the fence about the brand overall and so I bought a bunch of products during their Black Friday sale.

After using this palette twice already, I really love it! The packaging is pretty sturdy, I dropped it in my bathroom (as always) and the drawer still works perfectly. I did have an eyeshadow pan pop out so I will have to super glue it back in.

The eye shadows are nicely pigmented, especially with a good primer. But, not all the eyeshadows are actually matte. The lighter shades on the bottom row have a little bit of a shimmer to them, as well as the color on the top row to the far left. I am going to number the colors so I can do a look with them for a future post. Regardless, these shadows were very blend-able, which is important, especially for a smokey eye. They colors are nicely coordinated, and this palette could produce a wide variety of different looks. As with all of the NYX palettes I have tried so far, the shadows have a ridiculous amount of fall out. Especially when using the darker colors, it is important to be really gentle and dainty when putting shadow on your brush.

The eyeshadow based I'm not too impressed with, but I did try it the first time I used the palette and the eyeshadows look nice on top of the base. It just didn't last long enough for me.

The lip colors are ok, they are on the sheerer side. I do like they shades they provided, but again like with the other palettes I have tried, the lip colors are a little drying and do not last long. I think two blush pans would have been much better. I think if NYX decided to include blushes instead of lip colors in their palettes, they would be much more appealing.

Overall, this is a great palette if you are looking to add darker colors to your collection. In my opinion, I think palettes make great gifts, and the price of this palette makes it an easy gift to give!

From left to right

1, 2, 3, 4

From left to right

1, 2, 3, 4

From left to right

5, 6, 7, 8

From left to right

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

From left to right

1, 2, 3, 4, and eyeshadow base

Day 6- NYX Powder Blush

If I was on Santa's list this year, I would have "naughty" checked next to my name! I did not think 12 posts in 12 days would be so difficult. But, I will post 12 posts before Christmas if it kills me!

Anyways, NYX Powder Blushes can be found on NYXcosmetics.com, and cherryculture.com for around $6.00. These blushes come in about 25 shades and you get .2oz of product.

I was actually pleasantly surprised with these blushes. The shades were not too shimmery, they were more of a satin finish than a matte finish. I prefer satin finishes to shimmery ones because shimmer tends to emphasize the size of my pores. 

These blushes are very nicely pigmented but easily build-able. The color payoff is pretty good and easy to work with. And for the price, they are very good quality. These blushes are also very blendable and last for a pretty long time.

Overall, these are great blushes if you need blushes on a budget or looking to build you blush collection. These are pretty easy to work with and NYX has a large variety of shades.

From Left to Right

Mauve, Dusty Rose, Raisin

With Flash

From Left to Right

Mauve, Dusty Rose, Raisin

Without Flash

From Left to Right

Mauve, Dusty Rose, Raisin

From Left to Right

Mauve, Dusty Rose, Raisin

Day 5- NYX Black Label Lipstick

NYX Black Label Lipstick can be found on NYX.com & CherryCulture.com for around $7.50. This lipsticks come in a multiple of shades and finishes. With 102 different shades, it seems almost impossible to not be able to find a shade you like. However, I wasn't thrilled with either of the colors I purchased. Granted, they were more of an impulse buy, and I didn't really take my time picking them out.

The texture of this lipstick is very moisturizing and creamy. But it was a thin sort of creamy texture not thick in consistency what so ever. Because of this, this lipstick has a tendency to slip and slide beyond your lips. I find this more evident during application, making application a little difficult. With lighter shades, this might not be as noticeable as with a darker shade. The pigmentation was nice and fairly opaque. This lipstick lasted for about 2 1/2 hours, which is pretty standard.

The naming of these lipsticks also confused me, it seems like the darker color would be called Sangria but it was the other way around. Just a side note!

Overall, this lipstick would be good for those with dry lips or for someone looking to experiment with colors on a budget. But, I was a little disappointed with the performance.

Sangria (left), Adore (right)

Sangria

Adore

Sangria (left), Adore (right)

With Flash

Sangria (left), Adore (right)

WIthout Flash

I also want to apologize for not keeping up with my 12 posts! I suppose I was a little overzealous but I will be posting 2 more posts today to make up for it :(