REVIEW: Bare Escentuals bareMinerals Blush in Beauty

Product Brand and Name, Price (CDN), Where Purchased

Bare Escentuals bareMinerals Blush in Beauty, $24.00 (CDN) @ Sephora.ca

Reason for Purchase

I have had this blush for a few years now. I bought it because, at the time, I was obsessed with Bare Minerals makeup.

Notable Features

Like just about all of Bare Escentuals products, this blush does not contain any parbens, sulfates, synthetic dyes or fragrances, petro-chemicals or pthalates.

Here’s what is written on Sephora’s page about this product:

Discover fabulous, good-for-you cheek color. These creamy, 100 percent pure bareMinerals Blushes give you a beautiful, healthy tone that looks natural, because it is. Create a soft, radiant glow that's ideal for all skin types, including sensitive and problem-prone skin.

Packaging

This blush comes in Bare Escentuals standard plastic jar with a black plastic lid. Once you’ve opened the lid, there is a porous plastic inner lid to limit the amount of product that can be dispensed at once.

Experience Using Product

I recently started picking up my Bare Escentuals products again (after a long period of not using any of them at all), and this blush in particular, as I find I am growing more and more fond of mineral-based makeup. I like the fact that this type of makeup applies sheerly and I can easily control how much or how little color I want to apply to my face.

In the past, me and Bare Escentuals have had a bit of a rocky relationship; I was massively allergic to their original formulation of powder foundation (hives, anyone?) and that quickly turned me off of the other products of theirs that I own. However, I have always had great success with their eye shadows, eye liners, and brow color.

I picked up this blush again because I really love the color; it’s an every-day friendly pink. Here’s a swatch:




The blush has a satin sheen to it, leaving my skin with a pretty, fresh-faced glow. Like I mentioned, I can easily amp-up the color if I want.

I have been relying on Beauty a lot lately, and am enjoying using it. It’s basically become my everyday blush shade. I don’t feel like I’m wearing blush when I’ve got it on - when I look at myself in the mirror, it just looks like I am naturally flushed.

Would I Re-Purchase, Recommend, or Reject

I am slightly ambivalent about re-purchasing this product; I think I would if I were in Sephora and saw it. I can also get similar mineral products to this where I live, so I can see myself opting to try out one of those brands first before deciding to re-purchase this shade. For that reason, I can’t really recommend this to you. If I’m not in love with it, I don’t feel comfortable recommending it to you to buy.

You can learn more about this product and purchase it from Sephora’s website; alternatively, you can also learn more about this product and buy it directly from the Bare Escentuals website.

REVIEW: MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Semi Precious Goldstone

Product Brand and Name, Price (CDN), Where Purchased

MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Semi Precious Goldstone, $ 33.50 CDN @ MAC.ca

Reason for Purchase

I was extremely excited about the Semi Precious collection and, consequently, ended up buying most of it.

Notable Features

This mineralize skinfinish is limited edition, released as part of the Semi Precious collection in July of 2011.

This MSF is designed slightly differently than normal MSFs - it’s not marbleized or done in stripes. There’s an outer ring of one color, and the centre is a blob of marbleized color meant to look like a crystal.

Packaging

This MSF comes in the standard black MAC compact.

The MSF will not fit into a Pro Palette.

Experience Using Product

Of the four MSFs released as part of the collection (I did buy all four), this is my favorite! It’s bizarre, but out of the four MSFs released, this was the one I thought I would use the least and was least excited about.

This MSF has a shimmery brown outer circle with a rosy pink, white and gold inner-circle. I like to wear the outer brown color as an eye shadow; I also like to blend the entire MSF together and use it as a blush. The color of the inner circle is so pretty when it’s swirled together - it looks like a very pretty coral-flesh color; I’m trying it out on my eyes as a shadow today! I’ve debated using this MSF as a bronzer, but I think it might make me look too shiny. Women with darker skin-tones may have better luck using it as a bronzer.

Of the four MSFs in this collection, Semi Precious Goldstone seems to be the smoothest to apply - it feels very silky. The shimmer in this MSF is also more toned down than the shimmer in the other three in the collection.

Here is a swatch of what the MSF looks like:



Left: Outer cirlce
Center: Inner circle
Right: Both shades blended

Would I Re-Purchase, Recommend, or Reject

This is a Limited Edition product, so I can’t re-purchase it. I would absolutely recommend this MSF to you - I'm in love with it!

You can get this MSF from the your local MAC counter or online. Remember that it’s Limited Edition, though - so once it’s gone, it’s gone!

REVIEW: MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Semi Precious Crystal Pink

Product Brand and Name, Price (CDN), Where Purchased

MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Semi Precious Crystal Pink, $ 33.50 CDN @ MAC.ca

Reason for Purchase

I was extremely excited about the Semi Precious collection and, consequently, ended up buying most of it.

Notable Features

This mineralize skinfinsh is limited edition, released as part of the Semi Precious collection in July of 2011.

This MSF is designed slightly differently than normal MSFs - it’s not marbleized or done in stripes. There’s an outer ring of one color, and the centre is a blob of marbleized color meant to look like a crystal.

Packaging

This MSF comes in the standard black MAC compact.

The MSF will not fit into a Pro Palette.

Experience Using Product

Of the four MSFs released as part of the collection (I did buy all four), this is the one I use most often. It is made up of extremely versatile colors.

This is the MSF that I wanted the most out of the four in the collection and I anticipated it being my favorite of the four - but it’s not!

This MSF has a pink champagne outer circle with a pink, dirty green and bronze inner-circle. I mostly use the pink champagne outer circle as a highlight color for my cheekbones, browbones, and inner corner on my eyes. I have used the inner circle for that purpose too, but mostly use it as an eye shadow.

This MSF is very shimmery; I’ve read a lot of reviews and seen videos where it’s identified as a glitter-bomb, and I don’t necessarily think that’s accurate. When I hear the word glitter, I think of craft glitter or the big glitter chunks you see in some of the latest NARS shadows and most Urban Decay shadows. That is not true of this MSF! This MSF has shimmer to it - the kind that is not finely milled and easily transfers off of your brush and turns into fallout. However, it’s an easy problem to get around if you load your bush properly and tap it off before applying the product to your face.

Here is a swatch of what this MSF looks like:



Left: Outer circle
Center: Inner circle
Right: Blended

Would I Re-Purchase, Recommend, or Reject

This is a Limited Edition product, so I can’t re-purchase it. I would recommend this MSF to you if you’re looking for a good highlighter made of nice neutral and versatile colors. If you already have a highlighter powder you’re in love with, you probably don’t need to pick this up.

You can get this MSF from the your local MAC counter; it is currently sold-out online. Remember that it’s Limited Edition, though - so once it’s gone, it’s gone!

REVIEW: Physician's Formula Powder Palette Mineral Glow Pearls

Product Brand and Name, Price (CDN), Where Purchased

Physicians Formula Powder Palette Mineral Glow Pearls in Translucent Pearl, $19.99 CDN @ PharmaPlus

Reason for Purchase

It reminds me of the Guerlain Luminous Pearls - but it’s not as pricey!

Notable Features

Physician’s formula claims that this product will create an instantly glowing complexion and a perfectly even skin tone. Real Mineral Pearl Extract delivers a luxurious skin-perfecting effect.

This product is hypoallergenic, paraben free, and perfume free.

Packaging

Standard round Physician’s formula compact, with a second compartment that contains a brush under the pan of product. The lid is clear with a pearl nubbin (it actually looks like a nipple - seriously) in the middle.

Experience Using Product

I was expecting the shimmer from this product to be more finely milled, and it’s not. To me, it actually looks a bit on the chunky side.

The shimmer in this product is quite powerful; I don’t know that it would produce a ‘glow’ unless applied with an extremely light hand. I use it to highlight - it’s never been applied all over my face.

If I’m just having a ‘blah’ day, I’ll pop it on my eyes as a shadow.

One thing that I have noticed with Physician’s Formula products that have been released lately is that they are very powdery - it takes no effort at all to load your brush. But, the downside to that is that when you do load your brush, you’re left with a lot of product ‘dust’ that goes to waste. I do not like that. The formulations of PF’s earlier powders was better - they seem to have been more densely formulated and you didn’t get as much ‘dust’.

The brush you get in this compact is decent - but I still prefer to use my own brushes. This brush is small and wide so you can get good coverage, but the bristles are not that great.

Would I Re-Purchase, Recommend, or Reject

I am usually a big fan of Physician’s Formula products. But, I would not purchase this particular product again; I will use up what I have and then it’s going to get binned.

I don’t recommend this powder to you - there are better quality, cheaper products of this type out there.

To learn more about this product, visit the Physician’s Formula website.

REVIEW: Cover Girl Clean Sensitive Skin Makeup & Powder

Product Brand and Name, Price (CDN), Where Purchased

Cover Girl Clean Makeup for Sensitive Skin (Foundation) - Purchased at PharmaPlus
Cover Girl Clean Pressed Powder for Sensitive Skin (Powder) - Purchased at PharmaPlus

I had intentions of posting the price for each item here...I even saved my receipt specifically for this purpose.

Then I decided to update my chequebook, and shredded the receipt. This is an Ooops! moment for me, and I'm sorry. I know I did not spend more than $10 per item CDN. Obviously, PharmaPlus is more expensive than Wal-Mart, so I would recommend buying it there instead of PharmaPlus.

Reason for Purchase

I wanted to try out a new foundation.

Notable Features

This product is formulated specifically for sensitive skinned ladies like myself.

It is fragrance and oil free (can I get a hallelujah?)!

Packaging

The foundation is housed in a triangular bottle. It's a bizarre shape.

The pressed-powder comes in your standard powder compact. Except it's a pretty deep green.

All of the 'Clean' products for Sensitive Skin are color-coded with the green branding. You can see what I mean in my picture above.

Experience Using Product

I bought both products in shade 220 - Creamy Natural, which is one of the lighter shades.

So far, I have no complaints about either product.

The shade of Pressed Powder I bought is more on the white shade - which startled me at first; but then I remembered that us fairer skinned ladies are suppose to use white-based pressed powder (OK...I'm lying, I checked my Bobbi Brown book!). The pressed-powder sets my foundation really nicely, and doesn't make it look chalky. It gives a nice matte finish, and helps my foundation last.

The foundation is super easy to blend. You don't need a lot. This foundation is truly a light coverage foundation, which Cover Girl promises. If you are looking for a product that gives full coverage, DO NOT pick this. The first time I used it, it was a bit streaky - but I blame that on me using too much product and not the actual product itself.

The best thing about these products is that neither had irritated my skin. That's a big deal. No itchiness, no rash, no hives, no breakouts. I've only ever used one other foundation that has had the same results - my Clinique Almost Makeup. Even NARS Sheer Glow gives me a reaction after a week.

Would I Re-Purchase, Recommend, or Reject

I would recommend this to women with sensitive skin like mine. But, with all products, if you have sensitive skin you need to be cautious and really try things out for yourself to ensure that you've bought something that will work for you. I will probably re-purchase if I continue to go reaction-free with this foundation and powder.

Want more information about the Cover Girl Clean Makeup for Sensitive Skin? Go to the website, here.
Want more information about the Cover Girl Clean Pressed Powder for Sensitive Skin? Go to the website, here.