Full Review of Bare Minerals BareSkin Serum

It dawned on me, that as a blogger I have not registered "consistent" to my vocabulary. Rambling is a tendency of mine, without truly informing about all of the products I have been using.

Where I am going with this, is that early May I purchased Bare Minerals Bare Skin serum. I made a scant impression post, utilizing a streak that was on my face and then never went back and revisited my feelings on it. On my phone lived nearly a month worth of notes on the product, and enough to pack in a great review. Somewhere after that month, I purchased the smallest sampling kit available of the original Bare Minerals foundation, and my BareSkin has been used only sparingly between.

So how about now? Months after, lets review the product!

Within my notes I had a log, describing how many drops I used and it's lasting power.

Let's start.
Wednesday May 7, 2014.
I accidentally shook the bottle while the lid was not secure. It gushed about 8 drops. This provided complete coverage, but was definitely way too much. Andrew told me he liked it anyways. All this was layered over an SPF ++50 Moisturizer and Lorac POREfection.

The first and last picture is likely a difference of 7AM to about 3PM, while I was waiting for Micro.

Thursday May 8, 2014.
the drops were adjusted to six; two for each half of the face, and one on the forehead and chin each. This still was too much, and clung to the dry spots of the t-zone but settled too dewey at the chin. Despite the flaws, and the greenhouse holding in a temperature of 90˚, my foundation remained from 8 in the morning until 8 that night.

Thursday.

Friday May 9, 2014.
Using five drops, making a similar mistake to wednesday this coated my face rather opaque. Instead of starting at the chin like I did on previous days, I started at the cheeks and it looked much better. The mouth area still looked off though. Again this lasted all day, in a humid greenhouse.

Friday.

Saturday May 10, 2014.
My log only extended until the day I got my droplet amount figured out. Three drops, one for each half of the face and then one to go over the chin and anything missed on the forehead. Applying at 3:30am without primer even, this got me through my entire work day which ended around 4. 

Unfortunately this bad boy had some flaws. If you touched your face you would get product on it. If you touched your clothes, you would transfer product. If you X, you would Y. I went this solid month without setting it once. I would repeatedly get frustrated by it's finish and where it would cling to dry skin patches that I had no idea existed. This is all using moisturizer and primer. When June was starting up, I pulled this out to do my makeup for a funeral and I remember clearly being irritated because I could not get it to work with me.

Not 100% opaque, as freckles still evident but this is flawless for me.

It was around then I just started to use my tiny powder sampler exclusively. Finally it all became clear. YOU HAVE TO SET THIS MOTHER?! WAT?!

From then on, whenever I would want a nice bit of cover and a flawless face I did the process correctly and set my face with mineral veil. It's funny how much frustration I would have saved by simply watching the video of one of my favorite Bare Minerals fanatics.

Like so.

For today, I am going to take a photo of my very broken out pre-joyous-ladies-thing face, and then detail my process using BareSkin. Another thing to note, perhaps I should pick up Bare Porcelain before winter hits. If I have used sun protection enough, then my face should be just as pale, but when I was shade matched both looked rather swell.


Perhaps I will do a video, but look out for that.

Value: $29, coupled with the brush for +$28
Shade Range: There is 20, and they're awesome! (my shade is 03 Bare Linen, but I can move fluid between 01 Bare Porcelain.)
Application Time: Fairly Brief, but requires blending galore.
Comodegenic: Not on my skin at all. Does have tendency to cling to dry patches, and can settle in oily areas. Likely best for normal skin without a lot of blemishes to begin with.
Overall Rating: 8/10. I dock points because if your skin is not smooth it will show it. Honestly, I prefer a powder at this point. But this is amazing and does not make me break out like lots of BB creams I have tried. It also lasts all day for me, even before I set it. If I rank Bare Minerals original foundation as a 10, this is definitely an 8. I look forward to any reformulations they come up with.

Ipsy July Glam Room Unboxing - Sensationally Sunkissed

  eta. this bastage finally got here on the 21st. I repeat, the 21st of July. Little over a week past the normal arrival. Baaaah. anticipation killed, when the rest of my friends already received theirs last week.

Well fine feathered folk, it's Ipsy time again. They call this bag Sensationally Sunkissed, and by golly I actually got a product that fits in with the theme. This bag looks very promising (even if I keep seeing the bag itself referred to as pink ravioli, lol). This one ended up being the highest value bag I have received to date. 

My current qualm is that it took it's sweet time getting here. Last month I was opening my bag on the 12th, and I have been getting them before the 15th, and usually the 13th. On the 15th I finally received my shipping code a week later than normal, and it just scanned electronically at it's first port? 

The social media complaints were more filled than usual with impatience, what with the glam rooms opening a day later than they have been for the past few months. This is all outside of the usual "I just placed my order yesterday and I am still on the waitlist and do not have my bag. I am so upset. I like rockstar colors and I keep getting neutrals, even though there are not any items that fit that current taste in the current selection. Ipsy pay attention to me."

Do people not read fine print? Maybe I am an ingenue, but it took inside of a half hour of reading reviews and the actual waitlist/sign up text on Ipsy's website to deduce the entire system they work under. Yet all these folk on the facebook, instagram, and website (which has all the information they need) asking all these stupid questions. When I say stupid, it's because the information is put out there when they sign up, which they obviously have signed up. 

That's mean Rebecca, please stop the tirade. 

As another side note, and potential tirade... I hate summer culture. I hate beaches (partial lie. I mostly just hate the people at beaches and v. vulnificus). I hate the idea that I am losing the fruits of my hard studying, so I can keep in my head people's chatter about their fun supah sexy summer. I hate the thought of literally sitting around and doing nothing but texting all day because you're bored.

How the feck can anyone be bored?

It's all convoluted shit to me. 

I do not comprehend any of it. 

My upbringing was take your kid to work day, every day. My glorious summers were spent with my amazing Dad, learning about flowers and produce, teaching me to follow my passion. Picking vegetables and immersing myself in the intoxicating, flavorful world of heirloom tomatoes. It was about dressing appropriately so my shoulders would not blister from the 90-100˚ƒ work days in a greenhouse or a field, due the sun. My concerts were the sounds of sandhill cranes and the sounds of people thanking me for their beans - save for the occasional, actual concert. Family vacations were traveling to a lesser known, often less expensive park and then following up with a zoo and a cave. We trekked through the Badlands of South Dakota. Wall Drug. Yellowstone and Custers National Parks. Smoky Mountains. Wisconsin Dells. The Ohio Floriculture Short course convention.

Bitter, maybe, but I would not trade this upbringing for a thousand typical summer vacations.

Shucks I am good at trailing off into rants. I can be pretty crass.

Here's bag time, thank you for suffering my rant. And apologies if I truly do not understand. 

I tried to step up my game with the phone camera. My awesome stage of a Adipocere poster from Anatomy, and some cool halloween paper. Plus a nice lamp shining against the backdrop. I can deal with this.

Bare Minerals

5-in-1 BB Advanced Performance Cream Eyeshadow Broad Spec. SPF 15 in Divine Wine

Purchase the full size here for $18

.03 oz /.10 oz. 

1ml /2.9 ml

$6.21 /18

I am so excited about this! In anticipation, I swatched Divine Wine on my hand in Ulta and admired it the whole rest of the night.  

Now that I have this I am practically screaming about holding it in my hands, and in the color I wanted badly, which I believe this is the darkest of shades. This dries with a nice stay put finish and then magically shimmer appears, so it can totally be worn by itself. 

It has a flappy doe foot, which I believe is stiffer in the actual full size. The full size price point is a bit high, but honestly I would buy it after testing it for a full day on the lids.

Clear Clinic Labs

Vanished Clear Spot Treatment

Purchase the full size here for $35

2 ml /7.5 ml

$9.33 /35

While I currently use my Murad Step 2 sample I received from an Ulta sample kit, I am thrilled with this one. It's not exciting, but I break out horribly during my time of the month. Instead of picking the crap out of my pimples that grace my forehead and chin, I could always just treat it with something like this. Worth a try for sure.  

Small doe foot style applicator, but I cannot test it yet. My face is fairly clear. I had a forehead pimple that cleared up with my Murad stuff. While I cannot tell of it's efficacy, my friend claimed it worked great for her sister. We will see in weeks to come. No doubt in my mind that I will have another breakout. 

Elizabeth Mott

Tints and Sass in Cherry 

Purchase the full size here for $22.99

.35 oz full size

$22.99

Reminding me of Benetint, for a decent fraction of the price I am thrilled about this. My current itsy bitsy Benetint is half gone, so awesome! This is the just about the same size as Benefit's tints, though with a different applicator 

It smells like cherries, and I like cherries. Even fake ones. Blended out it's definitely a cherry color. Yay cherries. 

Glopped on the left, blended on the right.

My big test was compared to Benetint, and it's certainly more opaque. Benetint sheers out a lot quicker, whereas this tint packs a bigger punch. More restraint must be used. Another difference is that it's a cooler color - forgive redundancies - cool cherry. This even is more effective on the lips, if not for it's sticky gel feel. I will be honest, this seems better than the Benetint formula.

It's something, but I doubt I would wear it alone.

The two red marks on the left belong to benetint, the other two belong to Sassy.

Pop Beauty

Sunkissed Bronzer

Purchase the full size here for $10

.25 oz full size

$10

Ai, I definitely own a few bronzers. Ulta minerals pressed powder. Bare Minerals Faux Tan color all over loose pigment. Too Faced Chocolate, and the little pot in the Candy Bar. I even have a Cover Girl cream bronzer. Of that listing, one is loose and darker. One is cream, for when I figure out how to use it. The remaining were all pressed powders and dangit here's another! I am thrilled by most of what I get from Ipsy though, so let's give this a try. 

HOT DANG. In hand this product is just beautiful. Very soft feel to the powder. It is incredibly shimmery though, and really it's bronze. A rosy bronze one hundred percent. I am not totally certain, but this might be too dark for me to wear on my face. It needs testing but...

I have no reservations against using this on my eyes. This is the exact rose gold bronze color I had from the Body Shop about a decade ago, and I do not even care if it's a bronzer. This bugger is going on my eyes. Or my face. We will update with a look soon. 

Pur~Lisse

Pur Protect Essential Daily Moisturizer SPF 30 

Purchase the full size here for $55

.05 oz /1.7 oz

15 ml /50ml

$16.50 /55

Based on Ipsy's normal formula, during the second preview I would have gotten either this or a tanning oil. I dodged a .50 cal bullet and received a 6 oz sirloin steak on this one (cooked medium rare.). Not only do I love my current Pur~Lisse moisturizer from May's Ipsy, but I am almost out of it. Certainly the SPF rating can be appreciated by me when my Ulta Minerals foundation does not have a rating for sun exposure. Every other foundation I use has that extra benefit, but I am thrilled to know that I at least have that covered.

My sister and I already have a trade arranged for my Pacifica eyeshadow from May for her Pur~Lisse moisturizer. She actually enjoyed her eyeshadow from May. She is few.

As for the product itself, in my hands this is rather similar to the Pur~Moist. It smells a touch more sunscreeny. It feels much the same, which I really enjoy. Almost a cooling feel? Maybe it's just how moist my face now feels. Love it, but would NEVER shell out the cash for it. At least Ipsy seems to love giving these buggers away. Here's to another two month supply.

that hideous bag.

And onto the bag itself. Finally I have acquired an Ipsy bag that smells disgusting. It's a chemical smell, exactly as others have described. Opening my hot envelope, fresh from the mail box the smell just burst out of the bag like hello.

The bag is hideous. I hate it so very much, and I am betting that is because I hate scalloped edges as an accent on shorts and other whathaveyous. Scalloped edges seem fitted to scrapbooking projects, but not in fashion. That is said by a girl who ritually wears her dad's Wyoming T-Shirts with deer, and antelopes on them. 

But I will still use this horrible bag for something. Maybe nail polish.

Total bag value

$65.03/$10

I have been forgetting to include this, but if you feel like this is something you would love to have delivered to your mailbox please feel free to use my referral link here. It's $10 monthly, and in my experience you receive a value far higher.

Bareskin Pale.

I stayed late at work today with the express purpose of stopping at Ulta for a shade match with my budderoo.

That Bareskin though.
Almay makes a pretty decent foundation, but man it's not been what I really hoped. It's not the Holy Grail. It's not the carpenters chalice, the cup of the everlasting. Eh.

Ulta today our saleswoman was awesome. Normally Christina and I have been lucking out with fabulous employees, and only one we aren't that thrilled to see. We call her "That vampy lady" because her tightly pressed together lips are always vamped. Basically, she has some miserable disapproving look on her face as my frand and we browse.

Onto the shade matching, I was lined up with the lighest of all shades, 01 Bare Porcelain or 03 Bare Linen. Holy shoot am I that pale? Bare Linen has a nice nuetral tone, whereas Porcelain is of course cool. The neutral would make more sense in the high likelihood I am outside ever in the next few months. Plus, it nearly dissapeared on my face. Any redness I had made like the snow and was out of here (but dang. I'm in Michigan. We beat our snow record, and it could snow in May.)

See where the red starts on my cheek? That's where the serum was not. Holy flip.

Feeling splurgy with my monthly allowance, I also bought the brush. I asked if anyone mentioned the small size as a con, and she said that a lot of folks were rather pleased with it. I'll see how it goes.

I sort of bombed the whole "I do not need anymore makeup in May" thing.

Since this is a new product, finding a review was impossible. I read all the ones I could find, and while they were somewhat mixed - there were quite a few that convinced me to at least shade match. For my skin, I will say it's a win. It feels light - like nothing, and it airbrushed my cheek. Underneath the Bareskin, I know there were a few blotches. I just know it...

Of course, this I have not tested outside yet. In a week I will have a better feel for it. At least the price point is fairly reasonable. With the amount you use for each application (I may be a 2-4 dropper. IDK) for the $29, it seems like a product that has a lot of bang. Some other foundations I spied were easily $10 more with a lot more product usage. Granted, one of those worked perfect on my friend, whereas the Bareskin registered too sheer. Let's you and I see how well the value holds.

Did I just frifking spen $30 on a gal-dang foundation? Hot dang I did.

Tomorrow, we will try this over Lorac primer that we have.