mineral foundations

One thing you will learn about me is that I am a brand loyalist. If I find a brand that I trust I will not only give my money to that brand, but I become an evangelist of that brand.

Several years ago I kissed liquid foundations good-bye.

Some years back my best friend introduced me to Bare Escentuals Bare Minerals foundations. At that time they were mostly known in the QVC viewership circles. I tried it for awhile and liked it. I didn’t realize at the time that the reason I didn’t love it was because I was being too heavy handed with it. But then thought I would save some money by buying some drugstore foundations.

I am pretty loyal to the Neutrogena brand. Mostly I was using their oil-free foundations. Sometimes I’d mix it up and use L’Oreal.

This is a whole other story that will warrant its own telling. But for now I will just say that I was dealing with some pretty painful (emotionally and physically) cystic acne. Again…this is a whole, other long (very long) story.

Then the drug store brands started coming out with their own mineral makeups. I was pretty happy with Neutrogena’s. And began to see a little bit of a difference in my break-outs. I thought if this drugstore mineral foundation was helping my acne, then maybe a better quality brand would really help improve my acne. That’s when I began to do some research and realized that I wasn’t really saving ANY money buy purchasing Neutrogena’s mineral foundation. I might spend, say, $10 at Target. But I was getting less than half of what I would get from Bare Escentuals. With the Bare Minerals I was getting over DOUBLE the foundation for around $25!!!

So, I switched back to Bare Escentuals’ Bare Minerals. Saw some great improvement in my acne. Gave up some harsh acne treatments and switched up my skin care regimen. And my horrible, adult on-set, cystic acne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . WENT. AWAY. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

I KNOW!

I wish I could say that EVERYONE will have this experience if you stop using liquid foundations – but I can’t say that with any guarantee. I just know that for me the switch was the trick that gave me back the clear skin of my teen years. Sure, I still get a few pimples every now and then. But it is NOTHING like the deep horrible, hard to cover, painful, icky feeling cystic acne that as torturing me.

Bare Escentuals, the original mineral foundation, has a great variety of color options and the shades and easily be blended to find the perfect complexion matching foundation shade. I am of a pretty fair complexion and always had difficulty in finding a liquid foundation that was fair enough to match my skin tone. But, depending on the time of year, I can wear THREE of Bare Escentuals three lightest shades. And often mix them together to get just the right shading and coverage.

My only complaint is that things can get messy if you’re in a hurry. And it does take some time to get the coverage right. But, you can spot cover and leave out the step of concealer, if you like.

I have been considering shaking things up a bit and trying another mineral foundation. I’m looking at Laura Geller’s Mineral Powder (.34 oz, $35), Philosophy’s The Supernatural Airbrushed Canvas Makeup (.3 oz $35), or Urban Decay’s Surreal Skin Mineral Makeup (0.30 oz, $29). The latter, two because of the containers they come with that double as applicators.

I’m heading to Sephora tomorrow (for more Philosophy’s Hope In a Jar). And I’ll let you know what I decide, use the new foundation for awhile, and then do a review!

Thanks for visiting! And remember, no beauty product can match a smile, a cheerful disposition, and kindness!