Review and swatch: bareMinerals bareSkin® Pure Brightening Serum Foundation

There have been quite a few very thing liquid-y foundations coming onto the market. One That I’ve been curious about since I first heard of it was the Bare Minerals serum foundation. This strange foundation is in a bottle that you shake and then apply drops to a special foundation brush. It supoosedly can cover you entire face with just a few drops. When I had a opportunity to go to Sephora I just had to try out a sample.

The shade range is decently big; 20 shades that go from very light to fairly deep. My only problem is there is a mixture of cool, neutral, and warm tones. These tones depend on the shades which get gradually darker. Thus, it was very hard for me to decide what shade I needed. The first neutral shade was #3: bare linen. While this looks really light on line and in person, when applied it is just one shade too dark.  I would really need shade #2, but since it is cool, I don’t think it will look right on my warm/neutral skin.

The formula itself though is fantastic! The little sample I got has enough for several applications and each time I was amazed by the coverage! The sales associate warned me that if I don’t use the drop system and the special brush it won’t work as well. I think that is just a gimmick; I used my Real Techniques expert face brush dipped in the foundation and buffed/stippled it in and it worked beautifully. The coverage is medium to full and very buildable. The finish is very skin like. It is not cakey at all. It wore fine on my face for a full day.

This foundation really astounded me in regards to the lightness of feel and the coverage. I might try out shade #2 to see if it works for me and if it does I will be seriously tempted to buy. This is the only high end foundation I’ve tried that actually might be worth the money. It is quite pricey though at $29 for only a standard ounce. I’ve also heard problems about it being messy due to having to shake the bottle? Spending $30 on foundation is a big chance for me, but if I can find a good shade it might just be worth it.