Show of hands: How many of you have tried Bare Minerals or Bare Escentuals makeup? You’ve seen the infomercials. Just swirl, tap and buff your way to totally flawless skin. All-natural minerals. Conceals as it heals. You can wear it in your sleep. SPF 19. Etc.
Show of hands: Did you hate it? Did you want to break the instructional DVD in half? Did you try for 10 minutes to cover up your splotchy skin with zero success? Did you get pissed that you ordered the wrong freakin’ shade and now you’re stuck with $60 worth of crap, including the Mineral Veil crap and the Warm crap and the seven stupid different makeup brushes crap?
Me too.
So why on earth I decided to try another mineral-based makeup is beyond me, but I did. And I don’t regret it.
I had a store coupon to CVS and was in need of something cheaper than my usual powder-based cover-up. I stumbled upon L’Oreal Bare Naturale
mineral makeup mainly because there was a giant yellow tag indicating it was on sale. Despite my bad experience with Bare Minerals, I took a look.
Aside from the sale price, what drew me to the L’Oreal version was the color match system. If some obnoxious teenager hasn’t stolen it already, there should be a plastic card that lets you match the correct shade to your true skin tone. It’s as easy as holding the plastic card against your skin and seeing which shade “disappears” against the inside of your wrist.
So I bought it. I figured worst case, I’d end up with $11 worth of Light Ivory baby powder in my makeup drawer.
Guess what? It actually worked.
I don’t know if it was the fact that I got to actually match the correct shade to my skin or what, but the L’Oreal makeup actually covered my problem skin in a way that the Bare Minerals failed over and over again. (And I did try. I bought the Bare Minerals about six years ago and tried it again two years ago. It just sucks.) Yeah, you still have to swirl, tap and buff, but it’s so nice to actually get some results.
Bonus? My skin doesn’t break out nearly as badly as it used to.
A couple of things to keep in mind. If you, like so many of us, have those lovely brushes from your Bare Minerals makeup kit, you’ll be able to use them to cover small blemishes with the L’Oreal version, so don’t bother buying the separate mineral concealer stuff that L’Oreal sells. Just use the brushes you already have to dab a tiny bit of the mineral powder onto blemishes. Second, trust the color-matching sheet. I thought I was buying a color that was way too light for me, but it’s just right.
For the record, L’Oreal hasn’t paid me or given me anything free. (Down side? They’re not giving you anything for free either.)
Normally, I wouldn’t bother with a makeup review. But it’s high time you stopped blowing your money on crappy makeup. You’re welcome.
[rating: 4.5/5]
About the author: Idoia never intended to get married or have kids. So she got hitched and had twins. Wait….what? Read more from this author.
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hmmm, I am almost out of powder….
I’ve been ordering from a rival mineral makeup company, Everyday Minerals, for a couple years now. They’re less expensive than that one from late-night TV ads, and you can order a free -but-for-shipping sample kit to kinda try to figure out what shade will be best for you. I do like them, but mail order is such a pain!
While I’ve never tried the other mineral makeups, I grabbed one of the L’Oreals on a whim. I concur. It pretty much rocks. It’s light so you don’t feel all mask-y and my skin doesn’t get all ornery like it used to.
Huzzah for makeup that doesn’t suck at life.
any person else really like max factor as much as me?
Love my Loreal bare naturale been using for two years now. Ive tried bare naturale and bare essential and I totally agree to much to too many steps and never covered problem spots. I actually found myself packing on more makeup and was constantly braking out! Im now happy to say I wear a lot less makeup and loreal actually isnt that bad in the humidity.. Finally a good make up after years and years of what seemed to be trial and error and one has finally passed the test! I give it a 10