Review (4/5): 4/5 It's Not Bad....
I've been using Bare Escentuals "Bare Minerals" mineral makeup since about 2002. I've tried other brands but till now I just didn't find anything I liked as much, let alone better. Lately though the BE makeup just hasn't been agreeing with my skin. I'm getting older and my skin is a bit more sensitive these days apparently. The one thing I never cared for with the BE makeup was their use of bismuth. Anything with bismuth it just makes my skin itch. I've been reading about the negatives of parabens too, and I decided I wanted to get away from that as much as I could.
BE doesn't have that but it does use bismuth, at least they did as of the last time I ordered a big kit. After perusing Amazon and reading ingredient lists I chose to try this kit. Mainly because of the fact that this makeup doesn't have any of that and reviews here already are mostly positive. Also because I liked the eye shadow colors in the trial kit. These are colors I'd use a lot so I didn't feel like I was wasting money on colors I'd never use just to get trials on everything else. The jars are about the size of a BE eyeshadow, a little smaller maybe. The brushes weren't bad but they are small. I put them in my purse kit. They're useful for that, but not for much else. But they're sturdy. They're not losing bristles and they seem fairly soft.
For the most part I like this makeup. It's about the same grind as the BE mineral makeup, feels a bit silkier to me actually. It smells about the same seems maybe a bit less noticeable, the smell. It blends as well, but doesn't feel quite as heavy. The finishing veil is good. I have combination skin and oil in my t-zone and it did a good job of keeping me matte all day. The foundation covers well and doesn't make my face itch at all. The bisque is okay but I don't think it's got quite the coverage of the BE bisque. I did have to use more of it to cover things the same way. I kind of wish this kit had come with sample jars of the colored concealers as I would have liked to have tried those combined with their bisque. I think it might have worked better with that combo. I'm admittedly at a point where a simple bisque concealer is probably not enough for me. I'm getting dark under eye areas and have some red I need to cover now and again.
Their "glow" mixed with the pink blush is my new blush. It's too much for me as a bronzer. I have very pale ivory skin and it just does not work for me all over. Just a little too much orange, a little too dark but it did work okay as blusher over the pink they send you. Combining both that gave me a blusher that worked well for me. The pink blush they give you is just way too light and frosted for me. It just doesn't show up at all. It was the one product in the kit I just did not care much for. I would definitely want a darker more mauve or cinnamon toned blush rather than this one. The pink on it's own is pretty useless. I had to combine the two or forget it. It didn't even look like I had any color on my cheeks.
The foundation colors are decent. Their Fair #1 is actually a near perfect match for me but I'd probably never use the Fair #2 unless it was combined with the Fair #1 maybe. My skin is never that dark, not even in Summer. But Fair #1 I must admit I like that one. It's hard for me to find a foundation that's fair enough that's not too yellow, but Fair #1 works well. Fair #2 is just a tad too dark and just a bit yellow for me.
Overall I'd have to say this kit was a positive experience except for a couple of colors being slightly off for me. I do plan on ordering a big kit but I'm also going to email them and ask if they might send a slightly darker blush and just the Fair #1 x2 instead since they're supposedly picking the cosmetics as they pack for you. Can't hurt to ask, and if they do then their "Fair" kit will work very well for me and I can see myself becoming a regular with this one. I did not expect this product to be as good as it is actually. It was a very pleasant surprise. I'm used to spending a lot more on the BE product. This is much less expensive and in some ways I think I actually like it better than BE so I probably won't be a BE customer much now that I've discovered this.