Dare to Bare?

Like so many, I am a slave to the infomercial. Even as a child, I remember trying to sell my mom on the idea of “just five easy payments of $19.95!” And even today, I have to avoid late night television, lest I risk being drawn in by the allure and sheen of demo videos and before and after clips.

My only true primal defense against the infomercial is frugality. I depend on it when I happen to flip to the wrong channel at just the right moment and fail to avert my eyes in time to save myself. This is what happened when I first saw Bare Minerals. Of course, combining the infomercial with one of my other loves, makeovers, made this one particularly difficult. But the price was enough to keep me away, though only for a few years.

So when I walked into Ulta with a friend of mine a month ago, I had no intention of walking out with a $60.00 Bare Minerals Get Started kit (not to be confused with the $20 Starter Kit). It’s all a blur, really, until it was time to pay. As soon as the lovely cashier swiped my plastic, I was overcome with buyer’s remorse. Houston, we have a problem. Fatal frugality failure.

Now that I was stuck with the stuff, the only way I could redeem myself was if it somehow turned my dry, breakout-proned, mutli-toned skin into a flawless glamour palette. Chances? Not good. But I tried it, taking only a few moments to glance over the instructions and completely skipping the instructional dvd, which probably contained another sleek sales pitch. It felt nice and light and provided decent coverage with a soft finish, but so did my Cover Girl Fresh Complexion Concealer and Loose Powder which would cost me a whopping $10.00 at any local drug store.

The difference came after a few weeks of using Bare Minerals. I started to notice that my skin was clearing up. Less breakouts, and less dry patches of skin. The Mineral Veil really did give a flawless finish, and I fell in love with the fact that the foundation (I choose Medium after a color match session in the store) could be mixed with the Warm powder to create a glowy, bronzer effect. I liked the lightweight powder much more than any liquid foundation, which I always tried to avoid in the past, and I also loved that  I didn’t have to use much to get the results that I wanted.


For further convincing, check out my before and after pics (eek).

Before:

After:

I still use Maybelline’s Coverstick Correcter Concealer in yellow to offset the blueish dark circles under my eyes, but other than that, my face is now a testament to the wonder of Bare Minerals.

Would I recommend the product? Yes. Is it worth the cost? I think the $20 Starter Kit is a good place to start if you just want to test the waters, but I would definitely recommend finding a store that carries the product and getting a color match first. I would have thought the "light" shade would be perfect for me, but it turns out that it was far too yellow for my skin tone. I have also found that you can buy many of their products on Ebay for pretty great prices, so I might try that in the future. 


What are your favorite skin products? Is there any makeup that you don't mind splurging on? What's the one item that you couldn't live without when it comes to beauty?