BareMinerals BareSkin Foundation and Perfecting Face Brush

I’m having a bit of a love-in with bareMinerals at the moment as I’ve as I’m loving their BB cream shadows (full review here) and their neutralizing primer is frickin’ amazing if you have a lot of redness/spots/post-spot scarring – more on that soon!  The two incoming launches that’ll be causing mucho excitement are the new BareSkin Foundation and Perfecting Face Brush.  Yes bareMinerals have released plenty of foundations and corresponding brushes, but the big difference between those releases and this newest one? BareSkin Foundation is a liquid.  Oooo!

The smarty-pants behind the brand wanted to formulate a liquid foundation whilst utilising the same philosophy they apply to their powder foundations, so keeping this in mind, the ingredients are minimal and mostly based around Jojoba-coated mineral pigments which are suspended in a coconut-derived base alongside skin-loving vitamin C and lilac plant stem cells.  On top of this it also contains an SPF20 making this a product that supplies both make-up and skincare benefits…a bit like a BB, you might say, so kudos to the brand for not calling it a BB anything.  If you need any more convincing regarding the skincare benefits, 95% of the testers reported improvement in the appearance of their dark spots.

There will be 20 shades launching, going from very pale to fairly dark, although it’s worth noting that when I was being shade matched, a girl with a fairly dark skin tone wasn’t able to find a shade dark enough for her which is a shame as bareMinerals have a reputation for producing great shades for every tone.  Hopefully this will change soon.  The 20 shades span three different leanings; cool, neutral and golden and my shade is Bare Shell which is the second lightest and cool-leaning.  You have to shake it to make it, since the product separates due to the skincare ingredients, so you give it a good shake before applying however many drops you need depending on your coverage preference; 2 drops for sheer, 4 for medium and 6 for full coverage.

Now onto the brush! I love a good brush and thankfully that’s exactly what this is.  It’s a firm and dense yet soft kabuki-style brush with a central well where the foundation sits.  You apply with a mix of strokes and buffs and the foundation really is worked into the skin leaving a completely seamless finish.  I haven’t tried the brush with other foundations yet, but I have a feeling it’s going to be one of those brushes that works really well for liquid foundations in general – I’ll report back.

So, after that loooong introduction it’s time for me to share my views on the BareSkin Foundation, which are mostly mixed.  Even though I’ve recently stopped going for extremely heavy, mask-like coverage, I still need quite a bit of cover as I have pretty terrible scarring and I’m still spot-prone.  I’ll admit that I didn’t realise you could go up to six drops and I’ve only tried four drops for coverage – applied in layers – but I do think this is a foundation best for people with better skin than mine; it’s also worth noting that in the above image I’ve used the primer as well as the foundation.  Having said that, it is absolutely lovely; application is a breeze, it feels wonderful on the skin, it doesn’t break me out and the finish is a beautifully natural, dewy glow; it’s very, very flattering and I can understand why people are going a bit mad for it.  I’ve been using it all over, then finishing off with a couple of drops of it mixed in with my a thick concealer which I bounce over tricky areas with a sponge and that does result in a better coverage whilst still maintaining the dewiness.  In conclusion, if you like a foundation that gives skin a radiance and lift whilst also supplying skincare benefits then I think you’re going to love the bareMinerals BareSkin Foundation which launches in September for £26.  The bareMinerals Perfecting Face Brush also launches in September and will be £24.

*PR Samples