Another BeanTalk Staffer’s
Mineral Make-up Conversion

By Andrea Goodwin, associate editor (agoodwin@beanstalkbiz.com)

Recently, BeansTalk was visiting with a friend and noticed her pretty appearance. She looked great and appeared to be wearing little or no make-up. Upon being asked, she revealed that she only wears i.d. bareMinerals cosmetics. Swears by em’. Okay, somehow this BeansTalk staffer has missed the infomercial. What rock have we been living under? Time to do some homework.

bareMinerals by Bare Escentuals has been a leading and award winning giant in the cosmetics industry since 1995. Most recent accolades include Allure Magazine’s Best of Beauty Award, Glamour Magazine’s Reader’s Choice Award for Best Prestige Foundation, and Best of Sephora 2006 Award.

So, who is the face behind the beauty? It’s Leslie Blodgett, whose formal title is CEO, but is more affectionately known as the “Girlfriend Authority.” She is visible to anyone who tunes into QVC or watches one of their instructional DVDs. She really does seem accessible, because even though she can boast of extensive educational and beauty industry credentials, she is a wife and a mom like the rest of us. She looks gorgeous on television, but I am betting she is fighting the signs of aging like any woman, which gives her street cred. BeanTalk understands she answers her own e-mail. Maybe we’ll drop her a line....

Anyway, we were lucky enough to sample some of their most popular products and really had fun learning a new routine. Here is what you need to know: If you are new to the line, pick up their

Get Started Kit - Medium Beige/Medium
This color choice will work for most skin, although there are other choices for those who are particularly fair or tan or are of African American persuasion. BeansTalk appreciates a good value. If the products in this kit were purchased separately they would cost near two hundred dollars, but as a package it is offered at a reasonable sixty dollars. Not bad! The complete kit contains all the basic products to give your face a solid beauty foundation. You will need to spend a little more to do eyes, lips, and cheeks, but we will save that topic for another day.

The Get Started kit includes:
-Two shades of bareMinerals SPF 15 Foundation to ensure the perfect match. (Size: 0.06 oz)
-bareVitamins Skin Rev-er Upper: can be applied daily before applying bareMinerals to rev up your skin
-Mineral Veil: provides a translucent finishing touch to your makeup, infusing it with softness and adding a flawless finish. (Size: 0.06 oz)
-Warmth All Over Face Color: add an instant sun-kissed glow to skin where the sun would naturally touch. (Size: 0.06 oz)
-Flawless Application Brush
-Full Coverage Kabuki Brush
-Maximum Coverage Concealer Brush
- A How-to DVD for tried and true beauty tips from Leslie Blodgett, Bare Escentuals CEO

Now that you have got it, it is time to throw away you traditional liquid and compressed powders and most importantly your Linus-like attachment to them. This beanstalk staffer thought that nothing would ever drag her away from her Lancome foundations. We decided it would be okay to open one’s mind and learn something new. To make sure we were giving the make up a fair chance, we not only watched the entirety of the enclosed “how to” DVD, but trotted the whole lot down to our local BE Boutique and had the girl, Kryss, who was a very sweet twenty-something, help us customize our routine. This is when the conversion took place. When we were done, BeansTalk looked in the mirror and saw a soft, sheer make up, age appropriate for a woman who was a bit older than Kryss, and yes – just as their advertising promises – a glow. The look we are going for is to have someone look at us and not even be sure we are wearing make up. The look must appear natural and effortless, not “painted” or “done.”

To add some extra contouring Kryss and I added the

Natural Light Face Lifting Duo

As per Sephora:
Natural Light is for anyone who ever thought it wasn't possible to look good in every kind of light. It serves as a guiding light to brighten and lift areas of your face regardless of whether you are faced with harsh, fluorescent lights or soft, forgiving light.

The innovative, dual-sized jar holds two unique translucent bareMinerals designed for lighting and lifting areas like the area above the brows, around the folds of the nose, outer corners of the mouth, below the bottom lip, and on the high points of the cheekbones and forehead. For best results, apply Natural Light with the Bare Escentuals Light Stroke Brush.
To use: Apply Well-Lit when you want to shade away shadows around the eyes, nose folds, lip corners, or below the bottom lip; and apply Back-Lit above the brows, on the inner and outer corners of the eye, and on the high points of the face to highlight.

That is exactly what we did. Of note, we added the Well-Lit to the areas where the sun usually would hit us – around the brow and in a line down the bridge of the nose. Well placed darks and lights did sharpen this staffer’s features.

Other advice:
Experiment with color. We had fun using complexion boosters, which are not to be confused with bronzers. Complexion boosters give the appearance of naturally occurring skin colors such as a child’s blush, and add the sought after “dewy” appearance. We especially liked, in spare amounts, the

i.d. bareMinerals All-Over Face Color
i.d. bareMinerals All-Over Face Colors provide a natural luminosity. Sweep these illuminating minerals on your cheeks, forehead, and chin for an instant goddess glow. Our favorite colors: Clear Radiance and Warm Radiance.

Other really cool revelations.

This BeansTalk staffer needs the SPF. We wish we were in the preventative stage, but, alas, that ship sailed along time ago. We have all kinds of skin damage. To be truthful, we are a stage-three melanoma survivor. We can’t take any chances. This staffer is used to applying Neutrogena sunscreen before daily makeup. We hate to say it, but the sunscreen made our skin feel sticky and our powder usually “sat” on top of it. The i.d. bareMinerals Foundations carry the Skin Cancer Foundation’s Seal of Recommendation. We are appreciative of the beauty boost and the peace of mind.

We were surprised at how “unpowder-y” we looked after the multiple applications of the various products. As a matter of fact, i.d. bareMinerals isn’t really powder. It is crushed minerals. It behaves like a cream and seems to blend in with your skin’s natural oils. Specifically, their foundation’s list of ingredients includes a mere five items: titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, mica, bismuth oxychloride, and iron oxides. Compare that with the fifteen or twenty listed on the bottom of what you are currently using.

Last night, we proudly wore our make up to dinner with the man of the house and vainly asked him not to “muss” us. (He can be kind of an all-over-the-face kisser. Which we normally love, of course.) Anyway, this request turned out not to be necessary, because during the rest of the evening, we had to rescue our seven-year-old daughter from the shower, and hug and kiss our nine-year-old son farewell for a sleep-over. To our surprise, it lasted! As any mom would know, you can not ask your kids to be mindful of your make-up, but still I assumed such a delicate look meant the make up was delicate. It is not. It is durable. Hooray.

So there you go. We swirled , we tapped, and we buffed our way to a better beauty routine. Conversion complete.

Check out the entire line of pure, safe, and high quality i.d. bareMinerals products at www.bareescentuals.com or at www.sephora.com.