Bare Minerals, a Face on Fire and a $190 Eye Cream. What a Day!

I almost had a heart attack today from this little experiment of mine. Everybody I know is talking about Bare Essentials. "You have to try it." "It's the best product out there." "It makes you look years younger." "It's so soft and natural." "You'll get such good coverage." Blah...blah...blah. Does anyone else remember when this stuff was available on QVC and it was kind of hokey? Read on to see what caused my cardiac arrest. Well, I tried it today. It definitely is a project. You start with the Bare Minerals Foundation using this big 'ol kabuki brush. O-k-a-y ... so it feels good and looks smooth. You let it kind of "settle" for a bit too and it doesn't sink into your fine lines, it just kind of smooths out. Next you use the All Over Face Color with the Flawless Application Face Brush. You can also use the Maximum Coverage Concealer Brush if you need a bit more under your eyes. I didn't use that one (yet). Then you use this other kind of blush-like color. It's more of a tint of pink and brightener. Last, you set the whole thing with the Mineral Veil. If you get too light from that, you can reapply a bit of the bronzer (all over face color). Voila! I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't try it myself. I thought the coverage was AMAZING, particularly from just powder. I literally would NEVER have believed it wouldn't have settled in the lines if I hadn't seen it for myself. I thought the coverage was terrific. It was like MAC Studio Tech Foundation with Studio Fix Powder on top, but without all the cakey feeling and line-settling. I loved MAC in my twenties, but it's not working for the wrinkles any more. I've been looking for a change and I think this is it ladies! Now ... for the heart attack. Remember how I said I was giving a presentation and didn't want to try a lot of new stuff. Well ... I should have listened to my own advice. I started to sweat before the presentation and I had some kind of reaction to the minerals in the makeup. My face itched so bad I wanted to tear it off with my pathetic little nails. I wanted to GROW nails just so that I could shred my face and rid it of the itchiness!!! I thought I was going to die!!! Finally, it calmed down from fanning myself to stop sweating. But holy god ... seriously??? Surprisingly, I still got home and headed straight to Sephora.com and bought myself the starter kit! My skin just hasn't looked that soft, supple and flawless in awhile. I have to try it again and see if my face just needs to get used to it. We'll see. Given that I felt like this girl looks, it's worth another potential heart surgery.

When I got home, though, I felt the need to really pamper. So ... I tried La Mer - The Cleansing Gel. $65 for 6.7 ounces. Well - that was fun... once. It was smelly and green. It didn't take my eye makeup off or do anything spectacular. I do have a sample of the cleansing lotion and I'll let you know about that. But this didn't majorly foam or do anything extra special. So ... just "eh".

Next I slathered on La Mer - The Moisturizing Lotion. It felt soft, but thick. It melted in surprisingly quickly, however and did leave my skin feeling smooth. I also tried the La Mer Eye Balm. It too had a little green tint to it. This would be my favorite night eye cream to date. It settled in quickly, wasn't too thick (which you know I hate) and felt great. It was soft and silky. So thin and comfortable, you could use it for day. Here's the deal though. The Lotion is $190 for 1.7 ounces. While I love the $15.65 sample, I expected a miracle and was just given smooth skin. What gives? As for the eye cream, it is $140 for half an ounce. My little sample was worth $14. The reason I'm so happy about this is because I bought the samples on eBay for $5.00 plus $2.99 s/h. I got 7 samples for that total and these little babies are going to last awhile. So ... two things. First, this is why I love eBay and second, you'll be hearing more about the uber-pricey products I'll probably never buy for real - oh yeah, unless they make me look like I'm 16.

As an aside - DHC Acne Spot Therapy? Must miss. Dermalogica is soooooo much better. Don't waste your money or time. You'll still have zits in the morning.


Incidentally - Sephora has an AMAZING deal on the Bare Minerals Starter Kit online. It's a LIMITED EDITION $220 value for the same price as the normal Starter Kit - only $60!!! With this kit, you get the Kabuki brush, Clear Radiance All Over Face Color, Bare Vitamines Skin Rev-er Upper and a mirrored compact (in addition to the same things as the basic Starter Kit, except for not receiving Prime Time Primer).