The Surfer Moon

My newest obsession is Nude Beach from Bare Escentuals.

Nude Beach is a blend of minerals and Preservative-free. For all the shimmery goodness, it never irritates or "goops up" my eyes.

Nude Beach is a glimmery light sand color. I think it scews slightly cool instead of warm. It leaves just a light wash of concrete color and shimmer. The staying power is fair. It lasts well throughout my air conditioned day. Exposure to full heat provides mixed results without an eye primer.

It retails for $13. It is available at http://bareescentuals.com/.



Disclosure: A press sample of this product was provided by Bare Escentuals
Title: The Beach Boys via Surfer Girl

Day 4: Lip Plumpers

There are many plumpers that promise bee stung lips. I have tried many but my lips barely twitch and the fullness never reaches Jolie status. The only lip plumper that ever felt like it was working was Bare Escentuals Lips Buxom. The sensation feels like you ate a York Peppermint Patty.

It feels like ice. My lips never feel this alive unless they are being kissed or eating Szechuan. My lips do seem to get more pillowy and seem to throb. The formula delivers high shine and moisturizing benefits. It contains a cocktail of antioxidant vitamins A & E to deliver smoothness. I had no issues with flaking or the top layer of my lip coming off. It retails for $18 and is available @http://www.bareescentuals.com/index.html

What is your favorite lip plumper? Let us know in the comments.

Disclaimer: A press sample of this product was provided by Bare Escentuals

40 Days and 40 Nights of Beauty Cult Classics
Day 21, Bare Minerals ID in Queen Tiffany by Bare Escentuals

Our local Bare Escentuals store is always "a push and shove fest" on Saturdays. There are crowds surrounding the eyeshadows.
I believe that BE produces some of the best shimmer shadows on the market. The shadows have pigment strength that rivals MAC but their shimmer qualities can not be beat. They have a wide range of shades that are artfully placed on cake stands. They look like macaroons waiting to be devoured.

Queen Tiffany has a devoted following on MUA. I decided to cave because of the 40 day series and my current fascination with browns.
I am still on the fence with Queen Tiffany after three weeks of solid testing. The shadow gets high marks for pigment,texture and staying power. The shimmer factor is subtle. Queen Tiffany appears cool in the container but warms up on the lid. It is a warm brown shade that flashes copper.
However, the shade is not unique. I can get the same effects with MAC Coco and Coco Beach Pigment. Coco Beach is more metallic. I also found it similar to Shu Uemura's ME Gold 390 shadow.

What do you think? Is it all hype or is it the best brown shadow?
Let me know in the comments.

Credit: Blogdorf Goodman
Graphic: Melanie Parker
http://www.bareescentuals.com/

Disclosure: I purchased this shadow from my local Bare Escentuals store.

Brushed With Greatness Project

Bare Escentuals brushes by Cavewoman

It stands to reason that a company that became famous for its revolutionary foundations would offer great brushes to go along with that foundation. I'm not a fan of Bare Escentuals loose mineral foundation, although I've tried several times to understand the love and raves this product receives. The minerals made my face feel tight, itchy, and they appear very shiny-weird on my face, but the brushes from Bare Escentuals work well for any other powder product from any line.

Tightly packed bristles with a superb dome taper are the brush style for BE. Short and long handles are available, depending on personal preference. I use my BE short handle brush to apply (shhhhh) Milani loose mineral foundation (much preferred to BE) and also for finishing powder. They're definitely not the softest brushes in my collection, but they have a great 'grab' -- they pick up plenty of product. These brushes are designed perfectly for loose powder foundations. They don't shed, and they hold up well to the tap-swirl-buff technique that BE recommends for applying their foundations. Any loose mineral foundation is best applied in that manner, too.
BE offers a lovely, soft, synthetic brush called Soft Focus, both in a regular handle and a retractable version for portability (and keeping the inside of your purse or makeup bag free of loose powder fallout!) These Soft Focus brushes work beautifully for buffing on a loose finishing powder, and I use mine for my La Mer Translucent powder. I'm impressed with the even application and very soft, full dome of the brush.

And then there is the little, tightly packed, exaggerated-dome brush that resembles a mini of the Nars Bronzer Brush. This is the Handy-Buki by BE, and I can't rave enough about the versatility of this brush. Originally offered by BE as a buffer for its mineral foundations, this brush works well for a bronzer-user-novice like myself, and it's great for applying a highlighting powder over blush. I use it to apply MAC Lightscapade at the cheekbone. DuWop has a Blushbooster that I want to try over my regular blushes, and I think that this Handy Buki will be perfect for that, too.

On your next trip to a BE boutique, try to resist (it's almost impossible!) the adorable cake-stand displays of super-pretty, shimmery-glimmery shadows and blushes, and head to the brush display. Or, if your ability to resist is weak, you can order BE brushes from QVC.com.

Disclaimer: This product was purchased by the reviewer, Cavewoman.

40 Days and 40 Nights of Beauty Brand Reviews

Day 3: Bare Escentuals

Cavewoman: Fans of the Bare Escentuals line are legion, devoted, and vocal about their love for the loose mineral foundations and shadows. A trip to the nearest BE Boutique always has the Cleveland Gang ooh-ing and ahh-ing over the beautiful pots of shimmeryglimmery shadows, displayed like petit-fours on cake stands, inviting dabs and dips. Although I have tried many BE products, my favorite of all is one little brush.

If you mourn the breakup of Tony & Tina, and their wonderful line of cosmetics and their superb synthetic-bristle brushes, you are not alone. I won't ever count how many makeup brushes I have, and I have brushes from many lines including my old Trish McEvoy with the gold handles, some superb Nars (especially their eyeshadow brushes) and of course MAC. But for powder application, I always reach for my Tony & Tina. Now, Bare Escentuals is offering a brush that is even better than the T&T powder brush. BE calls it the Soft Focus Face Brush. It's the one at the top of the photo. With a handle that's short enough to be a purse-size brush, but long enough to give a good feel in the hand and ease of control, the brush picks up a perfect amount of powder for easy, even application. The bristles are tightly packed in a sturdy ferrule, the tips have a perfectly rounded dome, and buffing in any loose powder, not just BE, feels comfortable and light on the face. I use my Soft Focus brush with Prescriptives Magic loose powder and also with LaMer loose powder, and it's perfect with either one.

BE offers other face brushes in addition to the Soft Focus. The original is the short-handle brush which is designed to apply the loose mineral foundation. The long handle powder brush can be used either for the foundation or the finishing powder that BE calls Mineral Veil. I'm fond of the stubby Handy Buki, too, but I use that for blush. As far as I can tell, the Soft Focus is the only face brush with synthetic bristles.

Check out the BE brushes the next time you're at Sephora, or if you are lucky enough to be near a BE Boutique. And don't blame me if you come home with a little pot of eyeshadow or a luscious blush color in addition to a new brush!

Annieytown: I have not delved into the Bare Escentuals line except for the eye shadows. I have a weakness for shimmery anything. Add a touch of glitz to any nail polish, lipstick, powder or eyeshadow and I will whip out my wallet to make a purchase. I am a shimmer junkie looking for next fix.
Bare Escentuals makes some killer eye shadows. They are chock full of shimmer and pop.

Magnificent pigment power that can not be match by anyone else.
It is almost a visual shimmer overload when you enter their store. All the shadows are placed on cake plates like cupcakes.
Shimmery delicious cupcakes.
My personal favorite from all the shadows is Devotion.
It is a velvet plum with gold highlights and is priced at $13.

Bare Escentuals is sold at Sephora.com and http://www.bareescentuals.com/.

Photos: Cavewoman and Sephora

Readers: What are your favorite Bare Escentuals products? Tell us why in the comments.
Disclosure: The products featured in this post were purchased by the reviewers.

40 Days and 40 Nights of Primer Reviews

Primer #37

Today I could barely look at my La Prairie Concealer Foundation, let alone reach for it to apply over today's primer, so I made a compromise. Let me explain.

I've had a love-hate relationship with my jar of Bare Escentuals bare minerals foundation ever since I bought a jar many years ago. I finally figured out that my disappointment with the product was mostly due to my choosing the wrong shade, and when I went up one shade lighter, most of the problems (it made my pores look very large) diminished greatly. However, there was still too much of an appearance of pores, so when I heard that Bare Escentuals had created a primer, I was off to the BE store to beg for a sample. If you think you can get a larger sample than the half-pump that the BE SA gave me, I would like to hear if you are successful. I took my pitiful half-pump sample jar over across the mall to the Sephora store, where a lovely SA pumped more of the primer into my jar, and with a chuckle, she mentioned to me that if I liked it, to come and buy from Sephora. I reassured her that I would.

Bare Escentuals Skin Rev-er Upper is the name of this primer. It is designed to "create a smooth surface for the bare minerals foundation" and "to prepare the skin for flawless makeup application every time." It contains glycolic and salicylic acids, good for exfoliation and for keeping pores clear, but I wasn't sure that these ingredients would be good under foundation.

I applied the Skin Rev-er Upper to my clean face. It is a thick white liquid that spreads lightly and with a slippery texture, a dab goes a long way (maybe that BE SA did give me the correct amount and wasn't being stingy!) and it dried quickly with a slight tightening feel to it. I did not mind, but I wasn't too crazy about the slight chemical smell. I did notice my pores seemed tightened too, diminished in appearance, and my face felt a bit tingly but not in an uncomfortable way. Since I was just not wanting to reach for the La Prairie, but I'm using that foundation for all the primers, I thought that I should try this primer with not only the La Prairie, but also with the Bare Escentuals bare mineral foundation, since that is the foundation that BE offers to wear over top of the primer. I applied the bare minerals to one side of my face over the primer (swirl! tap! buff!) and the La Prairie to the other side.

It was easy to get a smooth, even application of my La Prairie over top of the Skin Rev-er Upper. It took much less La Prairie than I'm accustomed to using, and the primer did not mattify or oil-ify my foundation. It looked the way I like my La Prairie to look, and I did notice that my pores looked smaller. I did not notice either a diminishing or accenting of the lines in my face.
On the bare minerals side, the minerals have a slight sheen on their own, and the primer did not affect that sheen at all. My pores looked the same as they do when I apply the bare minerals without primer, not huge but still too visible to suit me. At this point I would usually apply the BE Mineral Veil (their version of a loose finishing powder) over top, but I'm doing research and there is nothing usual about wearing two different foundations. It's science, as well as beauty!)

A few hours later, I checked my face, both sides, very carefully. The bare minerals side remained without change, the tingle was still there but still did not bother me, since sometimes the bare minerals tend to make me feel a bit itchy. But the La Prairie side was disturbing. I noticed that there were areas where there was no foundation at all, areas where my foundation was dry and cakey, and there were little pills and rolls of who-knows-what all over my face. I guess this must have been the Skin Rev-er Upper doing its exfoliating thing with my skin, the primer itself, and the foundation! I rubbed a bit with my fingers. The effect was as if I had applied scrubbing grains to my face, it was that strange! I will not go into detail here because you are in front of your computer and I do not wish for you to have a reaction that could ruin your screen or keyboard.
If you have an imagination, now is the time to use it.
I will just say that I do believe that Skin Rev-er Upper is more of an exfoliating treatment product and not a primer, if used under any other foundation other than the bare minerals. That side of my face looked the same at the end of the day as it did when I applied the products in the morning. It helped the bare minerals to stay put all day, although it did not diminish the appearance of my pores as it had promised to do. I have to give this primer two ratings.

Product rating under BE bare minerals: 6
Product rating under La Prairie foundation: 1

Review by Cavewoman
Disclosure: This product was purchased by the reviewer, Cavewoman.