Review: Bare Minerals Get Started Kit in Light plus a few extras!

Hello!

Sorry for my lack of posting recently, I've been super busy with training for work, work in general and dealing with a peak in my depression. The training was great fun and I met some people who were just lovely (Hi Sam if you're stalking me!) We stayed in a Holiday Inn and it was actually really nice! It was a fun few days but I was SO tired after it! We then had more training the next week (when I forgot my purse, like an utter idiot!) When I've not been on training, I've either had work or have been catching up on some zzz's or seeing friends. Basically I've been a major slacker with blogging (when am I not?!) and I'm sorry! Anyway, on with the actual post...

So most of you will know that I recently got the job of Counter Manager on the new Bare Minerals counter in my local Debenhams (whoo!) and working on a counter means that you have to wear the products that you're selling. I got sent a Get Started Kit in Light when I first started but I wanted to wait until I'd had my basic training to share my review with you guys (I wanted to make sure I'd been doing it right!/I wanted to be able to share a few extra technical details with you) Now then, unfortunately due to the Olympics my training was postponed for a while as I would've had to have travelled through London to get to the training centre and they didn't want us having to battle with crowds etc.

So for clarification of this review, yes I did get sent the item for free and yes, I do work for the company, however I won't just give glowing reviews just because I work for someone/had something for free. If I rave about something it's because I genuinely love it (I worked for Benefit for 5 months.....how many reviews do you see of their stuff?...this is mainly because I couldn't afford it and never wore it on counter due to being SO allergic to most of their stuff. I would've done bad reviews but I wouldn't have been able to be 100% honest because I wouldn't have put that stuff on my face if someone paid me to....seriously, I wasn't risking the herpes hand on my face!) Anyway, the main reason that I'm doing this post now is because I'm currently using the Pure Transformation Night Treatment and if, like me, you suffer from under the skin spots, the night treatment can bring them out in the first week or so of using it (as it's helping to clear your skin) So I thought, whilst my skin is looking a bit crappy, now would be the perfect time to do a review of the Bare Minerals Foundation for you!

Ok, so first up...here is a lovely picture of my bare skin. I literally have just moisturiser on (Body Shop Aloe by the way.) As you can see I have some lovely spots and redness on my face plus some beautiful dark circles under my eyes! (I will apologise now for the lighting in these pictures. It was an odd day and was difficult to get the right light/I'm really lazy with my photography at the moment!)

In the Get Started Kit you get 9 items for £49. As you can see from the picture, I'm missing 2 items from my kit. The kit comes with: a DVD (missing from my picture. I did actually watch it, but I've put it somewhere safe as I will never need it again!), Original Foundation in Fairly Light and Light (Light is missing from my kit as I sent it to Charli as she uses Light and I personally find it too yellow for my skintone. I did use it a little bit but I just felt like I was really yellow everytime, despite what people told me!), Prime Time Primer, Warmth, Mineral Veil, Full Flawless Face Brush, Flawless Face Brush and a Maximum Coverage Concealer Brush. The Mineral Veil, 2 Foundations and the Primer are all smaller sizes but the brushes and Warmth are all full size (the brushes alone are worth £58)

This is how much foundation I usually use for all of my face. I sometimes go for a bit more if I'm going for a heavy foundation look and this time I did tap a tiny bit more on for when I used the concealer brush for a bit of extra coverage on my hardcore red areas!

Here's your little bit of technical waffle..... The Original foundation only has 5 ingredients in it - Zinc Oxide (heals and calms), Titanium Dioxide (natural SPF - this SPF of 15 earned the Skin Cancer Foundation international seal of recommendation....which sounds good doesn't it??), Mica (for a healthy glow), Iron Oxides (for the colour - it's heated differently to get the different colours) and Bismuth Oxychloride (for the creamy texture). The Matte foundations contain everything except the Bismuth Oxychloride and have Calcium and Silica (to absorb excess oil) and the Active Soil Complex (that's in all the skincare) I highly recommend the matte foundation for people with visibly oily skin! The foundation is also free of: parabens, synthetic fragrance, artificial oils, talc and preservatives.....plus Bare Minerals don't test on animals at all. Basically this stuff is just all round goodness!

So after using my Full Flawless Face Brush and a little swirl, tap and buff (Or swirl and buff if you want heavier coverage quickly!) you can see that the left side of my face looks WAY better than the right! That is literally just the foundation and nothing else.

This is after I've used the concealer brush under my left eye to help make the dark circles less prominent. I really like using the foundation as my concealer as well, because I'm just not a concealer fan. Bare Minerals do powder concealers (which I don't really like personally) and new cream concealers. I'm hoping to do a review on that soon but I seemto be the only one who finds that the concealer "rolls" on my skin. Not sure why because everyone else is fine and utterly loves it! I find using the foundation very easy and I love that it's obviously going to match the colour of your foundation!

So here is my beautiful (HA!) face with just the foundation on. I love how well this foundation covers redness and is good for covering spots too! I'm in love with how it feels on my face too! It's so light that it basically feels like I'm wearing nothing but makes my face feel completely flawless. I think we can all agree that my face looks better than it did with just the moisturiser on!!

So to complete the look I popped a bit of Warmth on (using the Flawless Face Brush and a TINY bit of Warmth, I either contour my face (sucky in fish face please!) or I use it as a bronzer....it depends on how I feel that day!) and then I used a lovely coral blush in "First Class" This is in the Debenhams exclusive Top Picks set but I think it's also in a fair few other sets. It's a really nice subtle coral tone so I can see why they put it in the sets! (this is a mini size). I used Celestine Glimmer Eyecolour on my eyes - This eyeshadow is utterly beautiful alone but also looks great with other colours. It's the most popular on my counter! Flawless Definition Mascara - this one has a pointed comb wand that is fab for giving your lashes a good coat of mascara, but also for defining them individually! No clumps here! Then lastly, I used the Natural Lipgloss in Sangria on my lips. I got this free at training but it's a bit too orange toned for me. I have a Dior lipstick sample in "Lucky" which is a pinky-red and this looks fab over the top of that I think.

Not sure if you can really see these but Celestine is at the top and First Class is on the bottom. (Seriously, the light was making it so difficult to take photos!!)

So here is a lovely picture of the finished look. I filled my eyebrows in with a dark brown matte colour from one of my sleek palettes. I have ordered myself a Bare Minerals eyebrow powder, which I hope to get soon so i can start using that! I'm not sure why I look so angry in this picture....

I've included this picture because I love how the sun has given me Snow White-esque skin! I need this kind of lighting all the time please!!

So here is the final look with my hair down finally! It took my ages to get this picture right, hence my pissed off face. Look at the eyebrow on the right trying hard not to lift up! (I'm the only one in my family that can lift one eyebrow and not the other. People think it's a skill but it's actually just a dead giveaway for when I'm not amused!)

I love how Celestine gives my eyes a bit of shimmer without being over the top! And the tiny pop of colour on my cheeks is enough for an everyday look for me. Considering I'm not a lipgloss girl, I've been very impressed with how unsticky the Bare Minerals lipglosses are. I prefer the Buxom ones because of the colours and will be treating myself when the Christmas mini Buxom sets come out! (Before Buxom disappears from counters and becomes it's own brand...) I do love the Get Started Kits and think they are a great idea, however I can't wait until the new ones come out next year as you will be able to get colour matched to the right foundation and have a full sized pot put into your customised kit instead. Plus it'll only be an extra pound for the new kit! Bargain!! 

So what do you guys think? Is the kit good value for money? Have you tried Bare Minerals or does the idea of a powder foundation confuse you?? (I know it confused me before I started working for them!!) Any questions you want to ask me about the Bare Minerals stuff? (I get a lot of people come in going "I got this a few months ago....how the hell do you use it?!") 

Until next time,

xoxo

As I said before, this kit was free...as were the lipgloss and mascara. I brought the other two bits with my own money and love them very much! I promise you that I will never rave about something I think is crap! If I think it's crap, I'll say so, honest!