bareMinerals bareSkin Pure Brightening Serum Foundation - review

Another foundation, I hear you ask?  Well, there's a lot of 'em out there to try to get through!  That's the way it goes with blogs - those of us who produce blog posts do so (a) with mind to what we're using ourselves - my trials and reviews (b) with a nod to what is coming out soon - my preview and promo posts, and with a strong desire to try out and report back on what's new.  bareMinerals bareSkin Pure Brightening Serum Foundation is one of those Brand New Things I've been wanting to try out.

Before I launch into the usual headers, I will say that this foundation produces a truly beautiful finish, it gives you a natural looking, youthful, refreshed, glossy, glowing, flawless finish.  It's so gorgeous.  Keep that in mind, because there are a few caveats along the way...

Coverage

bareMinerals call this their "first ever pure brightening serum foundation". It does have a thin, silky texture - and when you read the ingredients below, you'll be as intrigued as I, as there are no silicones or no oil in this silky stuff.  Apparently, you should use one to two drops for a sheer coverage, three to four drops for medium coverage and five to six drops for full coverage.  Fair enough, so far so (more or less) true, but you'd be better off layering those drops - so create your sheer-to-medium coverage, then wait a minute, blot, and add another layer.  It does layer nicely in this way.  I haven't found it gave me true full coverage, however, more like a "fuller medium".

Finish

bareMinerals call this a "natural" finish.  Not a bad description - it really does give a lovely look to your skin, like you've dialled back time and you're more youthful and bright eyed and bushy tailed.  No two ways about it, I have been seriously impressed with this the last few days I have been using it.... on application at least.  More on that later.

Best Suited To

This needs powdering in the oilier areas, and faded and broke up a little in my t-zone as the day progressed, so I can't see it suiting terribly oily skinned lads and lassies - but it did work fine on my dry and normal areas perfectly.  So I'd say that's the target right there: dry to normal.

Wearability

Here's where this truly beautiful looking foundation lets you down - I got about four hours out of this.  Each time I tried it, with or without primer, with or without finishing powders or sprays.  I was really disappointed, as this really does look beautiful.  It just doesn't last terribly long.

Shades & Undertones

No splodge/swatch sorry - I have been working from samples and I don't have photos.  There's quite a range of shades though, and quite a range of undertones.  The bareMinerals site has a tool to help you try to find your correct shade, but I never trust these things;  you're far better off getting yourself to a counter and trying them out yourself.  I've been using Bare Natural (#07) was was maybe a tiny smidge too pale for me (MAC NC23-25 at the moment), I could live with it, shade-wise (if it lasted long enough that is).

Best Applied With

I found a paddle brush or a stippling brush best for this foundation.  It was a little mask-like when applying with my fingers, and I found that the skin on my fingers "drank up" quite a bit of it, which meant I had to use quite a bit more than I should.  A sponge should work just fine, but I haven't tried it.  bareMinerals sell a custom-made buffing brush they want you to use with this foundation, it's basically a buffing brush out of which a hole has been cut in the centre!  A bit of a gimmick, to be honest, and not necessary - any such brush will do just fine.

Formulation, SPF, Skincare, Price

This contains an SPF of 20.  Ingredients-wise, titanium dioxide features highly on the ingredients' listing (11%!), along with a bunch of minerals, some filler ingredients, plant extracts, hyaluronic acid, mica, silica, iron oxides.  It doesn't contain any silicones, perfumes, parabens, water or oils.  bareMinerals claim that this is a "breakthrough tone-correcting mineral foundation and skincare serum in one".  Not sure I 100% agree with this one - there are some skincare ingredients, but nowhere near enough to get remotely excited about.  However the lack of parabens, silicones, oils makes it an interesting formulation!  With that high levels of titanium dioxide, I'd expect a lot of flashback.  Price-wise, €31 is the usual price for 30ml, you'll find it for around €28 online on Debenhams.ie right now.

Look here for more info.  I absolutely love the look of this foundation, it does what other more expensive ones do (yes, I'm pointing my accusatory finger at you, Chantecaille), but at a significantly smaller pricetag.  On the other hand, it just doesn't last, excuse my language, piddling time on my face.  So unless you want to truck it around with you for touch-ups, which I don't have time for personally, I wouldn't bother.