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bareMinerals Bareskin Pure Brightening Foundation Review

ByCordelia

bareMinerals Bareskin Pure Brightening Serum Foundation Review

As promised, I’m now ready to share my bareMinerals Bareskin Pure Brightening Foundation review with you. I’ve tried this product several ways. First I shared the shade Bare Satin 6 with you and showed you a tutorial on how to lighten a foundation that was too dark. Next I shared my first experience wearing Bare Porcelain 1.

PR + purchased by me.

bareMinerals Bareskin Pure Brightening Foundation Review


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Price
$29 for 1 fl. oz. of foundation
$28 for the bareskin perfecting brush

Availability
Sephora, Ulta, bareMinerals, QVC

My thoughts
The foundation wore best for me when I wore it on its own with no primer and I used the bareMinerals foundation brush. While I thought the foundation brush might be gimmicky at first, after trying to use this foundation with my Cover FX Liquid Foundation brush, I found it didn’t apply as well with it. It was streaky. So I definitely feel like the bareMinerals brush gave me a better application and is necessary for this foundation.

However, wear time on this foundation is too short for me. When I wore the foundation on its own, after 5 hours it was gone and needed to be reapplied to my nose, cheeks and chin. These are the areas that I need foundation the most because of my rosacea. When I wore the foundation on top of primer and setting powder and set it with setting spray, it looked cakey and heavy in 20 minutes. It was awful. When I wore it with just primer, it started to separate after an hour.

I wanted to love this foundation and it is such a cool concept. It looks fantastic when you apply it on its own for a few hours, but it fades too quick on my skin. As a reminder, my skin is on the dry side right now, it’s sensitive and I have rosacea. While this didn’t irritate my sensitive skin, it also didn’t last 8 hours. I really need my foundation to last 8 hours minimum. I was shocked that it couldn’t last with primer + setting powder + setting spray.

The shade Bare Porcelain 1 was slightly too dark for my skintone. The fact that there are 20 shades in this range leaves me hopeful that most people can find a match. I think if you’re extremely pale like I am, or extremely dark, you still may need to color correct the foundation. I recommend Face Atelier Zero Minus or Illamasqua Skin Base 1 to lighten foundations and Face Atelier Zero Plus Plus to go deeper.

I think this foundation might work well for you if you have normal skin that is not too dry or too oily. I think if you’re oily, this foundation might be gone in a few hours. If you’re dry like I am right now, it’ll be gone in  few hours as well.

I personally cannot recommend this foundation if you have skin like mine and I will be returning Bare Porcelain 1. It just does not have any lasting power for me.

Pros

  • Cruelty free
  • Doesn’t irritate my sensitive skin
  • 20 shades available

Cons

  • Does not last very long
  • Even with 20 shades, may not be perfect matches available for all skintones (i.e. mine is not a perfect match)

Cordelia Frost is the creative force behind Phyrra, a treasure trove for cruelty-free indie and goth makeup enthusiasts. She's the author of the game-changing 'Hooded Eyes Makeup Manual' a must-read for hooded eyes makeup.

Cordelia's world is a kaleidoscope of alternative beauty, gothic fashion, and life-enhancing tips, making every visit to Phyrra a journey into a more colorful and inspired self.

52 Comments

  1. I have been using this foundation for almost a week and I tried very hard to like it. As you said it does not last long. I attempted to apply a fuller coverage and it looked too heavy. I was color matched at the Bare Minerals store in my mall and the color was fine. After using it for 5 days it seems to be making my skin flaky and dry. Definitely not what it is supposed to do. I do tend to have dry skin but it has been in pretty good shape lately as far as that goes. I stopped using this and the flaky patches seem to be going away.

  2. Thanks for the thorough review on this. I think I’ve decided against buying it. I’ve been using Make Up Forever’s foundation, concealer, finishing powder and primer. I’m really only a fan of the last two, but I have to use it up anyway. Still in the market for that miracle foundation and concealer.

    1. The Cover FX CC Cream is my favorite ‘foundation’ type product because it really works so well for my skin.

      1. Thank you, that will be my next try. Do you have a concealer recommendation for dry skin and redness coverage?

        1. The concealers I like the best are
          1. OCC Skin conceal
          2. Silk Naturals HD Peach concealer (for undereye dark circles, I don’t use this frequently but it’s really nice)
          3. Cover FX Cream Concealer (I just did a tutorial showing 3 ways to use this concealer on Youtube).

          1. Awesome, thanks again for replying to me! I like your blog and videos, and I’ll check this one out now. I also have genetic dark circles, so that extra tip was nice of you.

  3. I wanted this to be amazing. It sounded like it was going to be. A foundation that’s a serum is such a nice idea, but this is just getting awful reviews everywhere. Always baffles me how in every company there’s always something they do amazingly and still something they just don’t get right. Like their eyeshadow quads look amazing from when you’ve shown them, but then there’s this =/

  4. I have been debating to try this foundation because there are a lot of mixed reviews, but when I get the chance I shall ask to be color matched and a free sample at Sephora to see how I like it before I buy it. I really like the pressed powder foundation they had last time and is one of my high-end favorites.

  5. I love Bare Minerals and I got to try a sample of this foundation, but this is was a no go for me. It just made me super oily and hardly had any coverage.

  7. I was curious about this but sad that it didn’t work so well 🙁 plus its so pricey with both the brush + the foundation, you’d think it would meet expectations.

  9. I have combination skin and would love to give this a try to see how it performs on me

  10. I just bought this and the brush. I haven’t used it yet.. I have super dry skin, but I guess we shall see. I’ll let you know how it works! ^-^

  13. Well there ya go! I am both oily and dry, so the foundation was destined to not last on me! I’m glad I’m not the only one who had the same experience. It’s a shame indeed!

  14. I purchased this yesterday and can’t wait to try it. I hope it works out for me as Bare Minerals is a damn good brand! Thanks for the review

  15. I just got this foundation as well. I have pretty normal skin and it does last all day (I even wore it traveling and it kept well). I had the same issue that I am the lightest shade they have and my sister’s skin is much lighter than mine so she cant use it. I use my real techniques buffing brush to apply it and I think that brush works pretty well. Thanks for your review! Always interesting to see how different foundations work with different skin types!

  16. Thank you for the honest review. I was very curious about this one and will pass now.

  17. I had high hopes for this too. It’s too bad about the wear time. Thanks for the review and for saving me the money. LOL

    1. I would say pick up a sample from Sephora.Maybe you’ll have better luck with it than I did! It has such a nice finish initially!

  18. It actually works pretty well for me. I apply it straight onto my face using the tarte foundation brush, then apply a setting spray. This is actually the first foundation that has really worked well for me. Maybe my face is just weird. 🙂

    1. No! It’s awesome that it works for you! I wish it worked for me because it looks beautiful during the first hour.

    1. No problem! I tried to use it several different ways and I have to say the best way I found to wear it was on its own, with no primer or setting powder or setting spray.

  23. I have seen a bunch of reviews of this product, and overwhelmingly people love it upon first application.. those who have done a wear test do not. I have to wonder who it does work for, and what their secret is!

    1. Me too! 5 hours is NOT long enough. I wore my makeup today for 12 hours and it started to show wear around 10. (Cover FX primer mixed with Nyx Angel Veil Primer, NARS Light Reflecting Loose Setting powder, and Illamasqua Skin Base 2)

  24. Hmm, I was looking forward to trying this foundation, but my skin has been quite oily lately, so I’m afraid this foundation will just melt off eventually. Thanks for your honest review!

  25. I think it’s interesting that primer made it worse. Can i ask which primer you used? Was it one with silicone or without? I find all silicone primers make foundation last less time on my skin. Strange, i know.

    1. Hi! If you watch the video you’ll see that I used Purely Cosmetics Primer mixed with Nyx Angel Veil Primer. I’m not sure of the ingredients for either because I haven’t looked them up.

  27. I’m glad you can return it. It sounds like one of those “your mileage may vary” products but that’s typical with foundation anyway. I know with hot weather around now that it wouldn’t last on me either.

    1. I’ve heard other people rave about it and I thought it would be awesome
      for normal to dry skin, but it just doesn’t work for me. Wish it did!

  28. it didn’t last long on my skin either although i thought it applied better with my beauty blender than the perfecting brush. i haven’t played around with primer and setting spray yet but it sounds like i won’t need to. it’s too bad, when it’s fresh my boyfriend actually asked me why i looked so flawless.

    1. I haven’t tried it with a beauty blender but I was curious if the blender would absorb more of it or spread it out.

      1. I shake the bottle, put 4 drops of foundation onto my fingers and dot it down the center of my face. then I use a damp beauty blender to blend it outwards. I would imagine if you dropped the foundation onto the bb sponge or to the back of your hand then it’d absorb. I probably didn’t need 4 drops but I wanted to see what the heavier coverage would look like first

  29. I love your reviews ! & I just started watching your videos.. It’s a bummer how it doesn’t last enough.

  30. Thanks for the honest and thorough review! I’ve been mulling this over, but it sounds like it wouldn’t be a hit for me because my skin is more on the oily side.

    1. I was so hopeful with this foundation but it just fell flat for me. I know it works well for some of my friends, but not for my finicky skin.

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