Forget makeovers, StyleNest headed to the bareMinerals makeup boutique in London’s Covent Garden for a total make-under.
We’re sure you’ve heard of cult beauty brand, bareMinerals, renowned for being the only 100% pure mineral makeup on the market. We were very familiar with the brand too, having tried and tested countless of their products over the years.
Despite this, and despite the fact that we’d loved each and every product, we’d lost our way with the brand slightly, somehow always going back to our regular liquid and compact foundations, in spite of loving and knowing how good their mineral foundations were for our skin.
So, we thought it was time to re-engage with the best-loved brand, and undergo a cosmetics make-under, bareMinerals style.
We headed to the bareMinerals boutique on London’s Neal Street, just off the popular shopping district of Covent Garden. The store is bright, airy and popping with the pink bareMinerals branding – a girlish vibe which makes you want to shop.
Their approach to beauty, skincare and makeup however is anything but girlish. In fact, it’s really rather grownup.
The make-under started with skincare – cleansing and prepping our skin with bareMinerals’ Purifying Facial Cleanser, £15. Refreshing and gentle it left our face feeling squeaky clean but not tacky or dry like other cleansers can do.
This was followed by the Active Cell Renewal Night Serum, £38 and Advanced Protection SPF20 Moisturizer, £27 to nourish, boost and quench our thirsty, city-drained skin. Glossy textures that sink right into the skin, give the range a real luxe feel, at a reasonable price point. So far, so good.
On to the makeup, and although bareMinerals call this a ‘make-under’ there are still quite a few products used. That’s not the point however, it’s more about looking, fresh, undone and natural.
Prime Time Brightening Foundation Primer, £21 was applied to our clean skin – a brightening, glossy primer that preps, without it clogging in that ‘polyfilla for the face’ type way, before the most important product, and the bareMinerals’ hero, the foundation.
We’d used the signature mineral powder foundation before, but with all the loose particles and fiddling around with brushes it’s not the ideal makeup to pop in your handbag for midday touch-ups. That’s where the new bareMinerals READY SPF20 Foundation, £25 comes in. Using solid mineral technology it gives that sleek, flawless finish of the original foundation, but comes in a handy, fuss and mess free compact. Available in 20 shades, there’s one to suit all skin tones, from the very pale porcelain like ours to very dark.
A flush of bareMinerals READY Blush, £22 and bareMinerals READY Bronzer, £24 contoured our face and perked it up, whilst the lovely bareMineral makeup artist lent us some handy tips and tricks for easy application.
The make-under is really all about the skin – fresh, perky and youthful looking without a blemish or dark circle in sight. After a slick of mascara we’d quite happily faced the world, but a little eyeshadow contouring and a dab of lipstick – we loved the Marvelous Moxie Lipstick in Make Your Move, £16 – and not only was our skin glowing, but our eyes and lips had a little pop too.
It’s time to reassess your makeup bags ladies, you could be over doing it.