Make-up...Bare Minerals 101

Okay...so my make-up routine is pretty much straight up bare minerals...with the exception of my mascara, which is DHC. So let's start from the beginning! I mentioned earlier that I have a slight allergic reaction to bare minerals, I've never encountered another person who uses it that has it, but something in there my skin dislikes and it kind of causes my skin to "boil" almost. It gets hot and lil bumps pop up, not pimples, nothing like that, just raises my skin in places. Anyway, I said that not to scare you away because it's clearly me not the make-up...but to give you some background on why I have to put so many steps between my skin and my make-up...more than would be necessary for the normal person with skin that doesn't hate them!

Anyway, I tried to go off of bare minerals due to the adverse skin reaction for about a year...but I couldn't...I found it under my sink one day and had a full blown, Brokeback Mountain-esque "I can't quit you" moment. Good news, this ish NEVER goes bad and it lasts forever. I started wearing bare minerals about 8 years ago now and I still have and wear some of my original purchases (I don't wear eye shadow all that often so I have a TON of those, like I could start my own store). Anyway, I tried to give it up but there is just no other make-up I have ever tried that makes my skin look as nice as this stuff...and the bronzer is my obsession, when I eased myself back into bare minerals it was the bronzer that did it. I worked it back in and then the rest and now I'm full blown bare minerals again...I made a couple of adjustments, as mentioned above I put several layers of moisturizers and primers between my skin and the bare minerals and I also now wash my face every night...what's that you say? Oh, I know you should always do that regardless, but I didn't, never had, never had to...*shrugs* Just never had a big issue with acne and my skin was pretty resiliant I guess...but in order to pull this off I really need to wash my face at night, in the event that I'm feeling particularly lazy I leave a packet of DHC make-off wipes on my nightstand. Problem solved. So here is the run down, in order of application.

Already mentioned in a previous post my moisturizer and primer (Dermalogica and DHC velvet skin coat) so my next step if I'm doing make-up is a matte base...it's also from DHC and it's called "Clarifying Pore Cover Base". It's great for T-zone skin or if you are like me and live in Florida and break out into a sweat the second you step outside, it helps keep my make-up set and I love it for that. If you do not have issues with oily skin or live in a ridiculously humid climate I would think you could skip this step all together.

Okay, next step I just used for the first time yesterday and LOVE. I bought into the whole BB cream fad and got one, I bought "Stila, stay all day 10-in-1 HD illumination beauty balm" with SPF 30. Very nice coverage, light weight, and just gives your skin a little glow. For work, theoretically you could just stop with this step I think, especially if you are rocking a nice tan.

A product I do not use daily, but do use if I'm looking tired or my eyes just look puffy or dark is Bare Minerals "Stroke of Light". I just dab a bit under my eyes and blend, gives my eyes a little pop.

Next, if I have any blemishes or discoloration to cover up, I use Bare Minerals "Bisque" these come in various shades to match skin tone, I really like the normal one and the "Summer Bisque", but I rarely use them.

Next is foundation, I know it's like my 10th step, but you know, a girl has to protect her skin! I used "Bare Minerals Ready SPF 20 Foundation" in Golden Medium. If I have a nice tan, I don't bother with this as it tends to no longer match my skin tone properly. But Bare Minerals really does finish nicely and looks airbrushed on and feels very light and moisturizing. I'm loving their new "Ready" collection because I'm normally throwing make-up on in my car so having the minerals pressed into a compact is a little easier with less chance of a total disaster than the jars. I've switched to Ready for my foundation, bronzer and eyeshadows, I also got the mineral veil in Ready, but didn't care for it, so switched back to the jar for that.

After foundation is the bronzer. I swear, they say it was the foundations that made bare minerals famous but for me it was their bronzer, the original is/was called "warmth". Love it. Subtle, any skin tone can use it...and it just looks so natural. I'm now using Bare Minerals Ready Bronzer in the shade called the high dive. Love it, and would equate it with warmth.

I'm not big on blush and don't use it often, but when I do I use Bare Minerals blush in cheerful. I'm looking to try the Ready blush but haven't gotten around to it yet. I have about 5 years of blush still stocked so it seems ridiculous to buy another one just because I want to try it in a compact form, but it hasn't stopped me yet. Anyway, they have an endless amount of color choices and any bare minerals boutique will take you through the entire gamut and show you great color choices for your skin tone.

Lastly, I finish my face with "Bare Minerals Tinted Mineral Veil", this step really just sets all of your make-up and gives a nice air brushed looking finish. Somedays I will just do a bit of bronzer and this and be good to go. Like I mentioned, I tried this in the new line of Ready, but didn't care for it. For those who have NO idea what I'm talking about...Bare Minerals is all loose powder based, even their eye liners used to be sold as loose powder that you would mix with water, that idea gave way for obvious reasons and they have continued to branch out and most recently released a line of their same products in a more conventional pressed powder in a compact format. I've liked everything I've tried in that format with the exception of the mineral veil which I really think needs to be put on with a nice light brush and not with the little contraption the Ready mineral veil comes with. My two cents :)

Eyes, whenever I can I use "DHC eyelash tonic", it's a nice protectant for your eyelashes and keeps them nice and soft. On days when I don't wear mascara (only if I'm staying home girls, I do not leave the house without mascara) I will put this on just to give my eyelashes a treatment. Normally, unless I'm in a huge rush, I will put this on underneath my mascara, kind of like putting a heat protectant on your hair before blow drying it.

Next, if I'm wearing eye liner, I do that next, shockingly I use "Bare Minerals Buxom Insider Eyeliner", cannot say enough good things about this eye liner. It is a pencil, but goes on as easily as a liquid, very soft pencil and waterproof...my left eye waters all day everyday, it's borderline obnoxious, and most eyeliners will not withstand that kind of assault...but this one does! Love it!

Next, I use "Bare Minerals Prime Time Brightening Eyelid Primer", brightening is their "go to" everyday shade that you can wear under pretty much any shadow, but I normally just wear it alone...but be careful...a VERY LITTLE bit of this goes a long way. It's very shimmery and the first time I wore it I overdid it and was like am I 18 and sneaking into my first club or am I going to work? But once I learned how to appropriately apply it, it quickly became my daily "shadow". These come in a variety of shades that can be worn alone or used to really boost the color of your shadows that go over them. They are a great primer for underneath shimmer shadows as they really keep the shadow on your eyes rather than falling off all over your face as the night progresses.

If I'm wearing an eyeshadow (which is pretty rarely), I will normally go with something very neutral, the only shade I'm traveling with right now is "Bare Minerals Eye color" in Summer. It's got a little shimmer to it but is a very neutral brownish color.

Lastly, I finish with mascara...I will leave the house without any of the above, but not without mascara. My favorite mascara of all time is "DHC Double Protection Mascara". This is oil based like all of the DHC products and doesn't leave my eyelashes feeling crunchy. Also, it forms little tubes around your eyelashes that come off nicely with water, but you have to kind of pull them off, so it's not like it comes off in the rain or with my excessive eye watering. You need to be intentionally removing it. I've had issues in the past with dry eyelashes that fall out a lot, in fact, at one point I thought my eyes might "go bald"! This mascara doesn't feel like it's causing harm and I love that!

Okay, so those are my go to products, would love to hear yours, especially if you have an eyebrow powder in your repertoire. I need that in my life so badly and just haven't ever really purchased one. Bare Minerals has one and I just heard about another one today that I might try, but my eyebrows are so thin and poorly shaped from years of over-plucking that now they do not grow back in any sort of nice shape and pretty much fade to nothing about halfway across my eye. Any advice welcome!