A Visit To bareMinerals
Last week I had the pleasure of visiting the London headquarters of bareMinerals, a.k.a surely one of the best offices to work in, ever. All the meeting rooms were either full on swishy glamour or contemporary cool, and of course, there was SO. MUCH. MAKEUP everywhere. Plus the people are also extremely nice. How could the company all about natural beauty and inner confidence be anything less than a blumming bunch of sunbeams?
Instead of just talking me through their latest products, the lovely folks at bareMinerals got one of their makeup artists to do my makeup and give me some pointers on how to use everything. Nat was lovely, and completely listened to me when I explained how I usually wear makeup and what I've found doesn't work for me. Makeup artists pretty much always make my face orange in some kind of bid to warm my deathly pale skin up, so I was relieved when Nat said he hates it when people use foundation to make their face darker. We spent some time colour matching foundation, and I'm the lightest shade of the Pure Brightening Serum Foundation - which, by the way, gives amazing coverage whilst being incredibly light. My skin tone was evened without me feeling like I was wearing anything on it - an absolute win.
The whole look was about giving me a radiant glow, so everything from the primer and foundation to the setting powder and highlighter was brightening and radiance-boosting. This is so fantastic for winter skin, especially mine which crumbles at the first signs of central heating and cold wind. Not literally crumbles, you understand, it just gets a bit dry and dull. Nat decided to give me a smoky eye, because why not eh? When you have a makeup artist, it doesn't make sense to not experiment. Nat did my eyebrows a little darker than I might have done (apologies that they need threading as well, just ignore that...) but it's something I wanted to try, so I'm glad I got the chance. The Frame and Define brow definer is a brilliant dupe for Anastasia Beverly Hills' Brow Whizz, and made my brows look so full.
I told Nat I'd like to be good at contouring, but my attempts so far have just left me with dirty looking cheeks. His tip for pale skin is to concentrate on the highlighting instead of the shading, and to give the illusion of definition that way. He lit up my forehead, cheekbones and bridge of my nose a treat, and made my huge nose look considerably smaller with some dark contour at the sides. Nat gave me an ombre lip by putting a gloss that's lighter in shade than the lipstick in the middle of my bottom lip, something I don't usually do as my bottom lip is so much bigger than the top anyway, but it looked much better than I thought it would. Quite understandably, there was nothing that Nat could do for my dark blue under eye area, it reminds me of that meme where the man is saying "I'm sorry honey, I'm a beautician not a magician. I think you're looking for Jesus and he doesn't work here." Lol! Note to self, be much healthier in 2016.
I'm so impressed with bareMinerals, the glow lasted all day without touch ups, and both lip products didn't make my lips feel remotely dry. They lasted throughout the yummy lunch we all had at Soho Hotel, even whilst scoffing this banoffi pie (below). You probably already know and love bareMinerals for it's world famous Mineral Veil Powder, but I'd recommend getting better acquainted with their other products too. The blushers are incredibly radiance boosting, and the serum foundation is one of the best formulas I've ever tried. The use of minerals across the brand is to enhance and energise your skin from the outside in, and they work in harmony in improve your complexion instantly and throughout the day or night. I love the ethos of the brand too, it's not just about having customers, but building a community of passionate, driven women. Because they treat bloggers so well, I can believe that every customer really matters and is part of the family too.
Take a look at their Christmas gift sets (below). Look at that Everlasting Enchantment set! (top right). Excuse me whilst I just cry over its staggering beauty. I love the gift box for the Deluxe Mineral Veil powder too, look at the cute gemstone and key! I would freak out if I got that in my stocking. Any of their items would be ideal for someone who'd like glowing skin this festive season, and possibly a smaller nose... Thanks, bareMinerals for a wonderful day.