bareMinerals bareSkin Pure Brightening Serum Foundation

This was touted to be bareMinerals' first liquid mineral foundation, formulated without water, silicone, oil, parabens or fragrance. It is hypoallergenic and non-comedogenic and contains a non-chemical SPF of 20, it also contains vitamin C to help brighten the complexion. The bottle is colour coded to represent the shade of the foundation inside, I was colour matched to the shade Bare Espresso number 19 of the 20 shades available.

The foundation also has brush that you can purchase to make the application better. The brush has a little dip in the centre, once you shake the foundation well, you apply 1-6 drops, depending on the level of coverage you want to achieve and buff it into the skin. However I actually prefer to use my Real Techniques buffing brush, so I don't think the brush is an essential purchase.

bareMinerals developed the tag line Shake, drop, buff to help you remember, you have to ensure you shake this foundation well, as it contains no binders it has a tendency to separate.

I would say my colour match is pretty good, although it does look slightly strange if I try to build up the coverage, but once the rest of my make-up is applied it looks ok. It controls oil well if my combination skin is properly prepped i.e. primer, light moisturiser etc.

As my first ever bareMinerals foundation, it's a lovely lightweight formula, that evens out the skin quite well and is great for the warmer months. The omission of the usual nasties and addition of vitamin C and SPF is a nice touch, it's good to know something you are using can benefit your skin in the long run.

Despite the 20 shades darker skinned girls will still struggle to find a shade match, as stated before my shade is Bare Espresso and the next one down is Bare Mocha but even that shade will be too light if you are a darker shade. What is confusing is that the colour of the foundation when it comes out of the tube is a lot lighter than you would expect.

Also the undertone of the darker shades isn't great, which doesn't help in shade matching. This is disappointing because bareMinerals place a lot of emphasis on the fact that they have 20 shades which embraces all skin tones when in fact only two or three are suitable for Black and Asian skin tones.

For more information please visit their website.