It started out simply enough. I ran out of Well-Rested. If you’ve been following my misadventures, you know that bareMinerals Well Rested is a Holy Grail cosmetic product for me. As soon as I get to the bottom of the barrel, I make a beeline to the mall to replace it. I won’t even dare take the Well Rested that I have in my travel bag out to use as a replacement out of fear I will forget to place it back in its secure little travel home.
My beloved Well Rested. I’m very territorial with this stuff. Even Chippy knows better. Note the face cloth I have under the product. I protect my little vanity! Note the tweezers for the chin hairs!
I also had to run to J. Crew. Last month I ordered a cute off-the-shoulder dress. Vacation is coming and it looked like a great little frock to wear after pool and beach time. The dress, in a Medium, was just too big. I wasn’t wearing the dress—the dress was wearing me. The dilemma was exchanging for a smaller size or just returning the dress.
The dress. I love it but it was wearing ME!
Naturally, Bonaparte had to accompany me because he is my spending police—or rather my non-spending police. He lives in a fog of stress worrying that I have secret credit cards stashed into the C-cups of my bra or tucked into a secret compartment of my wallet.
So off we went.
I stopped at J. Crew first and ended up trying on a few things before deciding to size down in the dress. And with some left-over money from a gift card, purchased a cute tee.
I ended up purchasing the “Salut” tee–it’s going in my suitcase for vacation. I tried on the white pants with the tiny stars and they were too transparent for my taste and looked a bit like pajamas. I LOVED the orange dress but the fabric is just too heavy for this time of year. I sized down in the off-the-shoulder dress. I really like it!
Next stop. bareMinerals Boutique. I could have gone into Sephora, but I happen to like the service of this brick and mortar bareMinerals shop. And while making the transaction for my beloved Well-Rested, I glanced at a display for liquid gel foundation.
As much as I love Well Rested, I’ve never been able to wear the brand’s mineral foundation. My skin is very dry and the fine powder just never worked for me. My crossed eyes almost uncrossed at the surprise that BM was now selling a non-powder foundation.
The BareSkin foundation costs $29.50. Not bad considering what I usually pay for a good foundation. The spectrum of shades was impressive. But not taking any foundation for granted, or having it be a complete fail which translates into a waste of money, I asked if samples were available.
The sales assistant told me she could prepare a sample and chose the shade Bare Natural 07 for me. She also made it a point to tell me that I should not apply the product with a blending sponge. A brush is needed to apply. It was a humorous moment as I told her that my dog, just a couple of days earlier, dined upon the fourth beauty blending sponge that I had.
My little goodie bag. I’m telling you, I’ve been wearing Well Rested for over five years now. I love this stuff! LOVE it!
She also gave me a couple of samples of other products and off I went.
Who doesn’t love a mask? Even better when it’s a sample you never expected! I haven’t used these yet–but I will use them real soon!
I tried the foundation when I returned home from work last night. I wanted to write about it but I also wanted to try the foundation in its “bare” state. Without a primer on my face.
The sample really had enough for two full applications. Chelsie was very specific in her instructions too! I appreciate that!
As instructed, I shook the small sample very well. When I squeezed it onto my hand, the foundation felt more liquid than an actual gel. It didn’t feel too thick but the color seemed very dark and more yellow than what I’m used to.
Yikes! It doesn’t match my skin tone at all!
The application process with the brush was fine. The foundation didn’t feel cakey or heavy, but certainly was not full-coverage as I was told.
When I looked in the mirror, the color looked uneven. But more disappointing was that it made my skin appear dry and every single line in my face was more visible than ever.
I KNOW, my lips are chapped. I was biting them while working on a project. But the color is “off”..
It gave a very matte look, not dewy and, in my case, not moisturizing.
See how dry my skin looks? I’m wondering how much or how little a primer WOULD work? I really like a foundation with a more dewy, luminous finish.
All is not lost though. I’m going to go back for another sample. This time for a much lighter foundation and I’ll apply primer first. I will make my final assessment with the next sample.
But that’s the important thing. Ask for a sample before you purchase a good cosmetic. Oddly enough the $6.00 elf Flawless Finish Foundation I have gives better coverage. But the point is that samples are priceless. Having a sample will allow you to really try the product on your own terms. And don’t ever be afraid to ask for a sample—you are thinking about an investment for your face!!!!
The bareMinerals shop was very generous with the samples. Sephora is very generous with samples—always has been. Nordstrom is also excellent in their generosity with giving samples. I try to purchase cosmetics in sample-friendly establishments!
Foundations need to be chosen wisely. Some have a great tendency to oxidize. Others end up drying your skin and others can feel like a ball of grease. Samples will save you money and aggravation.
Hey. Have you heard of LipSense? This long-wearing lip product achieved a cult status! There’s a lot of hype about it. And supposedly can only be purchased from a distributor but I saw it on Amazon. It’s friggin’ expensive! And I am not one who likes to spend money on lip products because none of them wear too long.
$25 for this tube! It promises to keep your lips moist. Look–I can use all the goop, grease, oil and whatnot on my lips and they STILL chap. I think if you have a tendency toward chapped lips on a continuous basis, nothing will help. I’ll pass on spending this kind of money on a lip color. But that’s just me….
If you want a long-lasting lipstick that isn’t as expensive. Might I recommend Cover Girl Outlast lipstick?.
I’ve purchased Number 550 three times and am very happy with it. I wrote about this lip product twice before because I think it is an excellent product. And a less expensive price than the expensive long-lasting lip products!
I wanted to see just how long this product would last. I started this experiment earlier in the week when I wore the orangey-red from the All-Day Custom Red collection.
This peachy-redish-coral color is Number 800. I wore it in the photo above and the color lasted through most of the day. It was applied at 6:45 in the morning and 
On Sunday, while after doing my roots and giving myself a roller set, I decided to see how long this color would last…It’s another mauve, which I like a lot..
Because my lips are so naturally pigmented, I added a bit of concealer. Mind you, I had NO other make up on at all. I gave my face a rest!
Here we go–about 10 in the mornin’!
Around noon. Moments before my green shake!
About 1:30. This stuff ain’t goin’ nowhere!
3PM and the color is still where it should be. You like the toilet paper covering my rollers? I’m a class act. The paper absorbs the moisture from my hair and gives more volume when I take the rollers out. It’s kind of a joke these days because I just plop a wig or topper over the just-set hair. Oy vey!
4 o’clock and it wasn’t off yet. I would say it wore off after my second aperitif! But the point is–this lipstick really DOES last!
This is $7.49 at Walmart and worth every cent! And this stuff has been around for at least 12 years but doesn’t seem to get the love it deserves. Oona wore it to Irish Dance competitions when she danced because the stuff didn’t transfer onto the very expensive dance dresses she wore. It really does stay put. I my not have had the most active day on Sunday but I did finish a green shake, a banana and chewed some gum and the color stayed on.
OK I’m also late to the show here. I worked long and hard on that wig post from Sunday. But-I have some good news for the ladies who are thinking of a wig purchase. Divatress sent me the news that they ship internationally. You can get an estimate when you place items into your cart. In addition, I received some coupon codes for this month. For new customers use NEWDIVA10 –it’ll get you ten percent off your purchase. The other coupons are SPRING5 off an order for $70 or more and SPRING10 for orders of $100 or more. I think I’ll use one of these coupons.
Anyway, here’s a “sampling” of the clothing choices that I wore last week. I’ve had these clothes for years so they are as “long lasting” as the lipstick I just wrote about!
This was last Monday’s outfit. The weather was crummy. I didn’t feel like dressing up much and I decided to wear this dress that hadn’t fit me in years. Gap. On sale. Very simple look..
I wore this last Tuesday. Another bad weather day. I love the Tory Burch tunic. I got it during a huge internet sale. 75% off. This is a size 10 and didn’t fit me for a long long time. Her tunics run very small and I’m happy to say this fits very nicely now. Some tunics can be a bit loosey-goosey but the fit on this one is very flattering!
Wednesday (on second thought it may have been Thursday) was my “homage to Air France “flight attendants day. The navy dress. The scarf. The fake hair pulled back. Another simple look and very professional!
Hands down, this was my favorite outfit last week. Navy pants. Navy blazer, orange Repettos, the orange and blue scarf I stole from my daughter and an orange Longchamp bag. I really LOVE this look.
Casual Friday. I dressed up a torn jeans and sneakers look with a lady jacket. I paid twenty bucks for this jacket about three years ago at Nordstrom Rack. It FINALLY fits. All in all, every item I wore last week was years old with the exception of the jeans, which I purchased last November and the sneakers which I purchased in March (or was it the beginning of April). That lipstick I’m wearing–I applied it Thursday morning–ONLY KIDDIN”!!!
Speaking of long wearing and long lasting, here’s a “sample” of one of my favorite songs that has been long lasting in my world. James Brown’s “Hot Pants” Uh!!!
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