Let me start this review by saying that I do NOT have oily skin. I have normal skin with occasional hormonal breakouts. It seems like the people who have so many problems with this makeup do have oily skin. So take this review for what it's worth for your skintype,

I have been using this product for two weeks now after purchasing the "light" kit. I'm pretty impressed with it so far, but not quite enough to call it my "HG."

The kit itself is a bargain, I think. 2 shades of foundation, bronzer ("Warmth"), powder ("Mineral Veil") and two makeup brushes for $60. Not bad. However, if you need to buy the foundation alone, it will set you back $25, which seems like a lot for foundation (at least to me). The good part is that the foundation should last you a long time because you don't need to use very much to get good coverage. And I don't really understand why they give you 2 shades of foundation in the kit--unless you tan in the summer. I don't tan in the summer at all, and the "Light" shade is way too dark for me. It will never get used.

You need to be veeery careful with the foundation that you don't apply too much, or it will look like a mask. I actually put it on in two layers using just a small amount of foundation for each layer. Then I put the mineral veil on top of that. The result is very nice. I get the look of smooth, even skin with barely anything going on my face. It lasts all day on me, and doesn't settle into my pores like it does with some people.

There are a few cons with this makeup that keep it from being my HG. First, it's too many darn steps for me! Before I purchased BE I used CG Aquasmooth. With the Aquasmooth, I'd do a light swiping of makeup once all over my face, and then I was done. No second layer, and no powder to "set" it, and it also looked very natural and not made up (I would constantly get comments on how nice my skin was! haha!). Second, I'm not a big fan of the Warmth. Either I use too little and it doesn't do anything, or I use too much and it looks dirty. I can't get an in-between no mater what I do. Finally, the brushes that come with the kit are terrible. They shed like crazy and are really scratchy. There has got to be a better brush out there for this stuff.

I'm on the fence about whether I will purchase this again or go back to Aquasmooth when this is gone. We shall see when I run out. At this point, I'd say this stuff is a close second to my Aquasmooth. continued >>

I have acne-prone combination skin. for the most part it's clear but i have little hormonal breakouts around my period. I was really excited to try bare minerals and bought the starter kit after a demo at sephora. i liked the coverage and the idea of makeup "pure" enough to sleep in enough to shell out more than i'd ever paid for foundation. later in the day my skin started itching and continued to even after i cleansed with my usual cetafil+baking soda combo. the next day i broke out in a horrible rash that covered my face. i had gnarly red welts for a week and a half. :( after googling, i found out that like many others who have used bare minerals, i have a sensitivity to bismuth oxychloride. i would recommend that anyone considering buying this or any other product containing bismuth do some googling before trying it. i learned the hard way and now i am much more ingredient-conscious.

I don't know what spurred me to purchase Bare Minerals (I simply don't remember). I was excited to get home and try it for myself and was, as others have expressed, disappointed. What was all the hub-bub about?

But I kept trying. The first week I suddenly noticed that I had terrible fine lines beneath my eyes (where the heck did they come from??). I had people asking me if I was tired. So I almost gave up.

But then I did some reading about the product and made a few changes.

First, I changed my foundation color to a medium (I had originally purchased the light set). I have what I consider a pale complexion BUT, wow - what a difference the change made! I started to get what everyone was talking about!

Then I decided to do the "Mineral Veil sandwich." I have oily skin and I noticed that my foundation started to disappear just after lunch. But when I use Mineral Veil both under AND over the foundation it made a world a difference. No more oily breakthroughs! My face stays put all day :)

The last thing was regarding my eye area. I do put the foundation on my eyes last and I spend lots of extra time buffing there. MUCH better! I now wonder if those lines were actually as bad as I thought they were that first week! I also smooth the area with the concealer brush (gives it a nicer finished look).

So now I'm hooked on Bare Minerals!! Only wish I had found it sooner...!!

This is the WORST product for acne prone skin. I don't care what Allure or Sephora says.... it's all marketing. I used this product for several months and my skin was horrible, but I never thought it was BE because it was supposed to be so "pure I could sleep in it." I stopped using the product and went back to MAC Studio Fix and my skin cleared very soon after. BE also made my friend break out horribly and she NEVER breakouts. She stopped BE and her face cleared. Trust me, stay away. Or use it and if you start to break out, you'll know where it came from.

After seeing this product on those informercials, I thought that it was just a scam. I have always used thick liquid makeup because powder never covered enough. This works like magic! The coverage is great for me but I don't get blemishes so I'm not sure how well it works to cover them up. I especially love it because I have freckles and this blends them into the rest of my skin. The downside is the price but if you get it off ebay, it is a little cheaper. Another problem that I have is that I like to take my makeup with me and the lid always fills up with the powder because of the holes. This can make quite a mess when opening and closing the container. But other than that this stuff is amazing and I will never buy anything else!

I am sorry for the poor ladies who didnt have a good experience with BM... personally I love this stuff... I was really skeptical about it at first and put off buying it for weeks after my interest first sparked... the fact that they had minimal shades concerned me... But i did it.. I got medium... I dont like the medium beige(too dark) but i suppose when the summer starts next year and i get tan I'll be able to use it... So my experience: I spent hours researching BM and watched video clips and decided to go for it... I hated it. I didnt think it looked like i had anything on.... i was afraid it was a complete waste.... but now i love it and iam so thankful Im not having problems with it.. seems like with BM its 50/50 it either works and you love it or you hate it with a passion... Although it does take a little while to get the hang of it im sure in no time ill be doing it in a very short period of time... ( now takes me 15 min by itself... not including mascara,liner,shadow)
If you want to try it... do it.. if you dont like you can always return it but you may like it!!!! A word of caution!!!! once the powder comes out of the sifter.. it will NOT go back down.. so dont even try.. doing so will make even more powder come out of the sifter... so carrying in a purse its out of the question...

*update* 4+ years after trying I am still a faithful BE user. I'm afraid to try anything else because this works for me. The price is outrageous but I've yet to find something that matches me better and doesn't cause breakouts. The new closeable sifter is awesome and I love it! If any one knows of any comparable powder foundation to this message me =] I use medium

I really won't use any other foundation or powder on my face. It looks natural, feels light, not cakey, and it doesn't irritate my skin at all. It's quick and easy. I've cut down applying my makeup in the morning or whenever down to seriously 10 minutes.

NOTE: As much as I love this product, not good when you're breaking out. =/

I really wanted this to work, but it didn't. I followed the directions with swirling the brush, tapping, etc. It just looked weird on my skin, but that didn't last for long- it just didn't hold up to my oily skin, so it looked weird, shiny and blotchy.

I got this in medium and tan (NC35-40) and it looked dirty on my skin. It also made me itch like crazy and break out as well. I'm sure this worked for some people, but definitely not for me.

I felt that this product did nothing to cover up minor blemishes or cover ANYTHING at all! I have oily skin, so after wearing it for about 2-3 hours, my face was so shiny from wearing this stuff. They say to put a tiny amount on the lid-then swirl, tap and buff-but it abosolutely does nothing when you put it on. So if you want something that has great coverage and won't make you look shiny-do not buy this product. However, if you have flawless, normal skin and don't need the coverage, this product may suit you best.

Quick update: I never really wore this make-up often, but when I did, I realized that it made me break out a bit-espescially on the forehead area. This product is not all PURE minerals, if you read the label on this product (at sephora) it states that this product may contain "talc" which may clog pores. So, I do NOT recommend this product at all to ANYONE.