A few months ago I had purchased the Bare Minerals bareGold Pure Luxury Gold Collection from QVC. The kit came with an Autoship option for those not in the know that simply meant that they'd send me a kit every few months that was similar in style to the bareGold Collection but with a different color selection. In total it's four kits that I'll be getting and so far I've gotten two which are the bareGold and now the bareDiamond.
bareDiamond for me is a total disappointment. There isn't anything redeeming in the kit aside from maybe the blush and brushes?!
Where as bareGold had some very lovely golds and browns bareDiamond sports lighter shades for the Spring but the colors are completely off to me.
The kit included:
Diamond Gossamer Powder
Eyeshadow in Clarity
Glimmer in Marquise
Liner Shadow in Bronze Leaf
Blush in Hint
Mineral Veil
Lipstick in Gelato
Angled Face Brush
Soft Focus Eyeshadow Brush
Eyeliner Brush
Vanity Box
First off the Diamond Gossamer is an absolute disappointment as I already have it from the Bare Escentuals Classic Rock Collection. It's a fantastic gossamer to have and I absolutely love it but I didn't need a second pot of this. However, somewhere in the back of my head I knew that one of the kits included a gossamer I already had so no problems I can swap or sell it off!
The eyeshadow in Clarity is a nice enough color I guess but it's a bit blah for someone that enjoys bold shades. It's a pale blue, slightly iridescent shade that can be used as a base, highlighter, or all over wash of color. Formula is fantastic as always with Bare Minerals however for some odd reason I had a bit of a difficult time blending this well and the look I created with it today just came out rubbish!
Clarity Eyeshadow
The glimmer in Marquise is equally awful. The color is just blah, blah, blah. It's a dirty chrome gray mix up that doesn't do anything for me. Again I had a difficult time blending this for some reason hmmm...I see a pattern developing here!
Marquise Glimmer
The liner shadow in Gold Leaf has some redeeming qualities. It's a brown bronze with little sparks of gold and purple that are quite lovely however it really left me feeling un-Spring like! Bronze now? It's Spring!
Gold Leaf Liner
Now you're supposed to take all three of these, combine them, and come up with some gorgeous Spring look. Um no. Don't think so.
I created mud with a bit of light blue thrown in for good measure. Actually the effect came out somewhat like the Lavshuca FOTD I did using the Aqua Noble On Palette (
Click to view the FOTD).
The general idea is you apply Clarity as a base all over your eye, follow up with Marquise on the lid, and line with Gold Leaf and your finished look equals mud more or less with a bit of blue thrown in! The above FOTD was created using everything in the kit aside from the lipstick. I threw some Jill Stuart gloss on instead of the lippie that was included with the kit if you were curious what was on my lips!
I don't know who's bright idea it was to match up browns and beiges with lighter blues but I'm here to tell you it doesn't WORK! Bloody hell it looks awful! STOP doing palettes and kits with blue and brown it doesn't work I SAY (at least for me it doesn't!).
Moving on....
The blush is actually redeemable after all the drama with the shadows and liners in the kit. I sort of liked it. It's a dusky rose color and although it's very subdued for me it does create a very natural, elegant look. I actually do like this and it will work well in taming down my wilder looks! Yay! One product that I actually like!
Blush in Hint
The lipstick is another blah for me. The color is rose but it has some peach in it as well! I actually didn't even bother swiping or using it since it was so unappealing. Another one for the swap/sale bin!
Finally the brushes were pretty good! The brushes are a bit different from the previous set aside from the large Soft Focus Brush. I already have this brush from the previous sets so that's another for the swap bin! However, the Soft Focus Eyeshadow Brush is very nice. No shedding on this and it's very soft and works well for washing color onto the entire lid. I tried blending with it but it doesn't work at that for that task. Overall, a good brush for general color washing but not blending or packing color on. The other brush is a slim liner brush which is also very good. It's a thin tip brush and it works well with the liner shadow the kit came with! The brushes are different from the bareGold aside from the Soft Focus Brush which is great as I don't have dupes now.
Overall, the Collection is a bust for me. The colors are way too weird and mixed up to create a good look, many of the items are duplicates I already have, and I just found the shadows and glimmer difficult to blend for some reason or another.
If you're still lemming this after my poor review you can call QVC direct (this isn't available online for purchase) and use item number A77475 to order yourself one!
The Muse gives this a big thumbs down for purchase! Waste of money, don't bother. The good news is if you're really loving any of this I'll be putting up a Spring Sale page very soon so most of this will be thrown on that page for sale! Yay!
Click here to read about my first impressions of the bareGold Collection I purchased!
Click here to read about the contents, price, and autoship feature on the bareGold Collection!
Click here to read about the Bare Escentuals Classic Rock Collection!
Click here to read the review for the Bare Escentuals Platinum Collection!
Labels: Bare Escentuals, Face of the Day, Reviews, Spring Collections 2008
