The Best Mineral Makeup

So I have been tormenting myself over this blog post for months.  I really wanted to give this product review with complete honesty but then I felt guilty for what I needed to say in order to be honest.  Then this morning I realized enough is enough so here it goes....

I saw a "Beauty Steals" article on Self magazine's website and it featured an ELF makeup kit.  When I went to the ELF website I found that they sell mineral makeup and their foundation is $5!  So I thought I would give it a try and put it up against Bareminerals which I currently wear (click here to see my last post about Bareminerals).  To be completely fair, I decided to have my sister (who wears BM too) and two friends (who have never worn BM) to try it.  The results were split.  Those who had never tried BMs loved it and my sister and I agreed ...eh!  So I kept on trying...determined that I would like it...I tried a different shade of foundation, several eyeshadows ($3 each), eye brightener ($3) and blush ($5).  All of these products I have the equivalent in Bareminerals which admittedly costs a lot more.  For example, one eyeshadow from Bareminerals costs $12!  So if I could find products I liked and worked the same I would also be saving lots of money.  Right?

Well here is the hard part.  ELF is not the best mineral makeup.  Bareminerals is!  ELF just doesn't work as well.  The foundation is not as smooth.  The eyeshadows are too sparkly.  The blush doesn't really show up on your skin without several applications.  The eye brightener is too white. However, it is inexpensive and it is wearable....it's just slightly off.  So I finally realized this morning that this was my problem with all makeup BEFORE I tried Bareminerals.  All the foundations I ever wore were slightly off the color of my skin, eyeshadows were a hit or miss, I never even tried to wear blush for fear of looking like a clown and don't get me started about the reverse coon eyes (white circles instead of black...lol) then it hit me...THAT THIS WAS THE REASON I WENT AND GOT BAREMINERALS!!!!!!!!!!  I was tired of it not being just right.  I wanted flawless natural makeup and that is truly what you get with Bareminerals.  Yes the start up cost in purchasing it is very high but once you buy it ... it lasts a long time.  The starter kit for Bareminerals is $49 at Sephora.  Granted it doesn't come with eyeshadows or mascara but I've never used Bareminerals mascara and maybe you like your current eyeshadows but seriously you can ease into it with baby steps and they also sell eye kits where you get brushes, eyeshadows, eyeliner and possibly even mascara in one box.  So anyways, $49 for Baremineral starter kit...I spent $50 on ELF stuff and it doesn't even work as well!  

So here is my point ... I had went back to my old ways of purchasing makeup...buying and buying hoping it would work and it didn't!  So maybe the inital price tag is a bit scary but it works and the searching and pouring money down the drain on bad products stops!  

Also, the cheaper products don't last as long because you have to use more of them because they wear off faster.  So you keep caking the makeup on...that doesn't sound like smooth flawless skin to me...does it to you?

So in my opinion Bareminerals is the best mineral makeup and I can finally give up on the ELF stuff and not feel guilty.  I'm so glad to finally get this off of my chest...big sigh of relief.