Bare Escentuals | Moxie Reviews™

bareMinerals Quick Change Brush Cleaner Review

January 10, 2012 By moxiereviews 2 Comments

Yes, bareMinerals is written correctly! Smile It’s the mineral based makeup developed by Bare Escentuals.

I purchased the Quick Change Brush Cleaner, and here’s why I recommend it:

Assuming you want to keep your makeup brushes in top condition, and lasting as long as possible, you need to take care of them. The Cleaner is as advertised! Do you need a quick change of makeup colors? Want to go from using a light-colored eye shadow to a dark-colored one? How about not wanting to take lots of brushes when you’re traveling?

Simple to use. Do not spray the cleaner directly onto any of your brushes. Spray the cleaner on tissues, and when completely damp, very gently sweep the brush back and forth over the tissue. When there is no color on the brush, you’re finished! Now you can immediately use this brush again. It’s that easy and quick!

It is not intended to be used every time you need to clean a brush, rather, between the regular shampooing of your brushes. Bare Escentuals sells i.d. Well-Cared for Brush Conditioning Shampoo for that purpose.

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I purchased the Quick Change Cleaner at Ulta, and everywhere that I checked, it was listed at the same price, US $19.

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Moxie Reviews™ 2012. Content copyright. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author/owner, Moxie, is strictly prohibited.

Filed Under: Bare Escentuals, bareMinerals, brush cleaner, quick change Tagged With: bare escentuals, bareMinerals, cleaner, Cosmetics, makeup brush cleaner

Beauty Celebrities & Holiday Plans!

December 16, 2011 By moxiereviews 2 Comments

Jennifer Matthews: My holiday plans include traveling to Louisiana with my boyfriend to see my family and giving away lots of cruelty free beauty products to my family and friends! https://www.twitter.com/mybeautybunny

Beauty Brains: “Sarah Bellum can’t wait for Santa to bring her the new small barrel InStyler (leopard print version) so she can start wearing her hair curly; The Right Brain is really excited to see if the new Colgate Optic White toothpaste will remove red wine stains from all those holiday cocktail parties; and the Left Brain will be looking at peer-reviewed scientific journals trying to find proof that Santa Claus doesn’t really exist. (What a Grinch!) Cheers! Right Brain” https://www.twitter.com/thebeautybrains

Siobhan O’Connor: “I’m going to split my time between Montreal, where I’m from, and Brooklyn, where I’ve lived for 10 years. Both are home to me, but I am especially excited to head up north for a few days. Montreal is always so cold and snowy around Christmas, which is just how I like it–and it’ll be great to see my parents, my brother, my sister in law and my two beautiful twin nieces. I also love New York when it empties out, so I’m excited to come back here for a few days, too!” https://www.twitter.com/NoDirtyLooks

Alexandra Spunt: We’re going to rest, eat, play in the snow, and hang with family and friends in our hometown of Montreal. Hopefully we’ll get to have a little quality time together too, since we’re usually on opposite coasts! https://www.twitter.com/@NoDirtyLooks

Vanessa Gualy: “I’ll be enjoying the holidays with all the good stuff in life- family, friends and delicious food!” (Co-Founder)https://www.twitter.com/nailinghwood

Tameka Linnell: Usually, we head out to Colorado to ski for the holidays, but this year we’ve decided to take a break from the hectic holiday travel and stay put in sunny South Florida. (not the worst place to spend the holiday…just ask the snow birds who flock down here from up north!)

My plans are pretty simple. I want to spend unadulterated time with my two beautiful kids and my amazing husband. I’m excited to slow down my pace and just relax and listen to the kids run around the house, go to the beach, go for bike rides without having to check my e-mail every minute or hop on a call. Lately, I’ve been going through cooking magazines dog-earring pages of great holiday recipes to make during the holiday break. I’m a working mom, so it’s fun to put the hat on of the mom in the kitchen cooking amazing meals. (I do cook most every night, but only meals that take 30 min, MAX!) This holiday season, I want my house to smell like my house did when I was a kid. Yummy aromas wafting from the kitchen. The smell of things roasting or cookies and cakes baking. I’m going to watch the Dora Explorer special on Sunday evening with my daughter who is completely enamored with Dora:-) I’m going to go to read 5 chapters to my son at night instead of the two that we usually only have time for because of the mad bedtime routine rush.

I’m also going to take time to do things for myself. Maybe get a massage AND a pedicure. I’m going to go paddle boarding with my husband. I’m going to go for a run at 10AM instead of 5:30AM. You get the point. This holiday season, I don’t just want to think about things that are important, I want to live out all those experiences with my loved ones. I’m excited to just slow down and re-connect and re-charge. Oh, and one last thing. My husband thinks I’m crazy, but I’m REALLY looking forward to taking more silly pics with my new instant camera:-) https://www.twitter.com/ItsJOON

Ruth Crilly: (New Year’s Eve) I shall be watching over Ted the kitten, I should think – he’s too small to leave alone so we will no doubt be warm and cosy by the fire! https://www.twitter.com/modelrecommends

Dr. Adrienne Denese: “I have a very important show on QVC right after Xmas on Dec 28th at 4am. Therefore I will not travel anywhere over the holidays to make sure that I do not catch a cold, do not catch the flu, etc. before this very important occasion. So I will be grounded in a way. I will be studying for the shows diligently over Xmas. It is not much fun but we all have to make sacrifices.” https://www.twitter.com/DrDenese

Ms. Furless, from Furless Makeup Brushes & Accessories, would like to wish everyone a very lovely Christmas! https://twitter.com/_FURLESS_

Melissa Croland: I will be spinning the dreidel and lighting Hanukkah candles with my wonderful boyfriend. After the Festival of Lights comes to an end, we will be heading to Fess Parker Winery to visit their tasting room, spa and a gallop around the vineyard on horseback New Year’s Day. I will definitely be ringing in 2012 wearing Youngblood Mineral Cosmetics! https://www.twitter.com/ybcosmetics

Indie Lee: “We are spending the holidays at home with our family and friends. We’ve hosted this for the past 8 years. It’s basically like a big open house. I come from a mix religious background, which is awesome and this year Hanukah and Christmas overlap. I’m excited to light the menorah at our holiday party with our family and friends. This year we decided not to spend that much time in the kitchen (OK I never really did) and we are continuing with the Hors d’oeuvres theme. Everyone loves and eats the apps and then never the big meal – so let’s just skip the big meal and eat all the fun stuff.

Gifts this year is also very cool…We all have enough stuff, so many people have nothing. So we are giving the gift of giving. We are buying gift cards for various denominations that the recipient can log on to the website and decide which charity they feel passionate about and can go to. It’s a win win. Brilliant! I feel so good about this choice.

My kids on the other hand have decided that rather then gifts this year, we are taking a family trip to Disney and Harry Potter world at Universal.” https://twitter.com/Indie_Lee

Richard Merrill: I am hosting a Few Holiday Spa shopping Parties throughout So. Cal. & then Dec 21-28, I will be visiting Family in San Diego to celebrate my sister’s birthday and Christmas https://www.twitter.com/RichardMerrill

Angel Kirk: Enjoying this special time of the year with my Family! I just love our family Christmas get- togethers and of course..all the good food! https://www.twitter.com/MrsAKirk

Abbey Allen: “This holiday I look forward to watching my one-year old daughter open her presents from Santa and take off all the ornaments on the low branches of the Christmas tree at my parents’ house! And I’ll be wearing my Winks at the holiday parties and on NYE at the beach!” https://www.twitter.com/GeorgieBeauty

Megan Allen: “I can’t wait to have a hot toddy by the fire with friends and family! That is after a full day of shopping, of course! My sister and I also have a tradition of delivering Santa gifts to a family in need on Christmas Eve, which is what it’s all about. That is always the highlight of our holiday.” https://www.twitter.com/GeorgieBeauty

N.K. (She’s so famous, she doesn’t need to give out any more info. than her initials!) I love to drive around with my 90 lb. puppy and check out those disconcertingly tasteful lights before parking on Montana Avenue in the tony neighbourhood of Brentwood and watch the theatrical tidings of streetside caroling. It’s going to be a quiet, contemplative holiday season set to some brassy, swinging holiday music as I gear up for some major changes in 2012. The revelry of solitude will be punctuated by mid morning jaunts to my local shelter, where I always hand out good tokens of cheer to spread the good karma forward https://www.twitter.com/beautyhuile

Kim Paschen: I am headed to Wisconsin to visit family for 5 days. I’ll also be going to the Packers-Bears football game on the eve of Christmas Day! http://www.twitter.com/LeapingBunny

Hope Gillerman: ”Found a cabin upstate with a cat and a fireplace to hang with friends and family for a few days. Includes a stop at Mohonk Mountain House Spa for “Breathe Deep and Be Well”-my favorite rejuvenating treatment- w/ HGO Chest & Sinus Remedy. Can’t wait!!!!!!” http://www.twitter.com/HopeGillerman

Barbara Brekke: There are a few things I can count on happening every Christmas:
1. Enjoying a dinner out with my husband and family on Christmas Eve;
2. Spending Christmas Day with my husband’s family;
3. And Youngblood goodies under the tree! https://www.twitter.com/ybcosmetics

Renee Lynn Smith: My plans for the holidays will be pretty calm. I will be focusing on the finer things in life. Catching up with friends and family and exploring the city that I live in. I love NYC this time of year. It has such a magical vibe. During the year my job is so hectic with all the traveling I do, that this is the time of year that I treasure the most. Its nice to be home, I definitely have plans to see the movie “My week with Marilyn”. Unfortunately I don’t have any New Year’s plans yet but I am definitely looking forward to the year a head. Bare Escentuals will be having one of our biggest skin care launches yet. In January we will be releasing our new Active Cell Renewal Serum. I can’t even begin to explain how amazing my skin felt after trying this. We will be having several events surrounding this launch in the beginning of January. Stay tuned! https://www.facebook.com/pages/Renee-Lynn-Smith-NYC-MAKE-UP-Artist/218363144859471

Join Moxie on Twitter and Facebook Happy Holidays!

Moxie Reviews™ 2011. Content copyright. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author/owner, Moxie, is strictly prohibited.

Filed Under: Abbey Allen, Alexandra Spunt, Angel Kirk, Barbara Brekke, Bare Escentuals, Beauty Brains, Beauty Celebrities, Beauty Huile, Can You Get Hooked on Lip Balm?, Dr. Adrienne Denese, Furless, Georgie Beauty, Indie Lee, Indie Lee & Co, Jennifer Matthews, Joon, Kim Paschen, Leaping Bunny, Megan Allen, Melissa Croland, Model Recommends, Ms. Furless, N.K., Nailing Hollywood, No More Dirty Looks The Truth About Your Beauty Products and the Ultimate Guide to Safe and Clean Cosmetics, Renee Lynn Smith, Richard Merrill, Ruth Crilly, Siobhan O’Connor, Tameka Linnell, Vanessa Gualy, Youngblood Mineral Cosmetics

Tutorial with Leslie Blodgett, Creator of bareMinerals & Executive Chairman

October 7, 2011 By moxiereviews 8 Comments

I know my Readers will enjoy this tutorial! Leslie Blodgett, Creator of bareMinerals and Executive Chairman, shares one of her favorite looks using the NEW bareMinerals READY™ Eyeshadow in The Truth and The Afterparty.

The Truth: I learned a lot watching Leslie’s video, and she is correct when she tells viewers to, “…have fun, just play.” Another Truth: I would love to have the gigantic poster of the new pressed powders to decorate the room where I use my computer. You can’t miss it; it’s on the wall. I already have a portion of it as my Twitter background, but it’s so tiny compared to Leslie’s!

Please leave a comment and tell me which NEW bareMinerals READY™ Eyeshadows you have purchased!

Here is the link to Leslie’s Tutorial:

http://youtu.be/ATvYtHO7tQI

Other ways to connect with Bare Escentuals:

Bare Escentuals Website

Bare Escentuals Twitter

Bare Escentuals Facebook

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Disclosure: I have nothing to disclose.

Moxie Reviews™ 2011. Content copyright. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author/owner, Moxie, is strictly prohibited.

Filed Under: Bare Escentuals, bareMinerals, bareMinerals READY Eyeshadow 4.0, bareMinerals Ready™ Eyeshadows, Leslie Blodgett, THE AFTERPARTY, tutorial, Uncategorized Tagged With: after party, afterparty, bare escentuals, bare minerals, Beauty, Cosmetics, leslie blodgett, makeup, mineral makeup, ready eyeshadow, truth, tutorial

Bare Escentuals in NYC

September 22, 2011 By moxiereviews 12 Comments

This past August, my whole family left our home state of Massachusetts for a four-day, three night, vacation to visit NYC. While we take a lot of day trips, this was the first vacation for us in quite a while.

In addition to taking in cultural activities, e.g. a trip to MoMA (The Museum of Modern Art), and the American Museum of Natural History, we all got to choose another place we wanted to go. One of those days, I chose to go do something that was even longer overdue than our vacation…a makeover at the Bare Escentuals’ Boutique!

Yes, of course, I could have had this at any time, at any of the locations in MA, but, hey, it’s NYC, people. I booked an appointment ahead of my scheduled trip, and presented my “unfashionably” clothed self at the Third Avenue location. (Yes, the clothes will have to be another makeover in the next few years….)

After introducing myself to the lovely Bare Escentuals’ Boutique Manager, Melissa Colón, who would be my makeover-makeup artist, I also met Jewel Bruce, BE Advisor, and Chrissy Sanders, the Assistant Manager. They didn’t recognize me from peeking in the window earlier in the day (to figure out how to get to the BE location without my family as tour guides!)–however, they did remember my young children and my dogs in front of the windows!! Ha! Yes, seriously.

Full disclosure: I was *not* paid, asked to write about the visit, *nor* given any form of compensation. I’m a fan of Bare Escentuals products and I chose the company for my makeover. What was the best part of the Bare Escentuals experience? The staff.

Hence the comment on the card that everyone is given:

While Leslie Blodgett’s Company, Bare Escentuals, is excellent, and I wanted only Bare Escentuals for my makeover…I could not answer the “Can’t-live-without product” question. The truth of the matter is this. What makes me want to go back to Bare Escentuals (in person, or to re-order, on the internet) is your knowledgeable and welcoming staff. I had genuine conversations while I was having my makeover. I talked to Melissa about, of course, Bare Escentuals, (the whole line, what it was like working at BE, about NYC! you name it.) I also gabbed with Jewel and Chrissy.They really did make me feel like I was having a conversation with a girlfriend! The bonus was the fact that after the makeover I did look “well rested” and 100% percent better than when I walked in the store.The Staff made sure that I had all my questions answered, that I was enjoying the Bare Escentuals visit, and that, of course, I liked the makeover.

Yes, I got to take plenty of pictures (if you’ve read my posts, you know I have a little obsession with makeup brushes.) So, feast your eyes on these:

Did I take the display case, with all the brushes back, home with me? Unfortunately, not. Bummer. Don’t laugh, more than once I told the ladies that I wanted the whole case. Trust me, by the end of my visit, they believed me! Smile

In addition to needing the under-the-eye product, Well-Rested, (SPF 20 Eye Brightener) it was recommended that I purchased the Redness Remedy Kit.

Do not let the display picture make you believe that you have to look like the model in the picture. As a matter of fact, my redness is not on my nose at all. It’s on my cheeks, so it looks like

1. I’ve gone overboard with my blush or

2. like I have a mild case of rosacea (which I do!)

Melissa applied this to my face and “poof” all the redness disappeared. Yes, the kit includes the double-ended brush. If anyone would like more of an explanation/review of this product, please let me know in the comments section.

Also purchased at the Boutique: Big & Bright Eyeliner Kit. That day, I, along with every other customer who met the minimum purchase price requirement, received the following free items: Magnifique and Crème de la Crème Eyecolor. Plus, I received a black coffee eyeliner! I have included a scan of my sales slip so that you can see what I purchased and the ones that were included for free.

(clicking on the slip will enlarge it)

To close, I just want to thank everyone at the Boutique for reinforcing my love of Bare Escentuals, and making my visit memorable and fun!

Disclosure: I have nothing to disclose. While the makeover at Bare Escentuals is “free” to any customer, as it is polite and the “right thing to do,” I gave Melissa a tip.

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Moxie Reviews™ 2011. Content copyright. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author/owner, Moxie, is strictly prohibited.

Filed Under: Bare Escentuals, Bare Escentuals Boutique, Jewel Bruce, Leslie Blodgett, Melissa Colón, Redness Remedy Kit, well-rested Tagged With: bare escentuals, Bare Escentuals Boutique

Beauty Might Not Be Blind, but the Casting Call Was

September 2, 2011 By moxiereviews 3 Comments

I would like to give a huge thank you and shoutout to Ashley T., whom I follow on Twitter, for tweeting the link to this article.

Permalink: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/02/business/media/for-bare-escentuals-pretty-isnt-good-enough.html

September 1, 2011

Beauty Might Not Be Blind, but the Casting Call Was

By TANZINA VEGA

ARE you just another pretty face? Or are you truly beautiful? A new campaign from the mineral cosmetics company Bare Escentuals hopes women will realize that the former is not enough.

“Pretty,” says an actress in a commercial for the campaign, “is what you are. Beauty is what you do with it.” The theme for the campaign is “Be a Force of Beauty.”

“We can all be pretty, but beauty is an action,” said Leslie Blodgett, the executive chairman of Bare Escentuals. “Hopefully it’s a rally cry for ‘Don’t just be pretty and sit there and get your picture taken and do nothing.’ ”

Simon Cowell, the chief marketing officer of Bare Escentuals, said the company realized there was an audience it had not yet reached through its boutiques, wholesale partners or the use of home shopping networks like QVC. “We need to talk to them about our brand before they show up at one of our counters,” Mr. Cowell said.

To do that, the company hired an advertising agency of record — TBWA\Chiat\Day Los Angeles, part of TBWA Worldwide, a unit of the Omnicom Group — to create its first traditional ad campaign, which will appear in print, television and digital ads. “Its been a scary process for me personally,” said Ms. Blodgett. “Its really hard to get your message across with a one-liner.”

Models chosen for Bare Escentuals’ new campaign had to fill out a long questionnaire.

To find models that represented the elusive notion of beauty, the company held a blind casting call for women ages 20 to 60. Representatives from Bare Escentuals did not see the women who applied until they were selected for the campaign. Instead, they asked more than 270 women to complete a questionnaire about who they were and what they were like.

“My agent wouldn’t even tell me who the company was,” said Keri Shahidi, 42, one of the women chosen for the campaign, because the agent did not want the knowledge to affect her answers. The list was then whittled to 78 women, who were chosen based on their answers to the survey and brought in for interviews with casting agents. That list was reduced to 26 women, and after an a additional round of interviews, five women made the final cut.

Not seeing the women before they were chosen, Ms. Blodgett said, was a bit nerve-racking. “Do you know what a huge risk that is? What if all five of them were blonde, blue-eyed and 30?”

Xanthe Hohalek, a creative director at TBWA\Chiat\Day Los Angeles who worked on the campaign, said the company was looking for the women to embody qualities like inspiration, humility and humor. “We were looking for something that was much more personality-driven,” Ms. Hohalek said. The goal was to capture women who had compelling and interesting stories to tell.

One finalist is a volunteer firefighter and another is an environmental scientist. Ms. Shahidi, an actor and mother of three, says she has undergone multiple knee surgeries because of playing basketball, has an “irrational fear of dog poop” and used to ride a motorcycle in college. “They really got to know us,” Ms. Shahidi said. “It had nothing to do with the makeup.”

Ms. Blodgett said that with the exception of basic color correction, the company took pains not to retouch or airbrush photographs of the women. “We’re leaving in everything that they came with on their face. Every line, wrinkle, puffy bloodshot eye,” she said. “We have a responsibility as a beauty company to start changing the images that women see.”

Ms. Shahidi confirmed that notion: “Trust me. I saw my picture, they did not retouch me.”

The photographs, which were taken by John Rankin Waddell, were meant to show “women that had soul in their eye versus what you see in magazines, that blank dilated pupil stare,” said Ms. Hohalek of TBWA. “There was a sense of a self there.”

Bare Escentuals, which was acquired by the Japanese cosmetics company Shiseido in 2010, has sold $1 billion in cosmetic products globally so far this year, according to a company spokeswoman. The campaign, which is estimated to cost $16 million to $20 million, will be introduced in three phases over the next few months.

The first phase, which begins Tuesday , will focus on what the company is calling its “anthem” for women to be a force of beauty. Quick Response or Q.R. codes, a new type of bar code that can be read by smartphones, will be called “beauty marks” and will take consumers from print ads to biographical Web videos about the women.

The second phase will focus on the company’s signature foundation product, bareMinerals Original Foundation , with television commercials saying how “they’ll notice you, not your makeup.” The third phase will announce a new product for the brand called “Ready,” the first portable solid eye shadow product from Bare Escentuals.

Print ads will run in magazines like Allure, Elle, Health, Glamour, Lucky and Self. Fifteen- and 30-second television spots will run on cable and broadcast channels like the CW, ABC, MTV, Bravo and Oxygen. Other elements to the campaign include ads that can be seen on Android,iPhone and other smartphones. Search ads will run on sites like Google, Bing and Yahoo.

A Facebook application called “Share the Force” will let users post a message on a friend’s Facebook page saying the friend is a force of beauty. Those who use the app will then be invited to a complementary “make-under” at one of the company’s boutiques and given some foundation. A mobile site will let users watch videos, learn more about the makeup products and buy them.

Bare Escentuals is not the only company that sells mineral makeup. Companies like Everyday Minerals, Iredale Mineral Cosmetics and even traditional cosmetics brands like L’Oréal carry similar products. But Mr. Cowell said the competition was not a factor in choosing to go with an advertising campaign.

“We knew there was an audience out there that we weren’t talking to,” Mr. Cowell said. “We feel like we’ve got something to say.”