The third in Bare Escentuals’ “infused” kits released in autumn 2008 had a similar palette to the others: yellow, brown, deep green. There was a bit less sparkle on these eyecolors than in the Bare Topaz kit, or the Champagne Diamonds kit (released in November 2008 on QVC). I liked the brushes in this kit; the lip color was about midrange, and the blush is the least favorite of all the fall/winter 2008 BE kits. It had the coolest box, though: it had the by-now-traditional standup mirror top, but instead of just having the open compartment beneath, it had a shallower open compartment and a pull-out drawer. (Sadly, the box was still cardboard…which would have meant that it was suitable for display or genteel travel only.)

Photos that show how the product actually performs...! See how I create my swatches

This kit contained:

• Rock Crystal — pale butter yellow matte
• Gilded Quartz — khaki brown sheen
• Smoky Quartz — smoky dark chocolate matte
• Rose Quartz — canyon rose
• Racquel full color buxom lip polish — light chocolate rose
• Feather Light Mineral Veil
• Soft Focus Face brush
• Eye Defining brush
• Eyeliner brush

Customers who attended the National Artist Events in late summer of 2008 got first chance to see these kits and purchase them...which is when I purchased mine. I was still very much learning makeup application at that time, and since I knew I would be purchasing this kit I asked the makeup artist to use this kit for my makeover and to explain the process to me. She did, for the most part...but ended up going with a different blush that was more orange even than the one in this kit. Eh...still, I got a makeover, I got the kit, I got a few application tips, and learned that even when a makeup artist applies orangey blush to my face, it does not look good. (Bare Escentuals' tagline is "You, but better." In the minds of many of their makeup artists, this seems to translate as "You, but as a tanned California beach-type person." Um...hello. Used to live in California. Did not aspire to be a tanned beach-type person then, don't aspire to it now that I'm living in a coastal rainforest. So please just ditch the orange blush, hm???)

The soft focus face brush, which I first saw in this kit, is a wonderful radiance/all-over face powder brush. It's soft, it's got varied-length bristles (so no abrupt lines), and it's very fluffy. I've used it occasionally to apply radiances over my blush. I effectively have several "extras" of this brush, since the same brush came in the Bare Topaz kit. The eye defining brush is likewise very good, very useful. The eyeliner brush is one of the thin, "traditional" eyeliner brush. I didn't even take mine out of the plastic, just rehomed it.

I have not ever really been a fan of full color buxoms. They debuted in Sephoras and many other BE channel partners shortly before the Bare Crystals kit launched. They're full color, but I've found that I vastly prefer the sheer buxoms. That way, if I'm not wild about a buxom's color I can apply it over a lipstick that will cool it down, warm it up, or neutralize it. That won't work with the full-color buxoms. In addition, the full color buxoms had a brush applicator rather than a doe-foot applicator. There are adherents of either type - I'm definitely a doe-foot person, though. The lip brushes tend to sop up too much product, and it's not easy to get a thin application (even with the sheer buxoms.) Raquel is a little too brown for me. I suspect that if this same color were in sheer (it's very close to Dolly, which is a customer favorite) I wouldn't have as many problems getting it to work.

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or look at other entries tagged with Brand: Bare Escentuals BareMinerals, cruelty free, discontinued, kit, limited edition, released: 2008, season: Autumn

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