Entries for Tuesday July 28
BareMinerals’ Revelry kit
- Manufacturer: bareMinerals/Bare Escentuals
- Availability: unknown - but not available as of 2007
- Contains: three eyecolors
- Cost/Amount: unknown, but I'm going to guess $32
- Would you purchase again: yes
I’m going to assume that this kit was available through QVC. I’m unsure of the original release date - I don’t have a premium Delphi membership and wasn’t able to find the mention of the kit by manually trolling the forum archives at BEA. (If someone does know the original release date, can you let me know? Thanks.)
As of 2009, all three colors are available as part of the regular BE lineup - but Giggle was only available through QVC from at least 2007 through 2009. Fling has been part of the regular BE lineup since I first began buying the products in 2007.
Entries for Saturday July 25
BareMinerals’ Glamourista III kit
- Manufacturer: bareMinerals/Bare Escentuals
- Availability: beginning July 2008 through QVC
- Contains: two eyecolors, one blush, one lip color, one skin primer, one face powder, two brushes, and one train case
- Cost/Amount: USD$99.50
- Would you purchase again: no
I acquired the eye and cheek colors on Ebay, and the lip color too. This entire kit was all purples and brights: from the eyecolors to the bright pink blush to the sheer mauve-purple buxom. Since this was available through autodelivery exclusively, people couldn’t buy it off of QVC. It was also considered one of their “Grand” kits, which meant that it a) included more items; and b) cost nearly $100. Previous installments in this series topped $120, and that’s not including QVC’s legendary high shipping and handling charges. This $99.50 price point was supposedly an introductory price, but it stayed at this rate for most of its availability.
Each Grand kit installment came with its own unique traincase…which I had no intention of picking up. (Customers also apparently had lots of problems getting the right foundation shade, so I’m quite happy that I’ve never gotten on board the QVC auto-delivery bandwagon. It seems like more trouble than it’s worth.)
Entries for Friday July 24
BareMinerals’ Retro Lounge kit
- Manufacturer: bareMinerals/Bare Escentuals
- Availability: part of the regular line; available through the webstore
- Contains: one eye color and one brush
- Cost/Amount: USD$24
- Would you purchase again: no
This kit has been available from the BE webstore ever since I was buying BE. I held off on getting it because of the cost: $24 for a dark brown liner shadow and a hard-to-use brush? No thanks. I later acquired Retro from Ebay, and while I paid more than “retail”, I didn’t pay much more than retail for each jar…and certainly not $24, not even with shipping charges.
BareMinerals’ Holiday in the City kit
- Manufacturer: bareMinerals/Bare Escentuals
- Availability: beginning September 2007 through QVC
- Contains: three eyecolors and a brush...and yet another makeup bag
- Cost/Amount: USD$38
- Would you purchase again: yes
This kit was originally released through QVC, and (like many other kits for which demand was not overly high) was also eventually sold through the BE webstores. These three colors don’t go together that well, but they’re not quite as “off” a grouping as the Blendable Eye sets.
The SheSpace’s Astrology - Leo Collection
- Manufacturer: The She Space / About Face Cosmetics
- Availability: beginning July 24, 2009 through TSS' online storefront
- Contains: 12 mineral eyeshadow colors
- Cost/Amount: entire eyecolor collection, fullsize jars: $52; entire eyecolor collection, samples: $6; individual samples $.50; individual jars, $4.50
- Would you purchase again: most colors, yes
Heather continues her Astrology line with the Leo collection. The dominant colors associated with Leo are yellow and orange; and Heather certainly included those colors in this lineup. However, she figured out a way to include red, grey, and green in the palette as well. This collection, like the Gemini colors, was primarily duochromes.
Entries for Monday July 20
BareMinerals’ Glee Cheek and Eye kit
- Manufacturer: bareMinerals/Bare Escentuals
- Availability: unknown - but not available as of 2007
- Contains: two eyecolors, one face color
- Cost/Amount: unknown
- Would you purchase again: no
I’m going to assume that this kit was available through QVC. I’m unsure of the original release date - I don’t have a premium Delphi membership and wasn’t able to find the mention of the kit by manually trolling the forum archives at BEA. (If someone does know the original release date, can you let me know? Thanks.)
Skyline seems to be one of the least favorite BE colors out there; but with my eyes and complexion, it’s an excellent contouring and lighter liner shade. The only color that makes a better non-neutral contour shade is Foliage. I don’t have a whole lot of use for most of the all-over face colors from BE. They’re too sheer to use as eye colors, a bit too tinted for me to want to use as all-over body colors…they’re neither fish nor fowl. I haven’t had much success combining them with other colors, either - either additives or raw pigments. Beautiful Susan was impossible to get ahold of when I began buying BE, but eventually it made it to the outlet stores and I got myself a jar.
Entries for Tuesday July 14
BareMinerals’ Princess for a Day kit
- Manufacturer: bareMinerals/Bare Escentuals
- Availability: unknown - but not available as of 2007
- Contains: two eyecolors, one blush, one lip color
- Cost/Amount: unknown
- Would you purchase again: no
Entries for Saturday July 11
BareMinerals’ Take Me By Surprise kit
- Manufacturer: bareMinerals/Bare Escentuals
- Availability: beginning July 2008 through QVC
- Contains: two eyecolors, one lip gloss and a clutch
- Cost/Amount: USD$32
- Would you purchase again: no
I bought this kit from QVC. It was one of the less wise purchases I’ve ever made: for $26 at my local boutique, I could have bought both eye colors. I could have even bought the eyecolors directly from BE, had I been willing to put up with their shipping delays. Instead, I paid an extra $8 for a lip gloss that I ended up getting rid of, and for a clutch that I knew I would not keep. (Proof that I was in an idiotic state. There wasn’t even a supersale on that day, according to my Q order history.) I do love both of the eyecolors, and would buy them singly in an instant. But the purchase of this kit was emphatically not a wise purchase. Though I seem to remember that this was my third BE lip gloss, so possibly I hadn’t made up my mind that I truly disliked them?
Entries for Friday July 10
BareMinerals’ Bronze and Beyond kit
- Manufacturer: bareMinerals/Bare Escentuals
- Availability: beginning July 2009 through QVC
- Contains: three eyecolors and a metallic clutch
- Cost/Amount: USD$32
- Would you purchase again: no
This is another of those kits that I don’t need to purchase because I already own all of the colors…and I don’t want the clutch. The colors are all neutral-warm colors, and can work when worn together. They work equally well when mixed with other shades, though.
Entries for Wednesday July 08
BareMinerals’ Nostalgic Beauty kit
- Manufacturer: bareMinerals/Bare Escentuals
- Availability: beginning July 2006 through QVC
- Contains: three eyecolors, mascara, a brush, vanity box, keepsake bag
- Cost/Amount: USD$65
- Would you purchase again: no
All of these are darker, monochromatic shades of black and grey…good for creating a smoky eye look, or for daily contouring. I bought the eyecolor components separately, which is arguably the better way to acquire these shades…unless you’ve really got a thing for Bare Escentuals’ vanity boxes and keepsake bags. The included brush is one not often found in the kits, though; and is one I actually like. (Too bad for BE I’ve found its equivalent from Crown Brush for about 20% of what BE is charging.)