Bare Escentuals

I recently became a user of Bare Minerals makeup (foundation and blush) and am highly disappointed in this product.
I am 36 years old and for years had been using liquid foundation. Several months ago, a friend of mine told me about Bare Minerals. On May 14, 2008, I ordered the starter kit on
. I received the product in a week or so and started using it immediately. At first, I loved how it looked and felt. I thought it made my face look very «fresh» and it felt very light as if I was wearing no makeup.
After about 3 weeks of use, I noticed some redness and breakouts. As I write this review today (July 8), I have a full-​blown rash across my forehead, breakouts over my face, and am extremely itchy. I have had this rash for 2 weeks now and it is not going away. I started thinking that I must be having an allergic reaction to something but didn’t think that it might be this new makeup. I have been using no other new products, detergents, lotions… etc and have not eaten anything out of the ordinary. I could not figure out what could be causing this terrible reaction.
Then I did some online research and started reading review after review of people with the same reaction! I am stopping use of the product IMMEDIATELY and have contacted Sephora to return the makeup and get a credit. I am disgusted that this makeup is touted as all natural yet has some ingredients (bismuth oxychloride) that can be harmful and cause terrible irritations to some people. I did not see a warning or disclaimer associated with this makeup.
I wrote an email to the President, Leslie Blodgett (
) asking if she is at all concerned about these allergic reactions due to use of the product that she has helped to create? Does she feel good about selling this to the public?

From the website:
«Since 1976, Bare Escentuals has been breaking all the rules about makeup with the introduction of our revolutionary foundation called bareMinerals. This extraordinary beauty innovation is composed of 100% pure bareMinerals with no additives and zero irritants whatsoever.»
That pretty much sums up why I tried out the product. I’m not hugely into makeup as it is, and had a hard time finding OTC products – even from the ‘big names” – that I liked or didn’t irritate my skin.
Plenty of accessories and other products outside of their core foundation products. I like the make-​up brush quality.
You get a fair value for what you get, you can custom ‘blend’ the foundation colors to get the best match for your skin tone, and set you ‘order schedule’ for how often you need to replenish your stash.
I ordered some of the eye shadow products for a friend who is much more into makeup than I, and she won’t stop raving about them… so that must mean something.
Since it’s now available in some stores (Aveda, and a few others) you have an opportunity to try it out before deciding it’s for you.
For the make-​up impaired, their instructional DVD is pretty good.
Email based customer service is top notch. I’ve never had to call them, so I can’t compare… but no canned answers in my dealings with them.