LaurEss Pure Minerals

Ok, I'm weak.

I made another online purchase today to try out LaurEss foundation.

I got my second order from Buff'd Cosmetics today, with the darker shades of foundation. I thought the Caramel was darker than I needed, so I thought I'd mix 50:50 with the Saffron I had. Once applied, it gives off a darker finish, but it's a little bit too tanned for me. There's almost like a faint peachy look to it. Sigh. Should I try 75:25 Saffron:Caramel? Maybe tomorrow...but for the meantime...

I googled around for "Buff'd" and "filipino" thinking, just maybe, someone out there actually found a good colour match, other than Christiana. I bumped into a forum discussing the differences between Buff'd, LaurEss, and Monave.

I hit the LaurEss website and was instantly drawn. I don't know if it's the case with all MMU, but the LaurEss website claims that its makeup is water and sweat resistant. And they have free shipping to Canada! I thought perhaps their shipping was free for only samples, but I put in 3 full-size items in the cart and shipping would be free. Granted, the samples are a little more expensive, at $2.50 each and the foundations and powders run around $22. Hey, if I can get a match, great!

These are the colours I chose for samples, with swatches taken from the website:

Pure Gold - Medium Golden with Yellow Tones
Pure Yellow - Medium Yellow Tones
Fresh Gold - Dark Medium Golden with Yellow Tones
Warm Gold - Medium Dark Gold with Yellow Tones

The Warm Gold could be too dark, but at least I'll have a sample to mix with if I need a more intense shade.

LaurEss' foundation shades come in 3 formulas: Minimalist, Elemental, and Ethereal. Minimalist is the sheerer formula but buildable, Elemental is their medium coverage, neither flat or shiny, while Ethereal has a creamier, heavier coverage. All the shades come in any of these formulas. I believe I counted 54 available shades, at 10g for a full-size.

And since I was purchasing 4 samples already, I figure I'd try out a primer and a finishing powder, just to complete the look.

They have 3 primer formulations: Kick Start, Fresh Start, Jump Start. Kick Start is for dry complexions, Jump Start for oily complexions, and Fresh Start somewhere in between. They have shades Light, Medium, Tan, Dark for each of these formulas, each shade matching the foundation you choose. Since most of my samples were from the "Fresh" or "Pure" colours, Jump Start Tan would compliment well.

They have similar formulas for their finisher powder. Finishing Touch for dry, Fantastic Finish for oily, and Ultimatte Finish is probably somewhere in between. Obviously, I got the Fanastic Finish in Tan.

So, $15 later, free shipping, I ordered 6 samples? Worth it? We'll see. Hopefully I'll get a chance to do a proper review.

I guess I should post a better pic of myself, to show you what colour skin I'm dealing with here. Another day, I guess. Hmmm....thinking of checking out Monave now...

Re.Edit. Monave sounds promising but they don't offer USPS First Class Mail. It's USPS Priority for $19, as high as $55 UPS Worldwide. For a $5 cart! Yikes....forget it! I guess I'm done shopping for now!

Re.Re.Edit. Turns out that after reading a few forum posts, Minimalist Foundation is for normal to oily skin, as most closely resembles their Original formula which was discontinued not too ago. Elemental is best suited for normal to dry skin. I shot an email to LaurEss to see if they can switch my order from Elemental to Minimalist. Keeping my fingers crossed that they'll be able to do that! Maybe I'll give them a call tomorrow!