You Can Be BeeYoutiful Inside AND Out

Do you wake up early every morning to the scent of your coffee pot perking that morning cup of coffee that wakes you up enough that you can do you morning devotional in the quiet minutes  of the day? You pray each morning before the kids descend and fill nearly every moment of your day because you know that your day goes better when you have worked on making the inside part of you more beautiful for your family and your Lord...

Or maybe you've given up coffee for water and grab a cold bottle as you dash out the door to run a  mile or two because even though you know you can't get younger, you can get into better shape...and as far as you are concerned, keeping fit is not only smart, but attractive.

Perhaps you've started learning to make your own laundry soap and bath bars because you want to protect yourself and those you love from the chemicals found in most commercially made cleaning products...it's just one more way to ensure that your lifestyle is a healthy one.

From the company Beeyoutiful, makers of my favorite vitamin, Supermom, comes a new line of natural, chemical-free, gluten-free, 100% mineral makeup to support you in your quest for a healthy lifestyle, and to help your inner beauty shine through in a natural way.

Their sister company, Beeyoutiful Skin offers makeup and skin care products that you are sure to love, even if you've never used mineral makeup before. That's how it was for me, anyway.

See, I am cheap. I'd be nice to myself and say the polite term, "thrifty," except I do spend money when it is something I consider particularly important. Like books. Or on filling Operation Christmas Child boxes (which are coming up soon...please fill at least one up...you will be glad you did!). Or the right food for my family's health. 

BUT makeup has never topped my list of important things. I am one of those people who gasps in outrage at the prices at the makeup counter in the department stores. When mineral makeup came out a few years back, I thought it looked really interesting, and healthier, but whenever I'd go check it out, the price tag convinced me that my six dollar bottle of foundation (from the same brand I've used since high school) was good enough. My eyeshadow sometimes comes from the dollar store (and one color often doubles as blush, when I bother to use it), and I gave up lipstick for lip gloss years ago.

In spite of my carelessness with my "beauty products," or at least with my makeup, I think I've managed to do all right over the years, but even an aging dog is interested in learning new tricks from time to time, so I signed up for this review and was happy when I got chosen.

The colors are positively stunning.

After a careful study of the available colors on the Beeyoutiful Skin website, using their very detailed and helpful selection process, I chose a few foundation colors to try. These selections were sent in tiny ziplock bags and I was able to put each one of them on and ask my family which one suited my complexion the best. 

Fiona

Since one of the foundation choices brought about the comment, "Oh, that one makes you look older..." and the other was obviously too dark, my choices were narrowed down to "Fiona," which sounds somewhat ogre-ish to me (if you've seen Shrek you will know what I mean), but then again, I am somewhat ogre-ish with no makeup, so it fits. 

Silver Peach (in actuality, it is much darker than this looks)

I also chose a color to be my eye color, and since I often use my eye color as my blush color, I chose "Silver Peach" which seemed fairly close to what I use normally (but much prettier and more shimmery). 

Rich Earth (looks just as expected...very nice)

We were also allowed to request a sample of a color that might be used as a contrast or eye-liner, and I chose "Rich Earth," a solid dark brown hue.

Before too long, this pretty bag arrived in my mailbox, along with an instructional dvd, which I needed a whole lot, since I had no idea at all what I was doing. You can see the same content on the Beeyoutiful website's "How-To" page.

I was delighted by the two lovely makeup brushes, the Foundation Brush ($11) and the Combo Brush ($6.50). I've never owned brushes that nice. These are definitely top of the line. They are soft and do not shed, like some inexpensive brushes do, and I think their price is absolutely reasonable for the quality. The combo brush is something I'd recommend whether you use their makeup or not. It just can't be beat.

WARNING!!! SCARY PICTURES OF ME BEFORE MAKEUP ARE BELOW!

PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!!! 

BEFORE              and                 AFTER

You can see how the makeup minimized my freckles and age spots, 

as well as evened out some of the wrinkles. At the same time, there's not a

 really heavy appearance. Not too bad, I say!

Before attempting to use the makeup, I watched the videos for each step thoroughly. I learned a lot from the short segments. I never had feminine girl-friends when I was a kid, so what I learned, I pretty much guessed at and got from trial and error. I did get a makeover once, but the lady who did it applied the makeup so heavily (and used bright red lipstick on a sixteen year old!), that it intimidated me rather than made me feel more informed.

The videos explain that before using the mineral makeup, you need to "prep" your canvas (your skin) with either skin moisturizer or toner. They recommend their Laveshment line, but I didn't have any of that, so I used the skin cream I make myself. I am pretty limited in what fragrances I can use since scent is one of my migraine triggers, so once I learned how easy it is to make your own face cream, I started making mine with a light vanilla lemon scent. I love it...ask my family what scents I like and they will tell you, "Anything that smells like it comes from a bakery." Yum.

So, I practiced a few times, and I must say, it is not as easy to apply the foundation as it looks on the video the first time you do it, if you are not accustomed to using brushes (I normally apply my liquid foundation with a sponge). I played around with the product a bit and learned you can make it into a liquid product, and thus, use a sponge, so I wound up liking that the best. I am not sure that I am using the product just right yet, because I received only a portion of the 20 oz. of mineral powder that you would receive (for $25), and it doesn't seem that this small amount would last as long as they say it will. I am sure that I will get better at applying the makeup over time, though, and become more efficient and effective.

I found that the "foiling" method of applying the eye-liner was not as hard as it looked...it was, in fact, easy, and I think it gives a more natural look than stark eye-liner does. I wish I'd had a few more sample colors to play around with, though. I am used to there being at least a trio of colors to blend with when I do use shadow, and having just one (and I think I chose one that was a bit too dark for me) made it a bit difficult to evaluate its true suitability for me.

I tried lightening up the peach color I'd chosen for my eye shadow (as it was darker than I thought it would be) by adding some foundation, and that worked all right for the eye shadow (it worked fine as it was for a blush), but I wish I'd been able to try another color or two for the eyes so I could fully figure out if using this sort of makeup suits me best. I think if I was going to order more when this small sample runs out, I would definitely order sample packets of many of the 45 colors for $1 each, so I could try them out before choosing what to purchase (a full order of one shadow is $10 for about .5 g of color). Then I'd know I was getting the best for my investment...and it's always fun to play around with colors when your face is the canvas, don't you think?

I did like the containers the make-up came in. They have a simple screw off lid, and there are holes in plastic covers over the mineral make-up so that it does not dump out easily, and you can dispense it carefully as you use it. The video shows you how to sprinkle a bit into the upturned lid and dab your brush in there, then apply to your face. I've bought loose foundation powders before (not mineral make-up, though) that dumped all over the place because there was nothing holding the powder in once you took the top off. Not too smart...especially with little ones around.

I like the natural look.

I did have a Beeoyoutiful lip balm to use when applying the lip color, but your favorite lip balm would do the job just fine. I am addicted to the stuff that comes in a little pot (Carmex or Blistex) and came across a pot that was about one-eighth full. I added barely any of the mineral makup to it and voila!, instant lipstick/lip gloss in a color just right for me! I can add more mineral makeup for a darker effect if I want to for going out at night, or keep it light for every day use. That is my favorite find of this review. 

Overall, I felt that the mineral makeup was very good quality, easy to use, and made me feel like I was taking care of myself by not putting lots of harsh chemicals on my face. I've been wondering lately (since I started making my own soaps and creams) what to do about my makeup. It seems kind of silly to take such care with your base coat (the cream or moisturizer) and then to put a layer of chemicalized goop on top of it. Beeyoutiful solves this problem for you by providing a natural product that simply shines...naturally.

If you are interested in bringing out your outer beauty, so that it matches your inner beauty, using high-quality natural products, then visit the Beeyoutiful Skin website and order some samples of their make up line. You might also want to give some of their skin care products a try, if you don't make your own, and don't forget to go to the Beeyoutiful website and stock up on your SuperMom vitamins to get you through the coming winter months healthy and full of energy...

If you'd like to see what other members of the Schoolhouse Review Crew thought about this product and others from Beeyoutiful, check out the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog.

Blessings,

Disclaimer: I was given samples of the Beeyoutiful Skin mineral makeup for the purposes of writing this review. All opinions you read here are mine and are based upon my experiences with the product. No other compensation was received.