Many of my clients and customers know that I am a huge fan of Bare Escentuals and the Bare Minerals makeup/cosmetic line. I have been a supporter of their product line for over 5 years and have used their products in my makeovers, tutorials, freelance work and other makeup stuff for just as long. This specific Review is my opinion only and does not reflect the opinion of my clients, customers or models. I am always open to an additional review(s) in the future to open my mind to new and outstanding things. Please note that my opinion is unbiased and is based on my tried and true testing and review criteria.

Now to the review:

I love Cosmetic Brushes - my eye makeup brushes (especially) are my most essential tools and I take pride in providing great tools not only for use on my clients but on myself as well. About 6 months ago - I was very lucky to find myself purchasing my 2nd Bare Escentuals brush... the contour shadow brush. About a year ago... I got the angled eye defining brush in a Bare Escentuals kit I received for a gift and have really enjoyed using it. I was so excited to try out my new brush and started using it right after washing and disinfecting it. Much to my amazement... after using it the first time - my eye lids felt like they were on fire and very sensitive. This had not happened when I used my first i.d. B.E. brush. I assumed that I may have been going through a sensitive time and that my eyes just couldn't handle makeup - however that was not the case with my MAC 239 or any of my eye brushes after using it. So - I just assumed that I would not use the brush for a few weeks and see what happened.

A few weeks later - I tried using the 2nd i.d.B.E. brush again (the contour shadow brush) and found that the same problem occured. My eyelid was once again irritated, burning, sensitive and even had redness. I wondered if the bristles had been so harsh that it was causing irritation. I continued to try the brush out over the course of about a 6 month time frame... leaving approximately 2-3 weeks between each time I used the brush and found that the same problem was occuring.

Finally - yesterday, I decided to wear mineral makeup and wanted try the brush out for the last time. My angled eye defining brush did not give me these problems... so I could not figure out what was going on. Again - I used the contour shadow brush (pictured below) and this time - as I applied the mineral eyeshadow (without a base - just the shadow), I could feel a harsh, scratching feeling on my eyelids and then it started to burn. I just knew that I couldn't use the brush again.

Now - here is some information on this contour shadow brush (taken directly from the Bare Escentuals website):

This flexible tool blends smoothly along the crease, creating soft, smoky looks. The Contour Shadow Brush is also great for providing detail highlights along the brow bone. The tightly tapered and textured semi-dome-shaped brush head provides medium color intensity to multiple eye areas.

Our professional brushes are designed to buff on the perfect amount of bareMinerals for the most natural, flawless application. Only the finest quality of hairs are used to make buffing bareMinerals feel like second nature.

The brush sells for $14.00 on the Bare Escentuals website. I could not find any information located on the website with regard to the specific type of hair used in the i.d.B.E. brushes. I have not experienced any of the same problems or similarities in the two brushes I purchased - but I do know that no matter how much I have cleaned and disinfected, conditioned and cared for my Contour Shadow brush - it has still resulted in the same effect.

Again - this is my own experimenting and opinion with this in regard. I am open to any feedback from my readers if they have similar or different experiences with the same brush. If someone did have a similar experience but found a way to work around it or fix it - please message me and let me know. It is always possible that I may have very sensitive eyelids - but after trying several brushes on the market - this is the only one that caused this type of reaction.

I hope this information will help you in future purchasing or other. ;-)

So - I finally got my 2 - 88 eyeshadow palettes and my neutral palette from Coastal Scents. It came in about 10 days (shipping was free and it was Fedex Ground). I had the original palette when it first came out... it was only about $19.00 USD then and now is $24.95 - but I think it is worth that and more. The colors are as vibrant as ever and I am so excited to do some new looks with the neutral 28 color palette. I also got 5 different brushes, a duo fiber stippling brush (pink), a face powder brush (small pink), a crease brush, a pencil type brush and an eyeshadow brush... I have washed them all and I am very pleased with it so far. I haven't used them yet... waiting for them to dry - but the face brushes shed a little bit... and those were the only ones. They had a slight smell to it... but I wash my brushes with MAC brush cleaner and with my biolage shampoo (mixed together) and the smell is now gone.

Check out http://www.coastalscents.com to see all of their cool and affordable products. I promise you will enjoy it and the prices just can't be beat.

Once I have some time... I will go ahead and start doing more tutorials. But for now... check out my youtube channel for reviews, tutorials and other fun beauty stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/destne146