I'm so vain, I probably think this post is about me

Carly anyone?

When I turned 30, something happened. You see, growing up, I was never really into make-up. I kind of played around with it in middle school, but even in high school I didn't really wear it. As long as I had lip gloss I was A-OK. I didn't even really start wearing mascara until I was doing my student teaching in a high school and I realized EVERY kid looked older than me. (Seriously, didn't my college ID badge that I was wearing give the hall monitors a clue that I didn't NEED a hall pass.) Any who, as 30 approached I started to get more and more interested in make up. I started to notice my that skin tone was uneven and for whatever reason I was breaking out way more than I did during puberty. I had tried foundations and concealers before, but since I have never really found a good face wash, they all just made me break out more. Boo.

Well, over spring break I decided to head over to ULTA (with my gift card I got for my birthday in December) and talk to the much more knowledgeable ladies about my conundrum. I told showed them my skin woes, explained my need for as much sleep as possible in the morning and also admitted I was basically a novice at make-up. And they came up with this solution:

Source

Bare Minerals!
Let me start off by saying that I love the girls at ULTA. They were so patient with me and my cluelessness questions. The spent time showing me the "twirl, tap and buff" (Just like on TV!), helping me pick out the right colors and even letting me practice putting it on while they watched. (Completely dummy proof by the way.) I'm sure they thought it was silly that I had no clue what I was doing with the brushes, but they didn't let it show. My starter kit that I bought came with a foundation powder, a Warmth All-Over Face Color (a bronzer) and a Mineral Veil finishing powder. It also came with three brushes: a flawless face brush, a smaller flawless application brush and then a concealer brush.

I wore it a couple times during spring break to try to get use to it before I wore it to work. I really was worried I would look like a clown, or it would be obvious that I had a ton of make up on or something. Last Monday I woke up a little earlier and did my new getting ready routine. Then I realized I only needed about 3 extra minutes to my old routine. Nice. Then I headed to work.

One of my students (a super sweet girl) looked at me (during 3rd period) and asked if I did something with my hair. Then she asked if my mascara was different. Then during 4th period (she's super lucky that she gets to spend 2 periods in a row with me) she brought it up again. "Mrs. C, what is different about you?" I went ahead and told her that I started using bare Minerals. She started saying how I looked so pretty and the make up was so natural looking. Yes. 8th grader stamp of approval. A few days later a co-worker started asking me the same thing. Yes. Adult/peer stamp of approval.

I have been using bare minerals now for about 3 weeks. I seriously love it. My skin seems clearer, and it really is super easy to put on in the morning.

What beauty products do you love?

To warn you, I have another make-upy post scheduled for tomorrow. What can I say, 30 has turned me into that girl. :)

Oh and it goes without saying that Bare Minerals doesn't know I exist. BUT if they some how find this post or find out about my existence, and wanted to send me some free stuff, I would totally take it.