Wearing Bare Escentuals bareMinerals Ready Eyeshadow 2.0 in Alter Ego

I was having one of those “Oh, no, you did not just put me on hold again, Tabs!?” afternoons today. You know, the kind where your cat employer calls you at the office and then puts you on hold, and you repeat to yourself, “Breath in, breath out. Breathe in, breathe out,” and your shoulders are so tense and flexed that they practically touch your ears?

But after a few minutes with the new Bare Escentuals bareMinerals Ready Eyeshadow 2.0 duos and 4.0 quads, I started to feel a whole lot better. Calm and centered; cool and collected.

It’s true what they say. Luscious colors and soft textures really do soothe the savage beast.

This May, seven new Ready Eyeshadow 2.0 duos ($20 each) and two Ready Eyeshadow 4.0 quads ($30 each) join the bareMinerals clan, touching down on Bare Escentuals counters, boutiques and at Sephora stores.

Here are pics of five of the duos and one of the quads. If you take a look, I’d be curious to hear what you think.

For the record, I noticed a wee bit of fallout when I tried on The Alter Ego duo, but it wasn’t much. Just a few crumbs. And with as pigmented as the colors are, I can live with it.

Ready Eyeshadow 2.0 in The Phenomenon: Azure Iris (left) and Golden Iris (right)

The Last Call: On the Rocks and Shaken Not Stirred

The Hidden Agenda: Stealth and Undercover

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Wearing bareMinerals Marvelous Moxie Lipgloss in Spark Plug

Please note that if The Hunger Games movie ends up being a dud, you will find me holding a pitchfork and torch and leading an angry mob in the movie theater parking lot.

(I just got tickets for Friday’s midnight show!)

I can still remember when the only people talking about this series were 12 years old. Wait — except for me. Young adult science fiction with a bad@ss heroine? Totally my thing.

I’ll be rocking the China Glaze Capitol Colours to the show, of course, but I haven’t decided on the rest of my makeup for the night. Maybe just a simple, Cinna-inspired gold liner along my upper lash line (LOVE YOU, CINNA!).

Photo credit: seattlepi.com

For my lips? Hmm… I’d love to make a statement, but for this, the purple pout I wore for the Sex and the City midnight show doesn’t feel quite right.

And I see myself having more in common with the residents of the Seam than the green-skinned, gold-tattooed girls of the Capitol. Purple lips don’t exactly scream “District 12.”

No. I should go bare, or almost bare. Maybe with something sheer and shiny, like one of the 10 new Bare Escentuals bareMinerals Marvelous Moxie Lipglosses ($18 each).

I like how the colors in this line of lightly mint-flavored and scented long-wearing glosses have such powerful names. They remind me of many of my favorite Hunger Games characters, like Risk Taker (a chocolate shimmer), Trail Blazer (a nude gold) and Maverick (a rosewood shimmer) to describe Katniss. Smooth Talker (a golden pink) — now that could describe Peeta; and Rebel (a pink mauve) — perhaps Gale?

Gotta love any collision of literature and lipgloss, even when they’re (probably) unintentional.

Here’s a closer look at four of the 10 shades, all of which lightly tingle and are supposed to have a subtle plumping effect. Per usual, I don’t really see a difference in the size of my lips with ‘em on, but I rarely do with products that allegedly plump.

At least I know these glosses will shine through the movie. I’ve been getting about four hours from them, and they should withstand a big bucket of popcorn (I know this because I wore Spark Plug to see 21 Jump Street last Friday).

From the left: Risk Taker, Party Starter, Spark Plug and Show Off

Risk Taker

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Next month Bare Escentuals bareMinerals, a line primarily known for their mineral eyeshadows, blushes and foundations in loose form, presses further ahead into the world of pressed makeup within pans and compacts.

It begs the question: are you ready?

Last fall the line leapt into pressed powders, introducing a new family of eyeshadow duos and quads called Ready, and they’re expanding the Ready brood this spring with 13 new blushes and bronzers.

Using only natural colorants and the brand’s proprietary blend of positively-charged sea minerals, antioxidants and other ingredients known to deliver anti-aging benefits for softer, smoother skin, the Ready Blushes ($22 each) and Ready Bronzers ($24 each) might look like a powder, but they feel like a cream.

bareMinerals says they devised a way to press these products into a solid while preserving benefits normally lost through conventional methods. Using cold-pressed carrot oil for the bronzers and cold-pressed camellia flower oil for the blushes, the solids retain their shape, and the process doesn’t require other binders, fillers, parabens or harsh chemicals.

I’ve yet to really explore these new blushes and bronzers, but the blushes are supposed to swirl on softly for a naturally tinted look and build easily into a brighter flush, and the bronzers are supposed to simulate the effortless glow of an afternoon spent soaking up the sun.

Yes, please. I like.

Here’s a brief look at three of the 10 new Ready blushes and two of the three bronzers. Full reviews coming soon.

Ready Blush in The Faux Pas

Ready Blush in The Indecent Proposal

Ready Blush in The Secret’s Out

Ready Bronzer in The High Dive

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“Calgon, take me away…”

I had one of those moments today, but my escort away from drama wasn’t Calgon. It was Bare Escentuals, with their new bareMinerals holiday collection of bright, shimmery colors in kits with names like Things That Make You Glow.

Today was a little challenging. It got off to a good start, but when Tabs found out that I’m heading out of town this weekend, he went ballistic, unleashing a litany of diva demands, all of which he wants met by the time I leave on Friday.

I finished the easy ones — making arrangements for his favorite pet sitter, bringing one of the zinnia plants in the house, programming the Tivo to record Cats 101 — but then it got tough. He also wants an XXL kitty ascot (has to be silk) and a two-day supply of organic, gluten-free, non-GMO gravy.

Yeah, that’s not gonna happen…

All I have to say is thank goodness for makeup. I would have lost my marbles today if it hadn’t been for Things That Make You Glow, Box of Gems and R.S.V.P. — a few of the kits in the big Bare Escentuals bareMinerals holiday collection.

“I refuse to look at you until you bring home my ascot…”

Things That Make You Glow

Eyecolors from the left: Aglow, Black Gold, Happiness, Overjoyed and Pamper

Eyecolors from the left: Pashmina Glimmer, Praise, Shangri-la, Utopia and Vivid

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