Looking for bismuth free, high quality mineral makeup? Purely Cosmetics is the place to go. I gave several of the foundations a try and found that I got the some of the best coverage and overall look from them that I have ever gotten from a lose powder mineral foundation. The foundations are also actually pure. There are no irritants in them, and in particular, there is no bismuth—an ingredient that is present in a large number of mineral foundations, including many that use words such as “pure” in their name or advertising.
Pure Mineral Foundation provides smooth coverage with some decent oil absorption—it is recommended for normal to oily skin types. I tried the version with silk powder added, which made for great oil absorption, plus some extra sun protection. I sometimes get a bit shiny by the end of the day with some mineral makeup brands, but not with this foundation. Coverage was also lovely. The foundation goes on smooth, sits nicely on the skin, and is buildable. I added extra to cover areas of melasma and pigmentation with great success. The foundation lasted all day.
Purely Cosmetics Skin Smoothing Foundation contains silk for hydration, silica to blur fine lines, jojoba, and boron to reduce pore visibility. It is not recommended for very oily skin. It wore pretty much the same for me as the Pure Mineral foundation and had bit silkier feeling to it. It happened that my skin was being rather oily when testing it though, so the Pure Mineral Foundation worked better for me because it absorbed the oil better, although the skin smoothing foundation still worked pretty darn well for me.
Another Item I really liked was the Silk and Pearl Primer. This interesting powder primer does a bang up job at absorbing oil. I played with it both by using it with mineral makeup and, despite its marketing as a primer, with using it on top of liquid foundation. It worked well for both. Purely Cosmetics also has an interesting looking finishing powder, but I didn’t give that one a try.
Purely Cosmetics also has a nice line of brushes (the flat top foundation brush works great), brush covers ( a great travel accessory), eye shadows, and more. I will discuss the eye shadows in a later review. All products are affordable and of better quality than a number of more expensive brands. Starter kits and samples are also available. I highly recommend them!
