Sample Sunday! #1: Bare Minerals Deep Cleansing Foam

I've decided to start a new blog post series called Sample Sunday. I have so many samples that it's a little ridiculous! In order to use them up and for the benefit of readers i'm going to start using them and then reviewing them on Sundays. Obviously there won't be a Sample Sunday post every single Sunday - Sundays without samples will be my rest day! :)

Sample Sunday #1 is a cleanser that I've been using in the morning when my housemate is hogging our bathroom, i need to wash my face before getting ready for work and couldn't get in to use my old faithful Clinique Liquid Facial Soap. The cleanser is a thick white cream which foams up a fair bit when you start massaging it into your skin with water.

This is what the Bare Escentuals website says about this product:

• Our proprietary ActiveSoil Complex represents a new generation of beneficial minerals with extraordinary skin-renewing benefits, including faster cell turnover and antioxidant defense
• Clinically proven to reveal brighter, smoother, younger-looking skin, reduced appearance of fine lines and wrinkles and remarkably smaller-looking pores
• Unique electrolyte delivery system optimizes your skin's ability to absorb and retain moisture, resulting in smoother, healthier-looking skin
• We formulated our skincare to perform expertly with our foundation to give you a younger-looking complexion both instantly and over time

Here's what i like about this cleanser: It's not drying and it leaves my skin feeling fairly clean. 

This product does not remove makeup very well in my experience and didn't remove my waterproof mascara. It sort of left a mess under my eyes. Ordinarily i remove my makeup and use a cleanser as simply a cleanser but in the interest of this review i left my makeup on a couple of times to test it!

What i don't love is the smell. It's not that the smell is offensive - it's not, its a pleasant smell - but i don't like my cleansers to have strong smell and i think this one is strong. It's not overwhelming or i wouldn't have used it but it's noticeable.

I don't feel that this left my skin brighter or smoother. My skin isn't particularly crowded with fine lines so i can't comment on whether it made me look younger or reduced fine lines. I definitely didn't notice any reduction in my pores (which are large). Would having used it twice a day made a difference in my results? I doubt it. 

What i did notice is that i've had some acne using this product. I used this for several days, ended up with mild acne and then went back to my normal facial cleanser on weekends and noticed that the acne improved (even in those couple of days). I would say this did break me out a little and i would actually put that down to the fragrance. My skin does not particularly like fragrance.

All in all this is not a bad cleanser. It cleans without drying and if you (and your skin) don't mind scented cleansers it smells nice. It's not going to work miracles but if all you want is a clean face you might enjoy this. 

Full size is 125ml. My sample was 9.6g. My sample lasted approximately 10 washes.

Where to buy?

• StrawberryNet - $29 
• OO.com.au - $29.50

For the same price as this cleanser you can get the Clinique Facial Cleanser - that would be my pick over this product.

Have you tried this product? What did you think?