Silk Naturals

Hi- I just sent an email too, sorry I didn't know I was registered yet! I have a friend who swears by bare minerals/escentuals...what are the differences between your mineral foundation and theirs? Besides price of course! Thank you, Tammi

Ingredients and ratios of ingredients are usually the big differences. There is an ingredient that they use that we don't...bismuth oxychloride. Ours does not come tinted....you have to mix it to get your match. Since you mix your own, you have more flexibility on finish. Some want matte, and some want more of a sheen, and some want in between. Between the Glow Base and the other whites, you can blend a combination to get the exact finish you want. I think they have two choices. And price is part of the difference, too. I personally like the ability to easily change the color as my skin color is vastly different from Summer to Winter.

Ingredient-wise: bismuth oxychloride (in theirs) and silk (in some Silk Naturals foundations). bismuth is what gives that pearlescent tinman sheen and often the culprit for those that get an itchy face with bare minerals. In their lip and eye colors, they use certain colorants that some people like to avoid or be aware of when using (carmine, ferric ferrocyanide, chromium green, ultramarines, etc). SN uses those colorants occasionally too, but the products with them are usually labeled and if you like to avoid them, there are lists available to help you.

Price-wise: Obviously ounce for ounce, bare minerals costs a lot more than silk naturals, and unless you have a retail store near you, online ordering usually requires some form of auto-delivery enrollment (which can be worked around, but you have to call in). I wasn't fond of the auto delivery program, but plenty of people are perfectly happy with it.

SPF: Though the ingredients that give an SPF are the same in both foundations, Bare Minerals has paid for the expensive lab tests required to label their products with an SPF. Silk Naturals has not (and probably never will) pay for those tests, so SPF will never be written on the label. Zinc Oxide and Titanium Dioxide are used in most sunscreens, so almost all mineral makeups have SPF properties, but unless the testing is done, they can't put it on the label.

Color Selection: With SN, you mix your perfect shade. With Bare Minerals, you find a match from their 20 colors. A lot of women like mixing their own because their skin is so extremely fair that they can't use premixed colors or their color isn't common and doesn't quite match most pre-mixed colors.


In general, the answer is to use what works for you, but for the price difference alone, I would see if SN works for you.

I have to throw my hat in the ring for SN. I am a self-confessed recovering high end makeup snob. If Sephora carried it, I was up for purchasing it. I used to lay out tons of money each year for Prescriptives Custom Blend services. I can't wear anything with Bismuth Oxychloride- it literally made welts on my cheeks. I have been a hardcore fan of SN for going on four years. I won't purchase anything else. I am completely uninterested in any other MMU brands because Karen's product line is extensive. The skin care products are also superior to anything else I've used. I never used a daily moisturizer outside of a carrier oil (like argan) mixed with a water-based serum until Karen introduced her gel-based moisturizers. Karen has dry skin, but she also understood how oilier girls were skipping a portion of the skin care they needed because of the wax emulsifiers in other moisturizers causing breakouts.

Four years later, I purchase three commercial makeup products- I still purchase UDPP so my eye shadow doesn't slide off, and I also purchase eyeliner pencils because I'm too impatient to use either the cream eyeliners or foil a dark liner shade. I still purchase mascara at the drug store because I love the moldtrusion mascara wands for dealing with my sparse eyelashes. But everything else is from SN!