So a few years ago a friend told me about **Joelle Cosmetics** and that their mineral foundation is just like Bare Escentuals but less than have the cost. Well, I'm a **cheapskate **so if I can save a bunch of money, count me in. I recently placed an order with Joelle and found the selection to be good, the prices right, and my order was shipped pretty quickly. But I was not at all happy with **Joelle Mineral Foundation**. For starters, it seems to be thicker or heavier than **Bare Escentuals.**  When I applied the thinnest layer it sat on top of my skin and didn't sink down into my pores like Bare Escentuals does so it looked like there were little dots all over my face.  It looked horrible. But what was worse is that the product colors are way off. In Bare Escentuals I normally use Light or Fairly Light. Back in the day when I used liquid makeup I always used an ivory shade.  Right now I have a bit of a tan so I wanted to order some medium foundation for summer and some light for later in the year when my tan fades. My mom, who is Native American and has dark skin with red tones, uses Medium year round and Tan in the summer so I ordered her some Medium as well. When the foundation arrived I thought it looked a little light in the pot but decided to give it a go.  First I was struck with the annoying thickness of the product but then when it was on my face I looked like a geisha! It was so light I couldn't believe it and thought for sure the product was mislabeled or the wrong powder was poured it into the pot labeled Light. I contacted Joelle via email asking if I could return the product to have her see if maybe I got the wrong foundation.  After a few weeks she (finally) got back to me and suggested that I order some color corrector from her Ebay site and that I could mix that in to get it to the color I wanted.  Well that really ticked me off but I did it anyway. I ordered the corrector and got it a few days later.  It was a dark brown mineral powder. The problem is that the container is not big enough to mix the corrector with the too light foundation so it turned into a huge fiasco and made a humongous mess.  I had to remove the sifter thingie from inside the container and shake it up.  In the end I had to mix in an awful lot of corrector to get it to the color I needed it to be.  My mom ended up mixing the entire contents of her packet of corrector with the foundation in a baby food jar and it's STILL not dark enough for her.  Plus it's heavy, thick, and just awful looking. I'm sticking with Bare Escentuals and never straying again. So obviously **we do not recommend this foundation.** I threw both containers of color in the trash. Yeah, it was that bad.  What a waste of money and time. If you decide to give it a try anyway, please, please, PLEASE consider ordering small samples of the colors you want to try and then place a larger order to make sure you get the right color for your skin tone.

Buggheart

Annapolis, MD

I ordered the two bags of light colored foundation from Joelle. It's way too light for me and I do not have the time or the expertise to correct the color myself. I ended up mixing the Joelle with my mary kay mineral foundation and improved both of them. The Joelle makeup is thicker and covers much better than the mary kay. It lasts longer. You need to be certain not to put on too much makeup or it will be splotchy. Since I have so many sifter jars from the mary kay foundation, I bought two ziplock bags of foundation and placed them in my sifter jars. I love this option, as I don't want more trash or sifter jars.

rebeccale

Eau Claire, WI