October 24, 2008

Bare Escentuals Ruby Collection Review

I’m not partial to rubies. Rubies remind me of budget vampire flicks, blood, and oh, this guy:

I harbor a secret hope that they’ll bring Gordon Walker back as he’s the villain I was secretly hoping would bring down the Winchester boys after they started waxing Jared’s eyebrows and deep frying him in a tanning bed. Once you start man-grooming that badly all bets are off for the Muse!

Before

After Hollywood man-grooming!

I thought it was so killer watching Jared run after Gordon Walker with a stake while yelling, “Don’t call me Sammie!” Although I was considering personally contacting Kripke and telling him that the scene would be WAY better if they had Jared running around chasing Gordon in his boxer shorts. Just the Muse’s opinion but that would make fine, healthy entertainment for the tweens, teens, and generally old fan girls like the Muse!

That’s hot.

But since we probably won’t see any ruby red blood dripping from Gordon Walker’s vampy teeth anytime soon we’ll have to settle for getting our ruby fix from the new Bare Escentuals Ruby Collection.

Although I’m a big fan of pointing out all the wrongs with Bare Escentuals kits now a days that doesn’t stop me from being their biggest supporter when it comes to purchasing their kits, especially Holiday ones!

The Bare Escentuals Ruby Collection is $54 USD and contains the following items:

bareMinerals Ruby Radiance All Over Face Color
bareMinerals Golden Ruby Eye Shadow
bareMinerals Vintage Ruby Eye Color
bareMinerals Wild Ruby Eye Liner Powder
Double Ended Black Mascara and Ruby Beautifully Luminous Lashes
Ruby Buxom Lip Polish
Cheek Brush
Double-Ended Shadow and Eyeliner Brush
Faux Croc Clutch

I have a few rants, I have some raves, I have good news and I also have some bad news with this review sooooooo sit back, relax, and take it all in as this is going to be a bit of a long ride!

It’s always best to start with the good news so I’ll tell you that first. The kit is priced at $54 USD and contains the same amount of items released with the Bare Escentuals Classic Rock Collection from last year which was actually, here’s the good news part, $59 USD! You’re getting a great kit at nearly $5 USD less so maybe Bare Escentuals is actually listening to the Muse when she rants about the price as of late!

I personally love Bare Escentuals kits because they make application easy, simple, and fuss-free. If you’re not an expert at applying makeup I highly suggest nabbing one of their full kits because it truly breaks down application and teaches you how to create a beautiful look. Although I didn’t completely love the look that I got from the Bare Escentuals Ruby Collection I generally liked a good deal of the items included with the set and in the end the look I created wasn’t too bad just not thrilling (that’s the only bad news I really have).

My favorite item in the kit was the Bare Escentuals Buxom Lips in Ruby. The color is truly a nice ruby shade with a metallic-like finish that lends a nice warmth to lips. I mentioned this last year but it deserves to be said again that I really appreciate the fact that Buxom Lips Gloss now comes with a brush applicator and not a sponge tip applicator. The gloss was always a mediocre find for me until they converted to the brush applicator which now makes it a fabulous gloss in my opinion. The brush allows for much better application and really brings out the thick formula and pigmentation of the gloss where as before you could never really tell how good the gloss was as the sponge applicator failed to pick up enough product to really apply correctly.

Bare Escentuals Ruby Radiance All Over Face Color is my next favorite item within the kit. The entire collection is supposedly infused with real ruby powder. In the case of the Ruby Radiance All Over Face Color you can get the flair of the ruby within the powder. It has nice touches of warm red and pink with a very faint shimmer that’s not overwhelming on the skin. Once buffed on you’re left with a very rich, warm shade of cheek color. The finished result quite reminds me of the mauve blush included with the Bobbi Brown Mauve Face Palette.

The eye colors included in the kit are Golden Ruby and Vintage Ruby. Golden Ruby is a shimmering subdued golden shade which you’ll be using as an all over color wash while Vintage Ruby is soft fawn shade that contrasts Golden Ruby on the crease of your eye. I was too thrilled with Vintage Ruby but I can’t deny that it does contrast well with Golden Ruby. Golden Ruby was my favorite of the two as I love shimmering golds for my eyes. Following up your look you’ll be using Wild Ruby as a liner shade which is a purple plum shade. Wild Ruby seems out of place with the other shades but it does complete the overall look well and goes rather well with Vintage Ruby.

I took note that Bare Escentuals has introduced a new lift and peel seal. You may not care about this as much as I do but it thrilled me to bits that it was so EASY to open up the jars due to this new seal. You simply snatch the upper part and twist up and open! The seal pulls off in one go and you aren’t spilling content or having to scratch the remaining label off if you didn’t pull it all off the first go. I really appreciated this new seal and I hope other brands that seal product in a similiar fashion will begin using the same method!

Pull Up

Twist

Open!

To complete your Bare Escentuals Ruby look you can use the dual end mascara included with the kit. As per normal the mascara isn’t anything to write home about, it a simple black mascara that isn’t really fantastic but does the job well enough. On the opposite end you’ll get a Ruby Beautifully Luminous Lashes. I’ve reviewed Bare Escentuals Luminous Lashes prior to this and you can see that review here. Although I think the Ruby Luminous Lashes is great to add to my collection I just see it as a rather strange item to include with this kit. Sparkling ruby lashes just didn’t really go so well with the completed look I created with my kit.

Finally the kit includes a face brush, dual ended eye brush, and a faux croc makeup case. The brushes include a red handle and a ruby crystal embedded into the handle which mimics last year’s collection where they had white handles and a diamond crystal embed. The croc makeup bag is cute but knowing me I’ll swap it away as it really isn’t particularly thrilling and looks a tiny bit old lady like however it’s a nice extra to the collection!

Bare Escentuals Classic Rock Brush versus Bare Escentuals Ruby Collection Brush



Overall, the collection was really nice. You’ll be happy to know that the products are nice, full size and not small sample sizes as per the Bare Escentuals Rocker Kit Tutorial that I recently reviewed. I was particularly delighted that the Radiance Powder was full size and not small like last year’s Classic Rock Collection.

The collection created a warm look which I wasn’t completely feeling as I prefer a cooler look for the Holidays but I can’t deny that it does look very natural and nice but nothing too dramatic.

All in all I think Bare Escentuals did a great job with the Ruby Collection. It’s not my favorite kit that they released but it contains a nice selection of items, a majority of which I really liked alot. I’m glad BE decided to lower the price slightly as well and I do think $54 USD is a fair enough price for the entire kit and the majority of items you’ll be getting. It’s well worth checking out for yourself. This is a Sephora exclusive so if you’re wanting to swatch up, check out, or buy these for yourself you’ll have to head over to Sephora to nab it!

Bare Escentuals Classic Rock Collection Review

Bare Escentuals Classic Rock and Bare Escentuals Platinum Collection

Bare Escentuals Pure Platinum Collection Review

Bare Escentuals bareGold Collection Review

Bare Escentuals bareDiamond Collection Review

Bare Escentuals Rocker Eye Kit Review

30 Comments

About the Muse

Isabella MuseIsabella is just an average everyday geeky girl who doesn’t blend her eyeshadow correctly, wears too much blush, and hopes she never finds her holy grail products because she likes the thrill of the chase so much. Her mission is to bring you super honest reviews on makeup, skincare, fragrance and all things beauty. She’s in no way an expert on the topic and she sure as hell isn’t a super model. But she’s passionate about makeup and is seeking like-minded individuals that like pina coladas, getting caught in the rain, and ones that enjoy spending hundreds of dollars at Sephora without feeling buyer’s remorse. If you’re that person feel free to reach out and leave a comment or follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Bloglovin‘.

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Comments

  • Toya

    This looks great – I’ll have to check it out! I love the look of the Ruby Radiance.

  • Dao

    B-E-A-UTIFUL! This look is not too red and can be worn on a daily basis. You look so gorgeous today that I want to give you a hug 🙂

  • Phyrra

    I personally am not a diamond girl. I love rubies, sapphires, emeralds, amethysts and tanzanites. My engagement ring is actually a huge sapphire set in platinum because my husband knew how much I loved sapphires 🙂

    That being said, I actually think Ruby Radiance, Vintage Ruby and Golden Ruby are pretty. Wild Ruby seems a bit odd to me.

    The Ruby Buxom Lips is a pretty red.

    The lips look GREAT on you.
    I think the eyes are too subdued on you, I miss your bright colors!

    What are you doing this weekend?
    I’m off to a wedding tomorrow and I think to an OKC meetup on Sunday.

  • Autumn Masquerade

    Hi Miss Muse,

    The ruby lipgloss is my favorite so far too!

    The code you got from Sephora is different than the one I got. Hm…I wonder if they input a randomly generated code.

    I can’t remember where I put any old comments, so if you reply to them, you’ll have to remind me where they are.

    Hope you have a good weekend!

    Much love!

  • Askmewhats

    I’ve always though BE as boring because of their “forever the same packaging” but this one..really is so gorgeous

  • Aline

    i must say, i wouldnt have given this set a second glance had i not seen this review… colors that can be classified as “ruby” do not really look good on me… but i love the shadows… theyre all gorge!! the mascara top coat looks great too, and the gloss is pretty, but it wouldnt be my color at all… it looks great on you though muse!

    very pretty.. ill definitely have to check this out in person..

    have a great weekend muse!!

    aline

  • Phyrra

    I dunno why, but Jared’s never been attractive to me, even when he was on Gilmore Girls. I always have prefered Jensen Ackles. I loved him in Dark Angel. Hell, I just loved Dark Angel. We started getting into Supernatural this season, which has been amazing. We’re going to go back and netflix all the previous seasons.

    What was your favorite season?
    Favorite character?

  • Connie

    The gloss and the luminous lashes look really nice! too bad the luminous lashes didn’t work for the look. You look pretty as always!

  • Juliet

    thanks so much for your blogs, they're really informative & funny..

    loving the earrings here too!

    xx Juliet

  • Chica

    I love you for loving the Winchester boys, I heart Supernatural. Luckily Jensen is still rugged and manly, Jared was always a bit too pretty for me anyway 😉
    Gordon was an AWESOME villain, I too was a little upset they killed him off!

  • dark_nyx

    LoL, you're so funny. I think Sam looks better in the before, the after is just too…scruffy in a not-so-attractive way. However, I think Dean is waaaaay hotter, haha.

    The lip gloss colour looks gorgeous; however, I'm not really a Bare Escentuals fan. I got suckered into that whole "Bare Minerals is the best" craze and then realized that it was over rated. So…I banned all things Bare Escentual. Bitter, bitter. >_<

  • the Muse

    hey toya!!!!

    Thanks honey 😉 Ruby Radiance is divine as is the Ruby Gloss 😉

    Thanks for the comment!

  • the Muse

    hey dd!

    Oh my god that sounds amazing! What a ring 🙂

    I like rubies myself…Diamonds are nice but if I really want to pick I actually prefer pearls 🙂 go figure!

    Wild Ruby is very very odd 😛 Honestly the name of the collect throws me..they should have included a nice ruby for the eye as well but I guess golds are cool!

    I love the Ruby Buxom Lips 🙂 It has a nice metallic finish!

    Aw 😉 I’ll do some bright shades soon as I have to review the UD book of shadows..def bold and bright 🙂

    Weekend was fab…kinda longish…Friday night I went to a J-Rock round up concert at this old club. Very cool array of music and a few bands I never seen before. After that we did some super late dinner. Umm Saturday I went to brunch with friends, shopped a bit, did a movie, went to dinner. After that I hung out with my mate Martin and watched dvds for the remainder of the evening/morning…oh and some tivo..totally getting into My Own Worst Enemy hope they don’t cancel it!

    Sunday I did a bit of cleaning up and organizing at home, met some friends for lunch and shopping and got home rather early so I caught up on some tivo and WoW and went to bed early 🙂 Was quite tired…still have a nagging cough from my cold and it kinda makes me feel weak 😛

    How was the wedding and meetup?

    Happy Monday 😛

  • the Muse

    morning or afternoon rather 🙂 bets!

    Me too! I was a tad disappointed with the rest but it’s not too bad 😉
    Yup looks like different folks got different ones…15% off, 20 off of 50, 15 off of 50, etc…I think they are looking at pts and deciding the best value of the coupon like that!

    LOL I don’t remember either 🙂 You should check the little email feature that way you’ll get my reply delivered to your email box 🙂
    Hope your weekend was fab. Mine was nice, felt long too which is always fab 😉

  • Phyrra

    Yeah, I was thinking there should have been a ruby eye color, maybe a soft ruby/pinkish lustre sort of shade (like Wonder in Aromaleigh’s Elemental Lustres collection). I think I need that Ruby Buxom Lippy.

    The wedding was fabulous 🙂
    The reception was vegan and pretty cool, too.

    We didn’t make it to the meetup, as my husband got sucked into finishing Assassin’s Creed. That was ok though, as I ended up doing some writing.

    It sounds like you had a good weekend 🙂

  • the Muse

    hi Aline!

    Aw shucks I feel special that I turned you onto it 🙂

    Funny as none of the shadows actually have much “ruby” to ’em! But they are rather nice together with the blush..shimmering gold obviously goes well with a nice ruby cheek color!

    Aw thanks! I really like the gloss, it’s my fav 🙂

    It’s worth a look and if you hate some and love others I highly recommend ebaying it 🙂 people buy kits and break them up selling seperate pieces 🙂

    Hope you had a fab weekend!
    Happy Monday!

  • the Muse

    hi dd! I have a certain fixation with bish?nen and Jared has that appeal 😉 But not anymore…he’s got more of a burnt toast look now lol!

    I never watched gilmore girls but I’m guilty of tivoin’ episodes with Jared in it! EEP!

    Jensen is quite hot…;)

    Whoa you missed alot better watch back as it’s truly a great show 🙂

    My fav season remains one as I really enjoyed getting to know the characters plus Jared had a certain appeal back then. Now it’s alot of emo crap which I have no patience for sometimes.

    Fav character is without a doubt Bobby. John too but that’s by default for a certain love of JDM 😉

    How about you?

  • the Muse

    hey dd!
    thanks for the tag! Will have a lookiee in a sec! Just be warned I’m crap at getting these posted sometimes 🙂

  • the Muse

    hi chica!

    LOL 🙂 another Winchester fan eh 🙂

    LOL I adore the pretty boys 🙂 Jensen’s character actually reminds me of myself. If I was a male I’d so be Dean lol! I love old cars, vintage rock, I’m totally a corny sarcastic joker 🙂 Female version of Dean 🙂

    I was too! Gordon was too great! I really wish they’d have him escape and come back for a new story arc! Believe or not I actually kinda miss Jo as well ;( as annoying as she was she was heaps better than Ruby or Bela ugh!

  • the Muse

    hi there dark_nyx!

    Agreed! he totally needs a hair cut and shave 😛

    Dean is def hot 🙂 I just like the girly boys lol!

    Oh no don’t get me wrong…Bare Minerals I can’t stand lol! I like the color line but the foundations and such are def a NO go for me!

    Seriously check out the glimmers, lippies, etc..they are good..just avoid the foundation crap 😉

    hehe!

    Thanks for the comment!

  • Phyrra

    Dean all the way 🙂
    though I have the feeling that Ruby and Lillith will be entertaining to watch.

    I love the angel bit, btw. I’m always happy when they’re closer to what you see in Constantine than Charmed.

    Don’t get me wrong though, I enjoy Charmed. I’ve been tivoing the show again to have something to put on when I need noise, and I sooo love Julian McMahon. He and Alyssa Milano are my favorites.

  • the Muse

    hey dd!

    Absolutely…but everything is gold? wth?

    I haven’t checked out AL in a while..really need to stop by 🙂

    are you vegan?

    Assassin’s Creed has been on my hit list for a while now..I fear it takes up way too much of my time. 😛

    It was a very nice weekend nothing too major but nice none the less 🙂

    I can’t stand the new Ruby…I must be a total novo but did you catch eppy 1 where Ruby answers the door in her underwear? Is that implying sam and her are sleeping together? I never noticed chem between the two…was bizaaro…I’m positive that was her but they were making like it wasn’t to trick up Dean…

    Lilith gets on my nerves..the kid they got playing her I want to shoot in the head lol! Annoying bugger!

    Missha Collin is so hawt! Love his angel portrayal 😉

    I dug charmed too but I think that they leave out the cute factor in SN which is something you do get in charmed if that makes sense 🙂

  • Phyrra

    I am sooo not vegan. I’m an opportunistic omnivore. But my friends who got married are vegan so they had a vegan reception. I’ll eat vegan but it’s not my preference. Except for that vegan cake, that chocolate cake with the fake buttercream icing was to die for. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.

    I’ve only seen the new Ruby, I think, not the old one.
    (since I’ve really only seen this season)
    But yes I had the impression that Ruby and Sam were gettin’ it on.
    And Eww, I was hoping that they only had Lillith as a kid for a minute, and that she’d be a hot chick for the rest. Now I’m all disappointed 😛

    Yeah I like the angel too. Though I still love Christopher Walkin as an angel. Creeepy!

    And it’s good that they leave out the cute factor. I sort of like the bleakness with Supernatural. It almost reminds me of Cthulhu.

    I didn’t like the ending to Assassin’s Creed, but they left it open for a sequel. The 3 of us are getting ready to play Little Big Planet together, so I’m looking forward to that. I haven’t installed WoW on my new laptop, but I’m still paid through til the end of January.

  • the Muse

    me either. I have a few friends that are vegan and they take it to the extreme…

    Vegan isn’t necessarily bad it’s actually kinda good but some items are just rancid in my humblest 😉

    Hmmm sounds like good cake 😉 hehe!

    The old one was played by David Cassidy’s daughter. She was blond, real hard ass. Kinda sarcastic. I liked her alot. the new chick I’m not digging.

    I was under the impression too but I never really seen much chemistry aside from her under-roo shot!

    That’d be rather cool to introduce lillith as a killer chick however I think that Kripke likes keeping her as a child b/c it makes it difficult for D and S to “kill” her.

    CW as an angel was awesome 🙂 he kicks ass anyway 🙂 I always crack up just thinking about his Blue Oyster Cult skit on SNL 🙂

    I love the fact that cute is out however they prob make ONE too many crummy crappy cheese jokes…plus all the gay digs is beyond it already lol! but hey the fan girls and the fan fiction love it I’m sure!

    One too many gay Dean and Sammie fan fiction sites around lol! I know my best friend Jai LOVES it lol!

    Oh no you did not compare SN to Cthulhu! Hehe noooo you’re killing my childhood 🙂

    I haven’t off’ed it yet so I’m unsure what the word is. I avoid fan sites so I don’t get spoilers 🙂

    Shh don’t tell me!

    I pre-booked Little Big Planet but ended up using the store credit towards a sims expansion pack. I’m debating on even bothering..I don’t need further crack for my mind.

    😉

    Don’t install it…your brain will turn to mush 😉

    hehe!

  • Phyrra

    I love vegan when it comes to vietnamese.
    The cake was DIVINE!
    *drools*
    I just meant to compare in a good way. I love Lovecraft :>

  • the Muse

    I heart vietnamese food too 🙂

    LOL I do too…;) I just find LC way more intense then SN 😉

    Hehe!