it is not bad [SEP] i have been using bare escentuals bare minerals mineral makeup since about i have tried other brands but till now i just did not find anything i liked as much let alone better lately though the be makeup just has not been agreeing with my skin i am getting older and my skin is a bit more sensitive these days apparently the one thing i never cared for with the be makeup was their use of bismuth anything with bismuth it just makes my skin itch i have been reading about the negatives of parabens too and i decided i wanted to get away from that as much as i couldbe does not have that but it does use bismuth at least they did as of the last time i ordered a big kit after perusing amazon and reading ingredient lists i chose to try this kit mainly because of the fact that this makeup does not have any of that and reviews here already are mostly positive also because i liked the eye shadow colors in the trial kit these are colors i would use a lot so i did not feel like i was wasting money on colors i would never use just to get trials on everything else the jars are about the size of a be eyeshadow a little smaller maybe the brushes were not bad but they are small i put them in my purse kit they are useful for that but not for much else but they are sturdy they are not losing bristles and they seem fairly softfor the most part i like this makeup it is about the same grind as the be mineral makeup feels a bit silkier to me actually it smells about the same seems maybe a bit less noticeable the smell it blends as well but does not feel quite as heavy the finishing veil is good i have combination skin and oil in my t zone and it did a good job of keeping me matte all day the foundation covers well and does not make my face itch at all the bisque is okay but i do not think it is got quite the coverage of the be bisque i did have to use more of it to cover things the same way i kind of wish this kit had come with sample jars of the colored concealers as i would have liked to have tried those combined with their bisque i think it might have worked better with that combo i am admittedly at a point where a simple bisque concealer is probably not enough for me i am getting dark under eye areas and have some red i need to cover now and againtheir glow mixed with the pink blush is my new blush it is too much for me as a bronzer i have very pale ivory skin and it just does not work for me all over just a little too much orange a little too dark but it did work okay as blusher over the pink they send you combining both that gave me a blusher that worked well for me the pink blush they give you is just way too light and frosted for me it just does not show up at all it was the one product in the kit i just did not care much for i would definitely want a darker more mauve or cinnamon toned blush rather than this one the pink on it is own is pretty useless i had to combine the two or forget it it did not even look like i had any color on my cheeksthe foundation colors are decent their fair is actually a near perfect match for me but i would probably never use the fair unless it was combined with the fair maybe my skin is never that dark not even in summer but fair i must admit i like that one it is hard for me to find a foundation that is fair enough that is not too yellow but fair works well fair is just a tad too dark and just a bit yellow for meoverall i would have to say this kit was a positive experience except for a couple of colors being slightly off for me i do plan on ordering a big kit but i am also going to email them and ask if they might send a slightly darker blush and just the fair instead since they are supposedly picking the cosmetics as they pack for you cannot hurt to ask and if they do then their fair kit will work very well for me and i can see myself becoming a regular with this one i did not expect this product to be as good as it is actually it was a very pleasant surprise i am used to spending a lot more on the be product this is much less expensive and in some ways i think i actually like it better than be so i probably will not be a be customer much now that i have discovered this