A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

I’ve been trying out the ADesign Skincare Brush Set for just over a month now, and I wanted to see if this one set could ever possibly replace the various skin brushes that I’ve grown to love over the years.  I have to say, the set did fare better than I thought it would… but the ultimate answer is that nothing can replace many years of replacing rubbish brushes with marginally better ones until you reach brush nirvana!

But let me talk you through the brushes contained in the ADesign Skincare Brush Set*, with particular reference to my. new. favourite. brush.

I’ll begin by giving you a quick overview of the set, which is available to buy online from Cocktail Cosmetics, priced at £44.95.  Broken down, that works out at around £8.99 per brush – which for face brushes, makes it a very good value set.  You’d easily pay that on the high street for brushes that don’t come close to even 10% of the quality that these represent.

For your money, you get five brushes housed in a patent mock-croc bag that is fully-lined to prevent damage from spills.  The brushes (from left to right) are: Pointed Foundation Kabuki Brush, Flat Top Foundation Brush, Foundation Brush, Medium Concealer Brush, and Pointed Concealer Brush.

You may be asking yourself, why on Earth would you need three different foundation brushes?  If you are, get off my blog.

Moving on…

Yes.  It’s magnificent isn’t it?  Like a silver bullet sent to banish bad makeup application werewolves (or something *shrugs*).  I haven’t quite got the hang of how best to use the Adesign Pointed Foundation Kabuki Brush and I’m not keen on the stubby kabuki-handle – the pointed tip is obviously engineered to provide precision and having a longer-handle would complement this more effectively.  Of course, if you love the design, you could always opt for something like the Bdellium Tools Bambu Pointed Foundation Brush as an alternative.

The heavily tapered bristles on this brush allows for dual-motion blending… you can swipe both back and forward like a traditional painting motion or apply circular buffing strokes.  For me, I’ve found its forte when it comes to applying concealer over a larger area, particularly around the nose as the point gets right into the creases whilst the taper blends the edges seamlessly.  I’m not completely sold on it, but I do think I’ve not quite mastered the best technique for it yet.  If you have any suggestions, I’m all ears!

The Adesign Flat Top Foundation Brush, a.k.a. my new favourite brush.  It’s a masterpiece, so beautifully dense with tickle-me soft fibres.  It is not very pliable which allows for a really good buffing motion (rather than flopping about ineffectively on the face) and comes with a small head which I much prefer when compared to a larger size flat-top such as the ELF Powder Brush.  I’m going to photograph comparable brushes shortly and reiterate why I prefer this brush to the others.  For quick reference, comparable brushes would be: MAC 130 and Shiseido Perfect Foundation Brush (though this one isn’t cut at an angle).

I’ve been using this for applying foundation (all textures), applying cream blush and blending out any edges.  When my skin has been particularly dry and all my products have been cream or liquid-based, I haven’t even bothered to use a different brush.  This is the stand-out offering from the set.  The smaller head also means that it complements my stick products really well (things like NARS Multiples and my Shu Uemura Stick Foundation).  Perhaps the ultimate compliment I can pay it though is that it has enabled me to wear my MUFE HD Cream Blushes… those things played me up something chronic, I just couldn’t find the right tool to get the just-flushed blush from them.  Until now.

I wish that I could point to a single technical aspect of this brush that suits my needs so well, but all I can tell you is that I’m in brush love.  For reals.

After the gushing over the previous brush, the Adesign Foundation Brush doesn’t get me nearly as excited.  Again, this is small-headed… comparable in size to the Giorgio Armani Designer Foundation Expert Shaping Brush but mega-bucks cheaper.  While the GA brush tapers away quickly, the ADesign brush provides greater density from the base up, which allows this brush to both paint and buff.  The fibres have a good amount of spring to them and are densely packed from root to tip.

The Adesign Medium Concealer Brush is another that didn’t give me an awful lot to flap about.  Again, it’s a good-looking brush without any flaws and applies under-eye concealer very gently but one the whole, I prefer my No7 Concealer brush when it comes to painting on the product with a flat edge like this offers.  But talking of flat edges…

…the Adesign Pointed Concealer Brush is without them!  This is a really good brush for concealing over blemishes.  It delivers the product with pin-point precision and blends without dislodging or removing any of the product you’ve just placed!  How many times have you applied concealer to a spot, blended and then realised that you’ve blended at least 50% of the product off?!  This has worked wonders for my concealer application skillz… now I has some!  Again, this is so densely packed, you would think you’d need something with a ‘lighter’ touch, but no… despite my initial scepticism, this really does the job magnificently well.  It’s a little too stiff-feeling to use in the delicate eye area, where something like a MAC 224 works well to both apply and blend concealer.

Without exception, each of these synthetic-fibre brushes are high-quality.  The ferrules are solid, the fibres are well-cut and dense.  Each is perfectly soft, washes well and keeps its shape as it dries.  Talking of drying, these do dry more slowly than natural hair fibres…. such is the downside to synthetic brushes but I haven’t experienced any shedding during washing or application at all.  Which is more than can be said for most brushes.  Whilst I haven’t fallen head-over-heels for every brush in the set, the two that have made an impression on me (Flat Top Foundation & Pointed Concealer) … have made an impression that I want to shout about.

As an aside, you may be wondering why this is called the ‘skincare’ set… well, if you watch the video below, you’ll see that this set was designed for both makeup application AND skincare application.  Call me old-school but I’m all about the fingers when it comes to skincare!

The ADesign Skincare Brush Set is available to buy online from Cocktail Cosmetics, priced at £44.95

* press sample

I love a bit of alliteration in the mornings and the ECOTools Bamboo Bronzer Brush is just the kind of tongue twister that my beauty routine was waiting for.  I’ll start my review by pointing out that this little big brush has amassed an amazing 4.8 (out of 5) average rating over on makeupalley.  No great shakes you might think, except when you take into consideration that it’s been rated almost 300 times.  That’s a lot of very happy brush owners.

Although sold as a bronzing brush, this thing is so large, I have to assume that ECOTools intended this to be used as a body-brozing brush or simply an all-over face bronzing (as in tanning) brush.  There’s no way you’d wanna reach for this daily to “sunkiss” your face in specific areas, it’s mahoosive!  Where this baby excels is in its ability to buff – buff, buff and buff again.  It’s a wonderful long-handled kabuki for mineral foundation and an even more awesome applicator for the kind of liquid foundations that would normally give you an armache as you try to blend them before they quickly set.

This particular brush pairs up wonderfully with all manner of foundations including powders, creams and liquids and if you love the ELF Powder Brush for buffing in your foundation, I’m willing to bet that you’re going to love this even more.  The synthetic bristles are kitten-paw soft, keeping dry skin happy while you buff away to your hearts content.  I’m not gonna call the finished results ‘airbrushed’ (because it’s a naff expression) but I did get a lovely sheen to prove that the product had been worked well into the skin before any excess was buffed away by the densely-packed fibres.  I don’t find the large handle cumbersome to use, neither have I experienced any problems with shedding.

I’ve since bought another one to keep as a finishing brush and I use it to apply an illuminating/setting powder and ensure that everything is fully blended with a non-powdery finish – something I can struggle with when my skin is on the dry side.  The only negatives about this brush is that it’s a bugger to clean, takes an age to dry and isn’t very-travel friendly.

The ECOTools brush range is available to buy instore in Boots, priced at £9.99.  It’s also available online from cutecosmetics, priced at £8.99

These trio of eyeshadows from Illamasqua’s latest Human Fundamentalism* collection landed on my desk this week and I thought I’d post up some swatches.  The three matte shades are: Vernau (yellow ochre), CanCan (bright lilac purple), and Pivot (yellow green).  Get ready for some piccies… (I dunno why I always say that like it’s 2001 and you’re all hitting X so as not to max out your 56k dial up *shrugs*)

The shades have fair to good pigmentation (for mattes) and blend nicely.  The pick up is powdery but again, this is something you often have to contend with when you’re using a matte formula.  On with the swatches…

Applied on dry skin with no primer (please excuse the cycling scratches).  The pales don’t look too chalky considering.

Each shade applied with Illamasqua’s Sealing Gel* (as you would for an eyeliner application).

My attempts at a FOTD sadly ended with me looking at myself in the mirror and declaring “you look like a twat in those colours”.

But…. and this is where it gets interesting…

I went to the bathroom to remove my clown face and upon scrubbing with face wash and warm water….

The swatches done with the Sealing Gel would. not. budge.  I mean, they really wouldn’t budge.  I’m sat here 5 hours later and they’re still looking at me.

So my review is being thoroughly hijacked because I can’t coo over a trio of eyeshadows in shades that I wouldn’t be seen dead in (did I mention Illamasqua will makeover your dead body?).  However… I can get excited over the Illamasqua Sealing Gel which would be a phenomenal addition to your makeup routine if, like me, you have hooded eyelids and can’t stop eyeliner from transfering up to your hairline when you blink a bit too hard.

The shadows are ok, if you’re gonna get all hot and sweaty over them… you probably don’t read my blog anyway to be honest.  But check out the inconspicuous looking bottle of sealing gel next time you’re near a counter.  I already own/use a mineral-makeup branded sealing gel… this is 100x better.

Illamasqua’s sealing gel is priced at £10.50 and can be purchased on counter or online.  Also, if you haven’t seen them already – check out Illa’s pretty glorious moving swatches on their new-fangled website.  The Human Fundamentalism Collection can be seen here.

* press sample

For some of us, makeup brushes can amount to a big investment and it pays to look after them.  It’s only fairly recently that I’ve bothered – to be honest, I’m a little bit easy-come-easy-go as my Mum used to tut at me whenever I was being less than careful with my possessions.

(foundation size – good for foundation and small powder brushes)

I use Brush Guards to protect my favourite brushes.  The mesh slips over the handle and cradles the bristles tightly, it’s not the perfect solution for travelling but I love them after washing my brushes as I can simply stand them on end (brush guard down) and this protects the ferrule whilst ensuring that the bristles dry to a perfect shape.  Infact, they’ve even recovered some of my domed brushes that I thought had lost their shape for good.  A worthwhile investment!

(blush size – great for large(r) eyeshadow brushes)

Brush Guards are priced at around £5.95 a packet and come in various sizes from eyeliner-brush sized right up to kabuki.  I bought mine a long time ago from Cocktail Cosmetics.

Do you do anything to protect your brushes? (or have you got better things to do with your life? haha)

Having my weekly mooch around T.K. Maxx (I can never remember how many bloody x’s to use) today proved to me two things.  One… I really don’t need any more nail polish and two… I should replace my polish obsession with a makeup bag fetish.  And so I did.

Check out this beauty from Jobis (no, I haven’t heard of them either) that I picked up for the princely sum of £9.99

I’m a massive sucker for a flash of leopard print and heard my name being screamed loudly by this not-so-little accessory from across the store.  At first, the inner print stole my heart… but then, when I opened the second zip to reveal a brush holder compartment?!  Well, I couldn’t get my purse out of my handbag quick enough.

I insisted that Mr. L and Leila immediately stop what they were doing and come back home with me so that I could spend the next 40 minutes lovingly fluffing my brushes (not a euphemism) and fill my lovely new Jobis with the perfect configuration of makeup stuffs.

Look!  It holds my long-handled brushes beautifully, you can fit a whole face-worth’s in there!

I know that stock varies from store to store but my local had a few of these with all the purses and I didn’t see them in there last time – so if you’re in the market for a new makeup bag, may I suggest that you run to your nearest T.K. Maxx and nab one of these beauties before some other makeup-loving cowbag beats you to it.

Do you like it or is leopard print your style nemesis?

Please, for the love of all things vanity-driven, excuse the ‘left to dry naturally until it looks like shit’ hair.  Please.

Brushes mentioned:

E.L.F – Bamboo Angled Blush Brush (£5.50)
E.L.F – Studio Blush Brush (£3.50)
E.L.F – Studio Small Precision Brush (£3.50)
E.L.F – Studio Powder Brush (£3.50)

Boots No7 – Concealer Brush (£3.00 with till spit)
Boots No7 – Eyeshadow Brush (£0.75 with till spit)

Crown Brush – C139 Stiff Tapered Crease Brush (£2.95)
Crown Brush – C217 Bent Liner Brush (£2.60)

Stila – #4 Precision Eyeliner Brush (£3.50)

Revlon Vital Radiance – Brow Brush (£1.29)

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Do you agree with any of my choices?  What are your favourite cheap makeup brushes?

This, THIS is why I love being married.  Well, not just *this* but, mostly… this.  Can you guess what my lovely husband is making me?

Ooooooooh!!  It’s coming together!!

It looks a bit fiddly doesn’t it?  Glad I’m not the one making it.

Come back tomorrow to see it in all its glory!

Superdrug have been raising the beauty stakes lately.  First with their new beauty card, some great new brand exclusives and now a new range of affordable makeup brushes designed for the more makeup-savvy among us.

The Superdrug PRO Make Up Brush range contains eight new brushes in total.  Each brush is hand-crafted with 100% natural hair and as you’ve come to expect from Superdrug, all are BUAV approved (bunny friendly).

I have a few of the brushes from the new range and have been putting them to the test over the past week or so.  My feelings on each brush vary, so I thought I’d do a quick speed-review of each one.  Let’s get started…

PRO: 02 POWDER BRUSH is a fluffy, domed brush with a softness that belies its price tag.  I would have liked to see a little more weight to it and there is a tiny hint of scratchiness but nothing that would particularly bother me.  It grabs product well and disperses evenly across the face.  The fibres are dense but fairly loosely packed ensuring a light but buildable application.  I didn’t experience much shedding either or on my face, or when washing.  Good stuff.   £9.99

PRO: 11 EYE SHADOW BRUSH – WIDE is a nice tool for applying a wash of colour over the lids.  Again, it’s not the most densely packed brush which means that you’ll be able to build pigmentation with this effectively but it may end up frustrating you if you like to pack colour on quickly.  It also works well to blend harsh lines in a pinch, easily soft enough not to irritate the delicate skin around the eye area.  I have quite small lids and did end up wishing that it were a touch smaller.  £7.99

PRO: 13 EYE SHADOW BRUSH – ROUND isn’t one of my preferred brushes.  It’s nicely shaped with an excellent taper that really allows for some precision work but I just found this one a little too scratchy to use comfortably.  A real shame  because it has some nice resistance to the fibres that will allow you to get right into the corner of the eye and underneath the lashline with confidence that the head won’t splay.  £6.99

PRO: 14 SLANTED EYE LINER BRUSH makes for the 2nd disappointment in the set.  I simply find it too large and soft to give enough precision to line my eyes.  As I draw the brush across my eyelids, it tries to find its own path of least resistance, buckling under the weight of the drag.  Not great.  £5.99

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Overall, I think the range is a useful but not outstanding addition to the store.  It’s always nice to have more choices where budget brushes are concerned but none of the ones I’ve tried above hold a candle to my favourite ELF Studio brushes.

If you want to check these out for yourselves, you’ll be interested to learn that Superdrug are offering the entire collection at a special introductory price until 22nd November with prices starting from only £3.99 (concealer, lip) and ranging up to £8.49 for the most expensive (foundation, powder).

Have you tried the new Superdrug PRO Make Up Brushes yet?

* press sample

…is precisely what I thought when I downloaded these images.  Truth be told, I was trying some different angles because I knew the usual above eye-level (wobbly chin minimizing) camera angle would completely obliterate the lashes that I worked so hard to apply.

So then I did some shots with the camera pointing up at the lashes, but they were no good ‘cos you could see right up my nose and I’m neither denying nor confirming reports that we had a bogey situation.

So, for the love of God, please don’t think this is an actual pose.

But what I wanted to say was, wheee Red Cherry Lashes!

If you don’t know about Red Cherry lashes, you’re missing out.  It’s more likely that some of my lovely UK readers won’t have heard of them purely because availability isn’t quite so good here in the UK.  I bought these (Red Cherry #600) last week from BuyEyelashes.co.uk and they arrived a few days later.  I do own some other pairs but being the non false lash wearer that I am, I haven’t gotten around to trying them on yet.

Let’s take a closer look at the lashes.

100% Human Hair.  I’m sure this is supposed to be a good thing, they do feel very fluttery and naturalistic but is it just me who wonders exactly where this human hair comes from?  I know you’re thinking India or the Far East but I don’t mean that.  What I’m really thinking about, is the possibility that I’m wearing someone’s bum hair on my face.

Looks good though doesn’t it?

The bands on these Red Cherry #600s are beautifully pliable and thin enough to work with comfortably.  I applied the lashes above with the help of my new Japonesque tool which I bought after Liloo said we all needed one.  It does make a difference, but I’ll blog about that later.

Red Cherry 600s are priced at £3.10 from BuyEyelashes.co.uk, or I have used this eBay seller before for Red Cherry lashes.

So, there we have it.  Bum hair, ridiculously thick eyeliner (that thing where you make it thicker to go over a booboo) and a picture that makes me look like I’m about to make love to myself.

Have a lovely weekend special people.

BuyEyelashes.co.uk got in touch with me a little while ago to tell me about one of their newest brands, Baci.  Known more traditionally for their lingerie(!), Baci also offer a range of very inexpensive eyelashes starting from only £2.00 a pair.

I wore a set in yesterday’s FOTD and a few of you picked up on them so I thought I’d strike while the iron was hot and pop a post up today talking about them in a little more detail.

The ones I wore in yesterday’s post were #660 – they’re the ones in the foreground of the picture above.  They’re pretty substantial and have a thick band that definitely needs loosening up before application.  I’m STILL pretty rubbish at applying false eyelashes and tend to favour midi-lashes just to add some flutter to the outer lashes.

I didn’t use the glue that these come with because it seemed pretty wimpy to be honest but the lashes themselves are very good for £2.00 a pair.  Sure, they’re quite synthetic, a little heavy on the eyes and they certainly wouldn’t be my ‘good’ lashes but these Bacis have a great curl, nice definition and just fine for the odd night out.

These particular ones also seem pretty indestructible (something I wasn’t expecting), I would definitely be able to get a couple of wears from the #660s!

Baci Lashes are priced from £2.00 and available to buy online from BuyEyelashes.co.uk in a variety of styles.

* press sample

When a product gets over 200 5* reviews on Amazon, I can’t help but take notice.  Which is how I ended up buying one of these Travalo perfume atomisers last Christmas to put in a care parcel for my sister in Oz.  I haven’t actually *sent* this parcel yet, infact… I’m looking at it with overwhelming guilt as I type this. Note to self: send the damn parcel already, it has creme eggs and a packet of twiglets with her name on ‘em!

I’m tangenting…

Anyway, I was contacted by Travalo’s PR last month who wondered if I’d heard of the atomiser… “Yes!” says I, irrelevantly explaining what a completely awful sister I was.  Once I’d stopped rambling, they deduced that I hadn’t actually tried it for myself and kindly offered to send me one.

Behold.  The Travalo.  (and a nearly empty bottle of Hypnotic Poison).

The premise is simple.  We don’t want to carry big bottles of breakable perfumes around with us in our handbags and we *definitely* don’t want to pack them in our suitcases to take on hols but we still want to smell incredible right?

Old fashioned perfume atomisers involved fiddly things like funnels and swearing under your breath as you poured half your bottle of EDT over yourself, the kitchen counter and the cat before managing to eke maybe half a drop into the atomiser vessel.

Travalo uses a pump action to draw the juice from the original bottle into the atomiser chamber without a single drop going to waste.  Or that’s how it works in theory at least… look…

You just pop the nozzle off your favourite perfume and press the base of the Travalo onto the exposed, erm, errr, stump?  I’m sure that’s not the technical word.

It totally reminds me of watching my mum refill her BIC lighters in the 80s.  But again, with less swearing.

There’s something incredibly satisfying about pumping the Travalo up and down on the stump of the perfume bottle.  And it doesn’t even remotely make me think of sex either.

You get about 50 spritzes from a full Travalo which should be plenty for a week in the Sun.  I like that the atomiser has a decent nozzle too… it doesn’t dribble fragrance pathetically or force me to make do with my most hated of dispensers… the roller ball.

It’s a bit “form follows function” in its design and styling but it serves its purpose well without any major faults.  I’ve lumped it about with me in my handbag, given it to L to play with in the back of the car and even let Mr. L have a go at filling it after his curiosity got the better of him.  It has suffered a fair few scratches where the Travalo has bumped up against my car keys so I’d like to see the product come with one of those little drawstring pouches to keep it better protected.

When all is said and done though, it’s solidly achieved what it promises without fuss or palava, providing an affordable solution to a common fragrance dilemma!

Travalo Rapid Pump Fill Perfume Atomiser Bottle is available to buy online from CheapSmells and Amazon, priced from £7.10 with free delivery.

GIVEAWAY TIME!

Now, for the giveaway… I have one of these Travalo Atomisers (in PINK!) to give away to a lovely Facebook follower!  If you don’t already following Lipglossiping.com on the book of faces, why not? Oh, you hate facebook?  In that case drop me an email and I’ll enter you anyway.

If you ARE on Facebook, it’d be much easier to go here and click LIKE.  Or alternatively click the ‘like’ button over there on the right somewhere —>

T&C
1. Entry open to worldwide participants by liking the Lipglossiping.com Facebook page.
2. Alternative entry available for Facebook haters by email.
3. One winner will be picked at random from all participants.
4. Lipglossiping.com is the sole promoter of this giveaway.
5. Competition closes on Friday 13th May 2011 at 23.59.
6. Winner will be notified through Facebook or email within 5 days of the close of the competition.
7. No email addresses will be stored once the competition has closed and will only be used to contact the winner.

I was born with feet for hands.  Not literally you understand, I mean I don’t actually have toes for fingers… but dexterity wise?  May as well have.

Because of this, I don’t wear false lashes very often but I’m always left wanting to buy some whenever I visit my local CCO.  There’s this SA in there who’s simply stunning (total girl crush) and she always wears perfect false lashes, full and flirty with no hint of Katie Price… they darken her lashline and open her eyes.

Anyway, after my last CCO jaunt, I came home and got straight on the net to satisfy my urge for lashes that I’ll probably never wear out of the house and I came across these:

I favour flirty, natural-looking lashes over the thicker types which I really struggle with and these looked perfect!  I bought two pairs from eBay and they cost around £2.50/£3.00 each once shipping had been added.  Bargain!

Have some piccies…

The boxes aren’t numbered which is a bit of a silly oversight, so I had to do some detective work.  These are #461 – they’re very curly and the band is super-fine and flexible.  The lashes feel soft… really nice for a natural look.  The band is quite long though, I had to cut about 4 knots in to achieve the right length for my lashline.

These are demi (half) lashes, #079 – the band is thicker and slightly stiffer but softens up well with a bit of manipulation.  I’m in total love with these because they really extend my eye outwards and give an almost cat-eye effect…. slinky!  I’m buying a couple more pairs of these this weekend to make sure I have some for wedding season!

Because they’re only half length, I also find them easier to apply… less band, less chance of sticking them to my eyebrow right?!

Excuse the messy brows, I’ve nearly managed to grow them out (whoop!) – I’m booking myself in for a mahoosive threading session next week.

Anyway, back to the lashes, these are the 1st pair (#461), you can see that the curl is strong and the lashes, fine and a touch feathery.

All in all, I’m really pleased with my bargain discoveries from Elise!  You should note that they don’t come with any glue and unlike simillarly-priced Red Cherry lashes, aren’t human hair.

What are some of your favourite false lashes and how often do you wear them?