I like the look of the retractable Brow Shaping Brush (plus I’d totally use it for my lashes too), I can’t even tell you the number of times I’ve caught sight of myself in a shop window only to see this staring back at me.
Have you seen any of these on your local counter yet? What say you?
Now that I’ve had some time to play with the products I chose to bring home with me from the Une Natural Beauty blogger unveiling, I thought I’d share my thoughts on some of the pieces and a little FOTD with them.
Une Natural Beauty is a new brand with “natural formulas for a natural result, for a natural style”. It boats impressive eco-credentials and with prices ranging from £4.99 – £13.99, it’s accessible to all. This is all well and good, but how do the products perform?
I chose 2 eyeshadows, a creme blush, a lipstick, 2 eye pencils, a brush and a concealer.
I didn’t like the shade selections for the base products, so I left those alone.
Let’s start with the Une Multipurpose Brush. It’s goat hair, and a little scratchy. It’s densely packed and the most perfect shape for sweeping blush onto the apple of the cheeks and outwards. It just fits my cheeks brilliantly and totally stops me from applying too low or too high. I’ve also experienced only one or two shed hairs. Priced at £7.99, I’m pleased with it. I’d love it to be a little softer, but hey, it’s less than a tenner.
Glimmer Eyes Shadow G02 is a neutral cream shadow with shimmer. It feels greasy and although the shimmer is indeed beautiful, it invariably ends up in the socket line less than an hour after applying. I’ve tried with UDPP underneath and setting with eye shadow ontop. I’ve decided that the best way to work with this is to pat a tiny amount near the tear duct for a subtle sparkle and resign yourself to a bit of creasing. I’m cool with that, but I just can’t work with this as an allover lid shade.
Sdumato Eyes Shadow S23 is a matte aubergine. It’s quite… powdery and kicks up a lot of dust when picking up the product with a brush. It’s not the best matte I’ve worked with in terms of pigmentation but it’s buildable and the texture is pretty soft. Lasting power over a slick of eye primer is fair.
Overall, I think the eye shadows that I’ve tried here are overpriced at £8.99 each. That’s a lot for a high-street mono eyeshadow, at least £2 too much in this case. Though you do get a fairly generous 1.8g of product, they just haven’t blown me away.
Une Natural Beauty’s Breezy Cheeks blush in B02 (£8.99) on the other hand, has. It’s a beautiful mid-toned pink (leaning towards mauve) cream blush to powder formula. Applies like a dream with my fingertips and blends beautifully, leaving a subtle colour that is pink without being too flushed. It doesn’t have the most amazing staying power, but I can get through most of the day without needing to reapply. I’d absolutely repurchase this product.
A quick note about the packaging…
Slidey mobile phone of 3 years ago-esque. I reckon it’s a brave choice… love it or hate it, it does what it’s designed to do which is be easily recyclable. It’s a little chunky, but not particularly cumbersome. I’m a fan. It has that slidey satisfaction thing too… yano when you close a drawer? And the last couple of cms glide to a satisfying stop? This does that. By the way, I’ve left the peel-off stickers on… underneath, the surface is mirrored… generously so!
All the eye pencils from the range are reasonably priced at £4.99 each.
The Sfumato Eyes Pencil in S23 is a color match to the Sfumato Eye Shadow I mentioned earlier. An earthy aubergine shade. One thing that I adore about the Une Natural Beauty range is the colour selection. I’m all for creating a collection based solely on natural and muted colours, and I think that this has been done exceptionally well here.
However, some of the formulas, just don’t work for me. I understand that a lot of the products are sheer in support of the natural beauty ethos, and I commend that. Infact, I’m often a fan of more sheer products (especially in darker shades) as I can be heavy handed and prefer the option to build colour rather than desperately try to remove it once overdone!
Unfortunately, I’m finding the Sfumato Eyes Pencil is just too hard and sheer. It drags across my lashline and doesn’t deposit enough colour to make the uncomfortable application worthwhile.
The Glimmer Eyes Pencil in G13 is sadly even harder. Such a shame as it contains the most beautiful and fine-particled glitter… I adore how it looks. Infact, once on… it’s more comfortable than my NARS glitter eye pencils, but what a total drag it is to apply. Pun intended.
The Skin Glow Pencil in G01 is slightly more expensive at £6.99 and is the most perfect colour match concealer for pale cool-toned ladies I’ve seen on the high street. It’s creamy and soft and applies really nicely. I’ve been using this around my nose and in the corner of my eyes to highlight and lift areas where I’m naturally more shadowed. It’s a great pencil that fills a void in my collection.
My only wish is that it were chunky. I’ve only used it twice and already it needs sharpening. I’m literally gonna go through one of these every few weeks if I use it daily. Bigger please! More product for the same amount of money, thank you!
Finally the lipstick, Une Lip-Toned Colour in L02. Love it. It’s a beautiful nude… a proper nude, not one of your concealer-lip nudes. It’s creamy and glossy without being too sheer. No hint of frost, just proper ‘my lips but better’ goodness. A makeup bag staple done well. Priced at £7.99, it’s what I’d expect to pay. Another definite repurchase!
Finally (are you still with me?!), my Une Natural Beauty FOTD.
Eyes
~ Une Natural Beauty Sfumato Eyes Shadow in S23
~ Une Natural Beauty Glimmer Eyes Shadow in G02
~ Une Natural Beauty Sfumato Eyes Pencil in S23
~ Avon Super Shock Mascara in Black
Face
Une Natural Beauty Breezy Cheeks Blush in B02
Lips
Une Natural Beauty Lip-Tined Lip Colour in L02
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Une Natural Beauty is a huge brand launch and I’ve only delved into a tiny percentage of the 25 new products and 148 shades. It’s a varied review with a couple of stand outs and a couple of disappointments with one or two “OMG this could be awesome if only they…” thrown in.
Une Natural Beauty is available in the UK online and in selected stores at Boots. It should be rolling out into Superdrug from September 2010 and launching in Irealand sometime in August.
Let me know if you’ve tried anything from the range yet!
Pro Makeup Brushes are one of the UK’s leading suppliers of makeup brushes. They offer wholesale, customisation and supply to brands such as Elizabeth Arden and The Green People.
and they kindly sent me a few from their range to trial and report back on.
I would call their selection of 16 tools fairly exhaustive for your average makeup user. The price is low/mid range. Brushes start from £5 and work their way up to £15.
The white goat hair brushes feel fairly soft, pliable and densely packed. There’s a faint whiff of wet dog about them which is common with the more budget friendly natural hair brushes. This is accentuated when I give them a wash but as they dry, the smell fades once again. Similarly, the other sable brushes are soft and densely packed.
The brushes arrived with this rather fabulous booklet which describes itself as an ‘educational booklet for makeup application’ and it’s really rather fab! It manages to cover all the basics in plain and simple English. Definitely a worthwhile inclusion and great for novices.
Onto the brushes…
#14 Blush Brush – £13
Though described as a blusher brush, the hair is cut with a slight angle so it’s perfect to use for contouring those cheekbones aswell. It’s a lovely brush, densely packed, soft enough not to scratch and well cut. Unfortunately, that’s where my praise ends. This sheds like a mofo.
Amount collected from running my fingers through the brush after 2 washes… this amount of shedding is kinda unacceptable from a £13 brush. I pick white hairs off my face every time I use it.
#1 Round Ended Concealer Brush – £6.50
I’ve never used a long haired concealer brush like this before… but it works fantastically well at applying concealer under the eyes and around the nose…. all those little crevices are covered quickly and smoothly with this brush. I didn’t expect much from this unassuming little tool, but it’s made it’s way into daily use for me.
#2 Fine Angled Brush – £6.00
A nicely made brush that picks up brow powder well. I wouldn’t use this for gel liners as the hairs are a little too bushy for precision lining. This has replaced my usual GOSH brow brush simply because it seems to work the powder through my brows more evenly.
#12 Large Eyeshadow Brush – £10
Another disappointment. I was hoping for a reasonable MAC #239 dupe, but the quality falls way short. Most noticeably, the ferrule on this particular brush is loose. I can hold the brush at the end of the handle… give it a gentle shake and watch the whole thing rattle. Perhaps connected to the loose ferrule… but despite gentle washing, I can’t get the brush to hold it’s original shape… it’s now a splayed mess. I’ve obviously received a faulty brush, but have to review on what I find. The goat hairs however are pretty soft and non-scratchy.
#11 Mascara Brush – £5.00
Again, I’m going to have to raise an eyebrow at the quality of a brush that arrives like this. You can see in the photo how some of the fibres are straggly. I’ve since cut them with a pair of nail scissors to avoid poking myself in the eyeball.
Aside from this… it’s a useful tool and is designed well. It does a good job at separating the lashes once mascara has been applied. It’s an extra step to the routine and one I wouldn’t normally take… but I can’t deny that it’s worth the effort for special occasions.
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Overall, Pro Makeup Brushes offer a good range of products at a reasonable price but I’m disappointed with the overall quality of the samples I received. The sable brushes were mostly of good quality, but I’m afraid that I can’t recommend the goat hair brushes based on my experiences with them.
Straight ones, short ones, long ones, curly ones. Pubes Eyelashes, they’re the business.
They’re the shields that protect our precious eyes from debris every second of the day, they’re sensitive enough to let us know when that mascara wand is getting perilously close to our eyeballs and trigger the reflex that clamps our eyes shut just before we stupidly poke ourselves with it.
The problem with eyelashes though? They’re just not long enough.
Horses have fab eyelashes, have you ever noticed? Straight as a poker… you’d need to put the Shu Uemura’s to work… but still, mega lashes.
I was contacted by the PR for Trish McEvoy who are going to love the fact that my feature about their lash enhancer has already managed to mention pubes and horses when we’re barely 100 words in… but nevermind…
Where was I?
Oh yes, nice PR lady said “Hello!” and “Would you like to try our new Lash Enhancer?”.
“Hmmm” said I… “I’m already using some lash enhancing stuff that I bought, but if you don’t mind a potential guest reviewer I have just the person!”
Meet my cousin… A.
I don’t like this before picture… she’s not as good at taking photos as me. She says she has some more, so if and when she emails me them… I shall add them. But this will do for now.
She’s desperate for longer lashes and infact… this photo is the first time I’ve seen her for ages where she isn’t sporting either extensions or a pair of falsies.
We’re gonna give it a couple of months and see how she gets on with the Trish McEvoy Lash Enhancer.
This stuff isn’t cheap by the way… around £89 for 4 months supply. I hope she doesn’t drop it down the loo or something stupid like that.
Let me give you the rest of the blurb:
Lashes lose fullness due to day-to-day wear-and-tear, makeup removal, eyerubbing, and the aging process. Using highly potent SymPeptides™ and an abundance of powerful proteins, vitamins, and moisturizing ingredients, Lash Enhancer helps condition, hydrate, strengthen, and nourish lashes to help them withstand the mechanical, natural and environmental aggressors as well as aging process that may shorten their life.
A single nightly application of Lash Enhancer Nighttime Conditioning Treatment will promote the stronger, fuller, healthier lashes of your dreams. In just 2 weeks of daily use can you experience as much as a 25% increase in volume. A few quick seconds each night will put you on the road to fuller lashes.
So… fundamentally this stuff is different from the more pharmaceutical lash enhancing treatments. Most importantly, you can apply this stuff without fear of your eyes changing colour or growing a second head. Which is always reassuring.
The packaging is sleek, sexy and heavyweight…
A nice precision applicator so you don’t waste too much product during application and deliver the good stuff right to where it’s needed.
I’m excited! I like these kind of trials… I like tangible results!
Fingers crossed for A that Trish McEvoy’s Lash Enhancer can turn those puny lashes into floor sweepers! Stay tuned!
Tiny picture… sorry… it’s a makeup bag.
But not just any makeup bag…. oh no…
The Refresh Make-up Chiller is an ingeneous way to keep your cosmetics cool when the temperature rises.
This handy little pouch with a pocket for a mini-ice pack is the ideal way to protect your cosmetic essentials when you’re hot in the city or relaxing by the pool.
Large enough to hold your daily essentials, but small enough for your handbag, the Refresh Make-up Chiller takes the heat out of looking your best in the sun!
Um. Ok then.
This is SO overdue and I completed it aaaages ago, but just haven’t gotten around to writing up my experiences of my week long Beauty Blender trial.
Beauty Blender trial? I hear you ask…
Well, I set myself the silly little task of using nothing but a Beauty Blender to apply my foundation. I wasn’t allowed to touch my foundation brushes for a full week. I wanted to see if the Beauty Blender was anything more than just a passing novelty.
I’ll show you a ‘step by step’ from my first day and how I use the Beauty Blender and I’ll leave you with some observations I made from this daft little exercise.
The cast of characters…. The Beauty Blender and Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation
Dispense the usual amount of product onto the back of your hand and wet your Beauty Blender until it swells in size. Once thoroughly soaked, gently squeeze excess liquid from the sponge until it feels damp, but not wet.
Taking the round end of the blender, “bounce” the sponge into your foundation… coating it in product.
It doesn’t matter if it’s not *that* evenly coated…
Taking the blender, “bounce” the sponge on your face… a constant patting/bouncing type action all over… don’t swipe or circle… just bounce! To get the foundation into nooks and crannys like the inner corner of your eye socket, use the pointed end of the sponge.
I found the whole process quite slow-going at first…. it took me about 4 days to get my speed up. The first couple of goes I was a bit “what’s the point… this is taking me double the time a #187 would take”. But as I persevered, I really started to hone my technique.
The obligatory before/after foundation shot! (Bourjois Healthy Mix is a great looking foundation btw – although the lightest shade is a touch too dark for me).
Here’s a horrible close up… but it always helps to be able to see the finish properly right? Click the image to SUPERSIZE MAH FACE!
Please note, this was before powder… shine city!
So there we go, that’s how I use my Beauty Blender… it still takes me a bit longer than a stippling brush so I don’t reach for it if I’m in a hurry.
I do love the finish it gives me… but I think I use a bit more product in the application thanks to the sponge (despite being damp) soaking up a fair amount of foundation.
I need to tell you something though…
I bought Makeup Forever HD foundation at IMATS… and I haven’t liked it at all. I simply could not see what the fuss was about. Overrated.
Until I used it in conjunction with the Beauty Blender. Oh Em Gee. It’s turned blog sale fodder into a wonderful foundation for me. I’ve also done a complete 360 on my Clinique Superfit since applying it with the Beauty Blender.
Don’t ask me what the Beauty Blender does that my normal application methods obviously don’t. I couldn’t tell you.
I also prefer the Beauty Blender over a standard cosmetic sponge, the Beauty Blender is softer, bouncier and just feels far more luxe on my skin. Don’t bother with those expensive special Beauty Blender cleansers though… I use a bit of Leila’s shampoo and it works great! Oh and be careful of putting nicks in the sponge when squeezing… it’s delicate!
Back to my original question… could I really throw away all my brushes in favour of the BB?
No… I like having the choice, I like the speed a stippling brush gives me. But I’ll be forever grateful to the Beauty Blender for making me fall in love with some foundations that I thought I’d wasted nearly £50 on. It’s already paid for itself twice over.
In the UK, you can purchase the Beauty Blender from Just Beauty Direct, priced at £14.50 each. I was lucky enough to nab mine from a blog sale woo!
A girl with too many lipsticks.
And a blog about them.
