A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

I won’t be parted from my brushes.  It doesn’t matter if I’m only leaving home for a single night, I can’t make do with powder puffs and spongey applicators now that I’m used to brushes.

Which can be a bit of a problem when I’m travelling to far flung exotic lands (Bournemouth, London, Darlo).

I took one of my MAC 217s away with me the last time I travelled to London and damn near killed the poor thing.  Flapping about in my makeup bag, it returned home looking like Leila had painted the walls with it and it’s so far resisting my best efforts to coax it back into shape.

With this in mind, Bare Escentuals have released a set of brushes that I was sent to try…

A magnetic brush collection with carry case!  Great!  Another cosmetic ‘innovation’… can you see my eyes rolling?

Except… this is actually useful.  But does it work in practice?

I’ll shut up for a minute and let you see the brush collection properly…

Read the rest of this entry »

As beauty addicts, how many times have we done that huh?  I’ll tell you how many… too bloody many.

Not only that, but let’s not forget that when in the UK, you’ve got more chance of finding genuine MAC on eBay than you have being able to return your purchases… these mistakes can really add up.

So, you can imagine my utter deflation when my NARS #12 Small Domed Eye brush turned up and wasn’t quite what I was hoping for.  I mean, I know that it’s called ‘small’… but I didn’t expect the head to be quite SO small.  My fault entirely.

But then I used it and I fell in love.

The NARS blurb on the website reads… Squirrel hair for definition and for creating depth in the crease of the eye.

I say… If you have hooded eyelids, get this brush.

(excuse the eyeshadow dust – it needs cleaning!)

The NARS #12 Small Domed Eye Brush is incredibly soft.  I find some NARS brushes a little scratchy for their price… but this one is a winner.  It’s densely packed and firm enough to do more than just place the colour.  This little beauty is a master blender to apply defined but soft crease colours.

Hai!  My name’s dopey.

Ignoring my moronic eye-expression (and need for a one-on-one with my tweezers) for a moment… can you see how perfectly the brush fits under that hood?  I don’t have the most hooded eyelids in the world, but they are a pain for muddying colour when the upper part droops onto the lid itself.  If I’m wearing a v. dark crease colour, I need to be precise and I need to focus it in the outer corner and just in the actual crease itself because of that reason.  With this brush I can do this.

Why not just use a pencil brush or a small eye contour brush then?  Because I’m crap at makeup in general and those kinda brushes always encourage me to be too heavy handed.  With the NARS #12 brush, I can do gentle windshield wiper movements along the crease contour (whilst keeping my eyes half open) and achieve a soft, smoky but perfectly defined dark crease.

At £22.00 (for such a teeny little brush) my initial disappointment almost resulted in a mild strop but now?  I’m considering a backup.

Which NARS brushes do you rate most highly?

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.

…your Boots till spits I mean!

If you’re not a UK lady, let me quickly explain…

Boots have a rather fabulous promotional period every couple of months that goes something like this…

If you spend over £5 you get a voucher.  The voucher entitles the holder to £5 off Boots No7 or Ruby & Millie (a British cosmetic brand).

That’s it… no catches, nothing.  How lucky are we?

The current promotion runs out on the 28th March, which means that I have 4 days left to spend the 3 vouchers I’ve rescued from the bottom of my handbag.  Which brings me to my original question…

How do you spend yours?

As there’s nothing specific I want from either of the permitted ranges, I’m thinking of plumping for some of the following items – note, prices shown are after voucher redemption:

Boots No7 Eyeshadow Blend and Contour.

I have a few of these (ok, about 6) that I grab from my brush pot when I’m too lazy to go and wash my ‘good’ blending brushes but obviously don’t want to muddy my eye look.  They’re not the softest nor the most well constructed, but for £1.50, they’re pretty darn decent backups!

Boots No7 Quick Thinking 4 in 1 Wipes.

Love these wipes, they really do a stand up job at removing makeup.  I mostly use them to clean off swatched hands or if I’m playing with my makeup.  I prefer a proper face wash before bed!  These are great for travel too, but I wouldn’t pay the full price.

Boots No7 Ultimate File and Buffer.

You can’t get a better bargain than free!  I have one of these in the glove box incase of an emergency broken nail.  Don’t laugh at me, you’re not even a proper GIRL unless you have an emergency nail file set.  Go redeem yourself down at Boots immediately!

Boots No7 Eye Colour Brush.

I haven’t tried this one, but I used to pick up ones from the No7 range which looked simillar (except they had black bristles) and I swear by them for depositing a healthy amount of colour on my lids.  Unfortunately, they’ve been discontinued and I’m wondering if these are the replacement?  Anyone know the old ones I mean?  They used to come in little black cardboard boxes (usually found on the bottom shelf of the No7 stand), I think they were £5.75 each (before voucher redemption) so they worked out at 75p each after, total bargain!  Anyone tried these white bristled ones?

Ruby & Millie I-Liner Brush.

I haven’t been hugely impressed with much from the Ruby & Millie range and some of the brushes are (imho) pretty awful.  This one however, I like.  It’s great for pushing gel and cream liners right into the lashline slightly under the lashes.  Don’t try and line above the top lashes with it though… well, not unless you’re incredibly nifty with an eyeliner brush.

Boots No7 Radiance Boosting Hot Cloth Cleanser.

£3.75 for a Hot Cloth Cleanser and muslin cloth is a total bargain I reckon!  I’m currently trialling the original Liz Earle version (review coming soon) and I’ll be picking one of these up in the next few days for a bargainous comparison.  It’s worth noting too that this No7 version has clocked up no less than twenty 5 star reviews on the Boots website.  Having said that, if it’s anything like the Boots Time Delay Cleansing Balm (Eve Lom ‘replica’) then it’ll leave me in tears.  Literally.

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So, that’s my ‘picks’ for your £5 “till spit”.  What do you rush to stock up on everytime the offer rolls around?  Don’t keep your bargains to yourselves, did your Mama never tell you it’s good to share?

I first heard of Aurifere when I saw their stand at IMATS back in January…

…I was on the hunt for a Shu Uemura foundation brush dupe at a bargain price, when my eyes alighted on this domed goat-hair blush brush (Series 150) from Aurifere (£11.99).  It has a slight taper and I umm-ed and ahh-ed that it could be a possible match.

But before I could make the purchase, I got sidetracked by this:

Aurifere’s Series 480 blending brush in squirrel (£8.99).  Soft doesn’t even begin to describe this brush.

It has a beautifully sharp taper that gets right into the socket line for precise blending with complete control.  I find that unless I’m very careful, my MAC 217 can spread the shadow a little too far above and below the crease for me.  I’m not hugely aufait with MAC brushes, but I’m thinking that the MAC equivalent to the Aurifere 480 would be a 224 (tapered blending brush).

I paid around £9 for the Aurifere blending brush and I’m absolutely delighted with it, though I have been lamenting not picking up the 150 ever since!

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Fast forward a couple of months and you may have noticed from my top photo that I do now have the Aurifere 150 in my grubby little hands!  Shall I tell you how?

Aurifere have opened a web store!

Hot off the press, the store only opened last week and I was their first customer – yay me! Desperate much?

Whilst making my order, I also added another blending brush to my collection:

The Aurifere Series 490 (£9.59) is a goat-hair blending brush which is nicely packed but definitely scratchier than my 480 or MAC 217.  What I do love about it though is it’s ‘springiness’.  That’s a terrible way to describe it… but it blends out harsh lines effortlessly when I hold it near the end of the shaft and do windscreen wiper motions across my socket line… something I appreciate because I kinda suck at doing those little blending circles with my 217.  How crap was that testimonial?  Way to make myself sound like I have no clue about makeup application… but I hope at least some of you appreciate what I’m trying to say!

My package also contained the Aurifere Sablinsky Series 330, a synthetic brush that is amazing for cream shadows like my Benefit creaseless creams.  Total bargain at £6.69!

I am so happy to have given Aurifere a try, I simply haven’t been disappointed with anything I’ve bought so far.

I want to give the Series 150 (blush brush) a full try before passing judgement, but so far I’m liking it ok as a foundation brush, but I’m freaking loving it as a blush brush.

I emailed Aurifere and asked if they’d consider passing along a discount code for my readers and they obliged!

I have 30 codes available (single use only).  If you try one and it appears to have expired, come back and give another one a go!

Enter one of the following codes at checkout to get 5% off your order (I may have ‘accidently’ already used that first one, sorry ;)) and remember all items have free delivery:

I just treated myself to a Series 180 Racoon Powder Brush. Vex has one, and it’s softer than Leila’s bum. FACT.

Have you heard of Aurifere?  Used any of their brushes?  Let me know if you make an order and tell me what you get, I’m hopelessly nosey.

Ruby & Millie make some decent brushes at reasonable prices, and this one is my favourite.  It’s great for gel eyeliners and brow powders… firm but supple.

The Ruby & Millie I-Define brush is priced at £6.00 in Boots, but is currently available for a recession-busting £1.00 with a No7/Ruby & Millie till spit*.

I’ve bought a couple since the offer’s been on and plan on getting some more of the Boots No7 Eyeshadow brushes which I enjoy using alongside my MAC 239.

The Boots No7 Eyeshadow brush is priced at £5.75 rendering it a 75p super-bargain with a till spit.  Only larger stores appear to carry these brushes though.  You can usually find them on the bottom shelf of the No7 stand (rather than amongst the general makeup brushes) housed in cardboard boxes.

*till spit = a voucher automatically printed by the till when you spend over £5 in a transaction.  I’m a geek and purposefully split my transactions into roughly £5 amounts to maximize my till spits *blush*

Till spits are valid until the 31st January, so get shopping!

Have you tried either of these brushes?  Do you recommend any other ’till spit’ bargains?

This has been on my hitlist for a little while, and was confirmed to me as a must have by GossMakeupArtist’s post on brushes here.  I use a lot of cream foundation in the winter and have struggled to find a brush that I *love* to use with my foundations.

Any of you lovelies own one of these or any other Shu brushes? At $39 dollars, this brush isn’t cheap… but we all know that sometimes it’s worth paying more for good quality brushes right?  What brushes do you use for cream foundations?

I’m a big fan of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, they’re multi-use and an absolute must have for travelling.  Fantastically, they’re Suphate-Free and you can use them for washing, laundry, dish washing, cleaning, shampooing and even toothbrushing!  Although I’m not too sure about that last one…

My favourite use for this little bottle of rose-scented magic has to be cleaning my makeup brushes.  You just need the tiniest amount.  I’ve washed my brushes at least 3 times using the bottle above and it’s barely made any impact at all.

It leaves my brushes feeling soft, clean and conditioned, gets out all the crud and all that remains is a gentle rose-scent.  What more can I ask for?

More varieties?  Well… you can have: Peppermint (nice), Eucalyptus (bleh), Almond (yum), Rose (yay), Baby Mild (boring), Citrus (zesty!), Lavender (bleh) and Tea Tree (meh).   Please excuse the childish running commentary that accompanied the variety listing… sometimes I just can’t help myself.

Oh yes, they don’t test on bunny rabbits either.

INGREDIENTS: Water, Saponified Organic Coconut, Organic Palm and Organic Olive Oils (w/Retained Glycerin), Organic Hemp Oil, Organic Jojoba Oil, Essential Oils, Citric Acid, Vitamin E

You like?

I purchase mine from EcoHamster ‘cos they offer free delivery and I like hamsters. £4.95 for 236ml.

As far as high street brand cosmetic brushes go… I often fall back on my beloved Body Shop brushes so when I saw their foundation Kabuki brush in my local Body Shop, I knew I had to make it mine – especially after my recent positive experience with mineral makeup.  I’m not sure how long this brush has been available but I didn’t see it last time I was in store.

Firstly, I need a little rant to say that the case it comes with is utter crap… seriously, Body Shop – why even bother with a case at all if it’s as rubbish as this one?  You should be embarassed, I know I’m embarassed for you… It barely fits the brush and is like a slippery silicone-y rubbery type floppy thing that offers little to no protection at all in my makeup bag.

Look, I mean… what practical purpose is this supposed to serve in protecting your very beautiful Kabuki brush?

Anyway, onto the brush itself before I give myself a thrombosis…

So soft… I mean so, So, SO soft.  The synthetic bristles are densely packed and allow for a generous collection of product with a single swirl.  The bristles are fairly long and this makes for really easy application in harder to reach areas like along the side of the nose.  Since it’s first use, it’s shed about 4 bristles and that’s it.  Even after a gentle wash, there was no additional shedding or bleeding.  I’m so impressed!

Hello lover!

Currently priced at £14.65 on The Body Shop’s website – I’m really pleased with it (as I’m sure you have established by now!) But I shall definitely be on the hunt for a kabuki sized case to protect it – if anyone has any recommendations, please send them my way!

Here’s another before/after (before on the left) – showing the same application as the other day of Elemental Beauty’s Mineral Foundation in English Rose, however this time, applied after watching a couple of youtube instruction vids and The Body Shop Kabuki!

By George, I think she’s got it!  Although someone needs to pin that poor lass down and give those eyebrows some shape.  And who’s George anyway?

Oh, *psst* – by the way, that Baked Bronzer I got… the one by La Femme with all the pretty gold and white veining… load of pooh, really.  I can’t get the product to show up on me.  It doesn’t bronze, brighten or even highlight.  I was hoping for subtle, but existent would have been nice.  Perhaps a darker shade would be more evident, but my opinion of it is so… *meh*… that I can’t be arsed to order another.

Flitting back to The Body Shop Nature’s Minerals Foundation Brush… (what a mouthful)… I’m giving it a 4.5/5 – it would be higher but that case niggles.  So there.

‘Till next time…

[starreview]