Make Up Haul

Recently I've been a little make up happy with all the April offers in all the drug stores.
3 for 2 and buy one, get one free does not help my small obsession, but hey!

I am loving Bourjois recently, I think their range of products just keeps getting better and better. I am refusing to stick with certain brands and branching into different areas. Its hard when you buy drug store brands as sometimes one brand does anything you want. What I'm trying to say is I need to buy less Maybelline, it is one of my favourite brands but I need to look out of the Maybelline box.

On Saturday I went out shopping with my daughter and I came home with a nice little collection of products. I needed nothing but I WANTED a lot. I tried to keep to a limit that my partner wouldn't take a heart attack when the bank statement came in.


Concealers:

I have a slight obsession with concealers at present, I seem to believe you can never have enough. Hence why I just bought three.

Maybelline - Fit me Shade 10. (Yellow Tone)
Bourjois - Radiance Reveal Shade 2 Beige ( Pink Tone) 
Revlon- Colour Stay Shade 1 Fair. ( White Tone.) 



I find its easier to make your own concealer match if you can blend and mess around with a variety of brand, that why you can find what works for you. Be inventive and find what works for you.


Foundations:

I had gotten myself down to two foundations, go me! That is a rather good achievement. All I had left was my Pro Long Wear by MAC and MUA Skin Define Matte Perfect. My work foundation and Evening foundation. I needed something new and these two little beauts where on my list.


Revlon - Colour Stay Natural Beige 220.
Maybelline - Dream Matte Mousse Sand 30.

Now I will admit I did think I had lifted a slightly darker shade in the Revlon and a lighter one in the mousse. I hadn't. It's ok though I make both work for me.

The Revlon one is now my day day colour and I build colour with my lousy contouring skills. The Maybelline one is perfect for Evening and if I need it toned down I just a light L'Oréal True Match powder. It sounds silly but it works.

Bronzing Powder:

Bourjois - Délice De Poudre Shade 52

These looks like a chocolate bar and I have watched for years people using it on YouTube and I finally got one in a shade I liked. It smells soooo freaking good. In my opinion it does have a slight orange tone, so I suggest not having a heavy hand when applying it.


Eye Shadow -

Bourjois - Smoky Stories Shade 02 Over Rose. 

Oh my word this is just so pretty. I'm not one for eye shadow quads, as I think you get more for your money buy investing in a high end palette but this little quad has totally changed my mind. These colour are so pigmented and almost creamy. They blend perfectly and last. This is one to buy.

Setting Powder - 

Bourjois - Poudre de Riz de Java

Now this little powder smells like HEAVEN and is a super fine milled powder that feels like silk on the skin. I will never set my make up with it, as there's a sparkle through, but it makes a beautiful light highlighter.

Lipstick - 

Bourjois - Rouge Edition Souffle de Velvet Shade 5  Fushiamallow 

I love the texture of this product, its like a mousse. Its so soft and the colour screams summer. I would say this is a buildable lipstick. Something you need to put on carefully. I find it hard to slap it on and go. The little doe foot applicator is fantastic to help you layer the colour up. It goes matte and stays matte whilst keeping your lips hydrated. I find this to be quite an awesome little lipstick. It has a survived a coffee date with my mum without reapplication. Love this.

Mascara -

Maybelline - Lash Sensational Shade Intense Black.

This was on offer and I've wanted to try it for a while. I was sort of put off because I really do not like the Falsies Mascara and I think I was scared it was going to be the same. Its not and I have been loving it. Its good all rounder mascara for night and day. I bought Intense Black because I have very dark eyes and I want a really black mascara to help my eyes to pop.

How do you put on yours?

When it comes to make up, you and I both know it really doesn't matter how good or expensive your products are if your going to slap it on with your hands. I believe in make up brushes but I also believe you don't have to spend great amount of money to have good brushes either.

I have purchased a few brushes in my time ( and the other 100!) and I've compiled a list of  what I liked and what I didn't like about certain brands. From' Cheap as chips' to 'Oh did I just paid that much money for a brush.'

Firstly a note of Brush Cleansing:

Make up brushes are like a pet, you gotta love them, look after them and clean them regularly. Once you've done that you have to remember to feed them a cleansing anti-bacterial spray daily. Yes folks I did just go there.


Now that's out of the way. Lets get down to business.

I love having a good and rather large collection of face brushes.

My favourite so far has to be the Real Techniques Buffing face brush (the orange stem brush). I find this brush just blends out foundation beautifully, I always feel flawless afterwards. I also find that Real Techniques are a worthy investment, I've had mines nearly 6 years and with careful cleaning I've only ever had to replace one brush (I lost it). I actually bought this in the Base collection for £20.99 which gave me 4 brushes for the price. You get the Contour Brush, Pointed Foundation brush, detailer brush and, My Fav, the Buffing Brush.

I always love a bargain so a while back I found the Lottie London Brush Set was down in price so I bought them to try. I received a large powder brush, flat foundation brush, large eye shadow brush, a eye shadow shader brush and angled brow/liner brush. I like the density of these brushes, they're not overly soft and they wash well. the only problem I did have is that on the shader brush, the metal bit that binds the bristles detached from the wooden stalk. A bit of super glue rectified that. I've heard down the grape vine that this was not a one off but it has not deterred me from buy Lottie London Brushes again. This set retails for £20.00.

I would like to make a special note at this point, I really really do not like flat foundation brushes, I personally find them a worthless purchase and I know people will disagree and I respect your choice to love them, I just don't.

I do have a lot of love for the 224 Tapered Blending Brush by Mac. This brush can just do everything. From highlighter to blush to actual eye shadow, its just a brilliant brush. My mum actually bought my brush and decided she didn't like it and gave it to me. I've been in love ever since. this brush is a little pricey at £23.00 ( I'd rather get a few brushes for this price but it is worth the price tag.)

Last Brush I want to mention is by far the biggest purchase I ever made for a brush. I purchased the Nars Kabuki Artisan Ita Brush, I brought it for £43.00. I was super excited to receive this brush. I had watched all the YouTube reviews on it, researched it on-line and read every blogger post about it. The day it arrived I was beyond excited and I had to use it straight away. I spent around a month using the brush daily and at the beginning I thought it was amazing but the more I used it the more the bristles fell out and I found it not picking up great amounts of product, or that the product would simple fall off the brush before getting to my face. I found this to be a great waste of my money and highly disappointing. It now sits looking pretty in my brush pot and I find myself very rarely picking it up to use. The bargain hunter in me is very disappointed in the waste of money but nothing ventured nothing gained.

Now Yesterday I did manage to pick up the Ultra Sculpt and Blend set from Make Up Revolution, I've been after these brushes a while, so when I saw them in physical form in a shop instead of on-line I grabbed them for £14.99.

In this set you get two facial contouring brushes, one eye shading brush and an expert blending sponge. These brushes are a beautiful rose gold and the blending sponge is a solid black colour. Out of the set I have used the blending sponge today and that's it. I was pleasantly surprised by it today but as I've only purchased them I cant give a full review today. When I've used them more of course I shall come back and update this section.

Brow Brows and More Brows.

Well this has been a long time coming and out of all the products to write about I decided that Brows would be my first. 

Here's my quick list:

Model CO - More Brows £13
Benefit - Gimme Brows £18.50
Soap & Glory - Brow Archery Pencil £8.00
Makeup Revolution - Ultra Aqua Brow Tint £3.00
Collection - Brow Palette £2.99

I'm going to start with Soap & Glory's Brow Archery Pencil. 

This is my go to product when time is not on my side. I have started getting HD Brows done and I am really impressed by this process and my Brow Technician is pretty awesome. I have been growing out my brows and I have some sparse areas so this product gives great and easy coverage in these areas. So if I'm late for work this product is quickly feathered through my brows and off I pop. I love the formula that makes this pencil great. Its creamy and just slightly waxy, which helps to hold the product on the skin through the brows.

Now for a drug store product its is a little pricey at £8.00 but there is always deals like 3 for 2 or Buy 2 get 1 half price. 

Next is Make Up Revolutions Ultra Aqua Brow:

Now I have to admit I only found out about this brand back in the summer, Yes I was very late to the party but nonetheless I was very surprised at how good the quality of some products compared for the price. Ultra Aqua Brow is a brilliant product for someone who wants long lasting brows and has a sharp slanted edged brow brush. This product lasts as you need a very small amount and applies quite easily but it does take a few goes to to get right. The formula is rich and super pigmented. its a fantastic product for a night out and a strong brow look. Smashbox offer a similar product and I've tried it to compare with Make Up Revolution. Honestly I found make up revolution to be a better product at a fraction of the price. 

Collection Eye Brow Palette:

Now this is a little surprise all wrapped up in a palette.You get three coloured powders, mini double ended brush and eye brow gel. I happened upon this little palette in work when it came onto a star buy for £2.99 and I just bought it on a whim (and because of the price, I'm a sucker for a bargain.) and I've used it a lot since then. I will admit the powders are a little on the chalky side but the pigmentation is fantastic. It covers well and sits evenly. Now the actual shine star in this palette is the clear brow gel, its just just perfect. The brush is a plastic/rubber definition style wand and it catches every hair individually and coats them in the gel. Once that Gel is on your brows aren't going to move and your product is still sitting neat at the end of the day. This Bargain palette is a must.

Now here's the interesting part, the battle of the Fibre Brow Gel's.

I have Benefit Gimme Brow and Model Co More Brow. This is a hard one for me mainly as these products are quite similar and it took me using them both for a while to come up with an honest view of both products.

I like these products for how quick and easy they are to apply. When applying the Model Co's More Brow its was two sweeps and my brows were sitting pretty. I found the More Brow to be a more pigmented product and you can see the fibres when pulling the wand. This product clung well to my brows and made my brows effortless. When testing the Gimme Brow product I was slightly disappointed as it it took a few sweeps of the wand to see the product on my brows and I found it didn't last as long as the More Brow product. Now I don't know if I got a bad batch but I wasn't that struck by it. In say all this I will keep using the product and see if my opinion changes.

Well there you have it my little thought on some pretty little brow products.

Check back in for my new post.

Gem x