Real Techniques

In the past, I never really saw the need to apply foundation with a brush. I used to use my fingers and thought it looked fine, so for years I stuck to my tried and tested routine. However, since seeing rave reviews about different brushes, especially these Real Techniques ones, I began to change the way I applied foundation, and now I don't think I could go back to using my fingers to apply it. These are my thoughts on just a small selection of the Real Techniques range.

 

Real Techniques brushes were created by Samantha Chapman from Pixiwoo and are made with Taklon bristles, which are synthetic meaning that they are 100% cruelty-free.

 

 

L-R; contour brush, buffing brush, expert face brush, stippling brush

 

 

The Contour Brush

 

 

 

The contour brush's main purpose is to "delicately apply highlighter to contour or create sheer, soft-focus finish". I tend to use this for powder highlighters, or for bronzer when contouring, although I have been known to use this to apply blush on a few occasions as well! The brushes are so multi-purpose, which is one of the main things I love about them. This particular one is on the small side, with a tapered top for precise application. The bristles are quite dense on this one, meaning it gives a highly pigmented finish. I have experienced no shedding at all with this one, and it also washes really well with a mild shampoo or a brush cleaner, and it dries super fast as well!

 

This is available as part of the Core Collection - £21.99

 

 

The Buffing Brush

 

 

 

The buffing brush is probably the most hyped Real Techniques brush. It is only available as part of the Core Collection, so cannot be bought individually. It's purpose accoriding to Real Techniques is "ideal for full coverage application of powder and mineral foundation". However, I know a lot of people actually use this for the application of liquid foundation, and it works incredibly well for that too. The bristles aren't too dense, and they don't soak up a lot of the product so there is less wastage. When I first got this I did use it to apply my liquid foundation, but have since been using this for setting powder, and it works beautifully for both purposes. This is another one which is extremely multi-purpose, and although it's only available as part of a collection, I do think the collection is worth picking up for this one alone.

 

This is available as part of the Core Collection - £21.99

 

 

The Expert Face Brush

 

 

 

This is a recent addition to my collection, but so far I have been absolutely loving it. The actual purpose of this is to apply liquid or cream foundation, and it does it's job amazingly well. The bristles of this one are really dense, so the brush keeps it's shape and is firm enough to make application of liquid foundation easy. Again, this doesn't absorb much product so there is minimal waste. This leaves my foundation looking flawless, and really works it into my skin so it doesn't transfer off my face throughout the day. This has replaced the buffing brush as my everyday foundation brush, and I think it's well worth a purchase.

 

This is available from Boots priced at £9.99

 

 

The Stippling Brush

 

 

 

The stippling brush is another one which seems to be a favourite of many people, so I picked it up after seeing so many positive reviews on it. I originally bought it to use with foundation, but I found that it just didn't work for me in that way. I found it didn't blend my foundation properly and left me looking rather patchy. However, this brush is amazing for blending cream blushes. It buffs them into the skin easily and really does leave the application looking flawless. I would say this probably isn't the best one to buy for use with foundation, but for cream blushes or bronzers, it does the job really well.

 

This is available from Boots for £11.99

 

 

Overall, I absolutely love the Real Techniques brushes. I also own the pointed foundation brush and the detailer brush from the Core Collection, but I don't tend to reach for those two as much. I think these brushes are really good value for money, as they're really high quality and wash well, meaning they are likely to stay in good condition for a good while. I would recommend these brushes to anyone looking for an affordable way to build their make up brush collection.

Real Techniques Core Collection

Hello everyone,

Before I start, I know you've all seen these before, but after reading a few reviews on them, I decided to pick them up and I wanted to share with you what I thought of them. They are the Real Techniques Core Collection :)

 

Just a warning, this will be a long post and will be picture-heavy :)

 

 

 

 

L-R pointed foundation brush, contour brush, detailer brush, buffing brush

 

The Real Techniques Brushes were developed by Samantha Chapman from Pixiwoo. "Real Techniques brushes combine high-tech materials with innovative design to make creating a pixel-perfect look easier than ever". The brushes are made from synthetic fibres, and are cruelty-free. Although I only have the Core Collection here, with the orange handles, there are two other coloured handles - purple and pink. The orange handles represent 'flawless base' brushes, purple handles represent 'enhanced eyes' brushes, and pink handles represent 'perfect finish' brushes.

 

The brushes included in the Core Collection are the pointed foundation brush, the contour brush, the detailer brush and the buffing brush.

 

 

 

The pointed foundation brush.

 

 

 

This is designed for use with liquid foundation. However, I think I have only used this brush once or twice, because I'm just not personally a fan of these kind of foundation brushes. I find it too small to apply foundation quickly and therefore I tend to favour other brushes to apply my foundation with. That being said, if you like these kind of brushes, this one is really good quality and is light making it easy to use.

 

 

 

The contour brush.

 

 

 

This is designed for use with highlighting powder and contouring powder. I really do like this brush. I use it daily to apply highlighter and I love the finish it gives. It sweeps the powder on with minimal effort, and leaves just the right amount on the skin - enough so you can see it, but not too much so your face is covered in glitter.

 

 

 

The detailer brush.

 

 

 

This is designed for use with concealer to cover up any blemishes or imperfections. I also love this brush as it's so small and perfect for covering up blemishes. It blends my concealer in well, and my concealer literally looks like its sunk into my skin.

 

 

 

The buffing brush.

 

 

 

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past few months, you will have heard of the Real Techniques buffing brush. This was the brush that convinved me I needed to have the Core Collection (as you can't buy the buffing brush seperately). Although I do love the other brushes in the collection, this is by far my favourite. It is designed for use with powder or mineral foundation, but as I wear liquid foundation I use it with that. The foundation I'm using at the minute is Rimmel's Creme Gel one (review here), and since it has a gel-like formula, I have been applying it with my fingers and using the buffing brush to really buff it into my skin afterwards. With using my fingers, the foundation can look a bit cakey at times, but when you use this brush afterwards it makes the foundation look like a second skin.

 

 

Overall, I absolutely love this collection. Obviously I don't get along with the foundation brush but that is purely personal preference and I know other people who love it. I would 100% recommend these brushes as they are cheap compared to high-end brushes such as MAC ones, and do the same job, if not better.

 

The core collection is £21.99 at Boots. There are other collections and brushes available, and I for one have my eye on the stippling brush, the powder brush and the blush brush.

 

xx

ELF Cosmetics Professional Foundation Brush

Hello everyone,

Last week I posted about some ELF nail polishes that I had bought, and mentioned that I had also purchased a foundation brush from ELF, which is what I will be talking about today.

I will admit, I have never been a huge fan of make-up brushes. I always thought that I could apply foundation with my fingers and it would be fine. However, I saw many people saying that a foundation brush gives you a more flawless finish, and saw rave reviews about the Real Techniques 'buffing brush'. However, instead of splurging on those in case I decided I didn't like using a brush to apply foundation, I thought I'd buy one from ELF while I was making an order.

The brush itself is actually quite nice looking. The handle is a white colour with a slight shimmer to it, and as you can see, the bristles are yellow/orange with a silver bit in the middle (the name of this part escapes me haha). The bristles are really soft, and when you apply foundation, the foundation isn't absorbed by them so there is no wasted product.

It's actually really easy to create a flawless finish with the brush, which I wasn't expecting. The brush makes it easy to blend foundation into your skin and doesn't make you look cakey at all. The angled shape also means it's easy to cover awkward places like the nose and eyes.

To wash this, I used a mild shampoo and it came up as good as new, though I have heard some people cleaning theirs with baby shampoo so this will work too. I've washed it about 5/6 times now and it still looks and feels just as it did when I got it.

I really like this brush and would definately recommend it to anyone who is just starting to try make-up brushes. I don't know if it compares to the more high-end brushes like the Real Techniques that I mentioned before, but for now I'm happy with this one.

You can get this brush for £1.50/$1.00 here (in the UK) and here (in the US).

Has anyone tried any other ELF brushes?

xx