My Everyday 'Essential' Makeup Brushes

GOSH 300, Real Techniques Buffer, Real Techniques Contour, MAC 239, Sigma E35

Okay, okay so maybe they aren't essential but this little selection of brushes make my morning makeup routine a heck of a lot easier. I have developed a love for makeup brushes over the past year and a half, before then I would just slap products on with my fingers and although fingers are okay sometimes, there are some products that just shouldn't be applied without a brush. I guess I feel a lot more ladylike and professional when using them as well, which is always a bonus. Okay, so let me tell you why I love each of these brushes so much.

GOSH 300 Powder Brush - This big fluffy beauty was one of the first makeup brushes I ever bought and it is still going strong to this day. GOSH isn't normally a brand I would go to for brushes but I have to say, this is a fantastic brush. I find it just the right size to sweep powder over my foundation, the hairs/bristles (whatever you choose to call them) aren't too harsh on the skin and it is still in great condition after months and months of everyday use. Oh and just to top it off, this brush only costs 9.99 which isn't bad for a good quality brush that I use daily.

Real Techniques Buffer Brush - This is one of my most recent purchases and I am totally in love with it. Previous to this, I was using the Sigma Flat Top Kabuki to apply my foundation but this brush beats it hands down. This is absolutely perfect for applying liquid foundation, buffs foundation into my skin within minutes and gives me a flawless finish. With the Sigma brush I found myself really having to work the product in as the bristles are quite stiff. With this brush being so soft, it blends my foundation in effortlessly. I really can't see myself using any other brush for my foundation now. 

Real Techniques Contour Brush - Another Real Techniques gem and this time it comes in the form of their contour brush. The reason I love this brush is because of its many multi uses. I use this to apply blush, highlight and to contour my cheekbones. It can even be used for touching up powder under the eyes. I think my main 'everyday' use for this brush would be for applying MAC MSF onto my cheekbones. If I am going out or making more of an effort, I will use it with bronzer to contour as well. As it is a fairly small brush, I find it works perfectly and has become one of my most used and loved brushes.

MAC 239 Shader Brush - I actually reviewed this brush on my blog way back when I first started blogging. This was my first ever MAC brush and even since buying a few more, this has remained my favourite. I think this is the only brush I will ever need for eyeshadow. It packs colour onto my eye perfectly, helps with excellent colour pay-off and makes applying eyeshadow very quick and easy. You can read my more in depth review on this brush here but please excuse the messy post, I was still a newbie blogger then.

Sigma E35 Blending Brush - I also reviewed this brush on my blog here a couple of months ago after ordering it from Love Makeup. In my review I mentioned that it was very similar to the MAC 217 brush and how much I loved it. My opinions haven't changed since then and this has become one of my essential brushes for application of eyeshadow. Paired with my MAC 239, I really don't need any other brushes for my eye makeup. This blends colour in the crease of my eyes amazingly and again makes applying eyeshadow much easier.

So there we have it, my most essential makeup brushes. What are your brush essentials?

I hope everyones having a good Jubilee weekend.

Lots of Love,

NYX 'Exquisite' Dramatic Chromatic Eyeshadow Pigment

Hey Ladies! Today I would like to share with you all a product I have been loving lately. To be honest, I've never really latched on to the whole pigment craze but whilst I was shopping in Brisbane recently, I saw these NYX Dramatic Chromatic pigments and just had to get one. I know everyone seems to love MAC pigments but for the high price tag they've just never appealed to me over a standard eyeshadow. However, NYX is a brand I've been wanting to try for quite some time now after seeing lots of reviews comparing the quality with MAC. As you all probably know, MAC is one of my favourite brands but if I can find something just as good for a fraction of the cost, it's a winner in my eyes. When I saw a NYX stand in Brisbane, I knew I had to give one of the pigments a try as the brand isn't readily available to buy in the UK. I've noticed River Island have started stocking a few bits and bobs but other than that, I haven't seen it anywhere. Being a beauty product addict, I obviously took the chance while I had it and snapped one up in the shade 'Exquisite'. 

This one jumped out at me straight away because of the orange tones. I recently read on Zoella's blog that orange tones work well with blue eyes. I've always been a lover of bronze/gold shades but have never swayed towards anything orange toned. I guess I never really pictured orange working on eyes and always thought it was more of a cheek and lip colour. However, since Zoe is one of my favourite bloggers and always looks gorgeous, I took her word for it and decided to give it ago. I'm glad I did as I have used it a couple of times now and must say, she was right. The orange undertones in this pigment work beautifully against my light blue eyes and really make them stand out. The pigment itself is very finely milled, creamy, glides onto my eye like a dream and as well as being very soft, it is immensely pigmented. I certainly agree with the 'chrome' description of this product and its almost like I'm applying powdered metal to my eye lids each time I use it. I do think the colour alone is quite overpowering for the whole eye but as you can see from the picture above, I've been using it with a matte brown in the crease to soften the look. 

Overall, I absolutely love this product and cannot wait to get my hands on some more. As well as having amazing quality, they are exceptionally cheap. When you compare this to a MAC pigment, the quality is just the same, if not better. However, NYX pigments are priced at only £5.00 a pop compared with MAC's whopping £16.50. You do get less product in the NYX jars but in my opinion, I would never use a full pigment from MAC anyway. I only need the tiniest amount on the end of a brush when using this product so I imagine it will last for a very long time. They can be found here on the Love Makeup website and they offer a large range of colours. I already have my eye on a few more, including 'white' as I think it would be a very close dupe for MAC 'Vanilla' pigment and work perfectly as a highlight shade. I am very happy I have found these little gems and would highly recommend giving them a try. 

Do you own any of the NYX pigments?

Also, I can't believe it is June already, where is this year going?

Lots of Love,

Real Techniques Core Collection

L-R Detailer Brush, Pointed Foundation Brush, Contour Brush & Buffing Brush

Hey Beauties! If any of you read my 'New Brushes' post, you will know that I recently ordered myself some Real Techniques brushes from online beauty website, Love Makeup. Most of you will of probably heard of these brushes by now as Bloggers all over the Bloggersphere have been blogging about them. (What a mouthful). However, just incase you haven't heard of them they are created by Samantha Chapman, one half of the infamous 'Pixiwoo' beauty gurus on youtube. When I heard about these and saw all the blog posts, I just had to get my hands on them and test them out for myself.

As I have been using them for a good few weeks now, I feel I have used them enough to give an accurate and thorough review. This specific set, the 'Core Collection' cost me £20.99 and is a selection of face brushes. There are two other sets available from the Love Makeup website, including a Starter Kit and Travel Kit. As well as these sets, you can also buy individual brushes priced at £10.99. 

I decided to go for the Core Collection kit as it comes with four brushes I could see myself getting the most use out of. The kit includes a Detailer, Pointed Foundation, Contour and Buffer brush. I specifically had my eye on the Buffer and Contour as I thought they looked perfect for my powder and bronzer.

As I said, I have been using them for a while now and so far I love them. These really are great quality brushes and exceptional value for money. Since parting with my £20.99, I have reached for them whilst getting ready almost every day. The two I use most are the Buffing and Contour but as I was mainly buying the kit for those two anyway, the other two brushes included were just a nice bonus. I use the Buffer brush mainly for my powder but I sometimes use it for blush too. I hear it is also great for foundation, but I am yet to give that a go. As for the Contour, I use it for it's main purpose, contouring. I swirl this in my NARS Laguna and apply it underneath my cheekbones. As it has quite a small head (if that's the correct term) you can create a precise and strong contour which I love. 

As for the Pointed Foundation and Detailer brush, unfortunately they have been neglected. It's not because I don't like them, I just don't find myself having any use for them. One thing I will say is that these brushes are a lot smaller in reality than they look on pictures. Even on my own pictures above, they look larger than they actually are. The foundation brush, in my opinion, is nowhere near big enough for foundation application. I think I would be sat applying my foundation all day if I were to use that. I have used it a few times but for concealer under my eyes instead which I think is a more appropriate way use it. As for the detailer brush, it is so teeny tiny, I really don't know what to use it for. If you have any suggestions, please let me know in the comments.

As for the quality of these brushes, they are fab. They aren't harsh on the skin, they haven't shed at all and they have remained amazingly soft. Overall, I absolutely love them and I am planning on getting some more of the individual brushes. I believe they are currently included in the 3 for 2 offer at Boots, a perfect excuse for me to go and get a few more I say.

Have you tried the Real Techniques brushes? What do you think? Would you recommend any?

I hope you are all having a lovely weekend! I'm hungover and feeling sorry for myself but I'm sure Britain's Got Talent, Take Me Out and The Voice will make me feel much better. What a great night of reality TV.

Lots of Love,

New Brushes

I made an order on Love Makeup recently for some new makeup brushes. I absolutely love this website as you can find all kinds of stuff on there that isn't easily available on the highstreet. I first discovered this website when I was on the hunt for some Sigma brushes and now it has provided me with this lovely lot. if you haven't heard of this website before, check it out here.


As you can see, I got the 'Real Techniques' Core Collection brush kit. I have been hearing SO much about this on Blogger at the minute, that I just couldn't resist trying them out. If you haven't heard of Real Techniques, it is a line of affordable makeup brushes created by Samantha Chapman, one half of Pixiwoo. Pixiwoo are two sisters Sam and Nic, who make amazing youtube videos and write a blog. They have made a huge success for themselves and Sam has had the amazing opportunity to launch her own brush collection. I always like to support 'real' girls like this as I feel they deserve every success for their dedication to making videos and blogging. Anyway, back to the actual brushes. This kit cost me £20.99 which I think is brilliant value. That works out at around £5.25 per brush. When you think of how much one MAC brush costs, this is an amazing deal. I am not going to go into detail about the brushes as I'm going to do a separate review when I have used them more. On first impressions though, I am very impressed.


I also got the Sigma Tapered Blending E25 brush. I have wanted this brush for a long time now after hearing so many people say it was an exact dupe for the MAC 217. This cost me £8.99 which is around half the price of the MAC 217. I just can't justify spending £16.00 at MAC on an eyeshadow brush so when I heard of this Sigma copy, I had to buy it. I used this last night and wow, it is amazing. I have never used the MAC 217 but I have seen it and this is identical. Again, I won't go into too much detail as I will do a separate review after using it for a while.


Lastly, I got the Crown Basics B20 Brow Brush. I had never heard of this brand before but I needed an brow bush and I figured they couldn't really go wrong with a brow brush. They all seem the same to me so I ordered this one for the massive bargain price of £1.77. Ah, I love finding such a good bargain. I also used this last night and it is fab. It does the job and I'm so glad I didn't spend a stupid amount of money on a more expensive version. All the brushes from this line were really in-expensive so I may have to try a few of the other brushes they have to offer in the future.


Overall, I am very happy with my goodies from Love Makeup. I have also come to the conclusion you really don't need to spend a fortune on makeup brushes to get good quality. All of this cost me £31.75 and they all do the job well. When I first got into makeup I thought I had to have every brush from MAC as nothing else would compare in quality. How wrong was I? Sigma is gradually becoming my favourite brush brand and they are half the price of MAC. Yay for bargain brushes.

I hope everyone is having a lovely Sunday. I have to go to work tonight, oh the joys.

Lots of Love,

Kayleigh..

xXx.