Makeup Withdrawal

Showing posts with label Cheap Makeup Brushes. Show all posts

Review: e.l.f. Eyeshadow "C" Brush

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

So after I reviewed the flat topped e.l.f. Powder Brush the other day, I figured I should also write about the "C" brush, also from the studio line.
This brush has synthetic black bristles, capped with a black ferrule and like the other studio brushes, a solid black handle.
First, I have to admit something. I'm prejudice against synthetic eyeshadow brushes. I am. Doesn't matter how soft they are, I just really prefer natural hair brushes to apply and blend powder eye shadows.

C brush on top, the $1 brush on bottom

That being said, this brush is pretty decent. I would like it a lot more if were denser. The way it moves across my skin (very soft and quite sturdy) makes me feel like e.l.f. could have packed twice the amount of bristles in it, easily. I still like this brush for apply cream shadows and for uses such as tapping on loose pigments onto a wet surface, but not really for regular powder eyeshadow. In fact, I much prefer e.l.f.'s other shadow brush, from the $1 line. I feel that this one picks up product more evenly (with the "C" brush, it tends to skip over my skin, leaving kind of a patchy look behind).
The good thing is that this brush doesn't shed, it's pretty sturdy. Though when I wash it, I always feel like it isn't rinsing cleanly, no matter what I use to wash it. It takes a long longer to dry than my other eye brushes (even denser, bigger ones).
In short, while I know that many others love this brush and that it's a good value at $3, I've got to say that I'd much rather have 3 $1 brushes from e.l.f.!
Special thanks to my friend Mae for giving me this brush!

Review: e.l.f. Powder Brush (Flat Top)

Sunday, August 1, 2010

I've seen so many wonderful reviews for this blush, and I'm happily joining in the ruckus. First, I'd love to comment on the cheap price- $3 like the rest of e.l.f.'s studio line. What a great deal! Where else are you going to find a brush this inexpensive?
It's got a nice solid feeling black handle, black metal ferrule and dense synthetic black bristles that have a flat cut across the top. When I say dense, I really mean "holy freaking crap dense", more so than any other brush I own.

Now, I want to briefly talk about how I usually apply foundation. Most of the time I reach for a skunk brush, whether it be my Studio Tools duo fiber brush, Sonia Kashuk Highlighting brush or even my Etude House or MAC 188 brushes (the last two being less frequent because they're smaller and take longer to apply foundation). Usually I use one pump of foundation on a clean glass surface and start stippling from the area I need coverage the most (cheeks and nose) and a quick sheer application on areas like my chin and forehead, just so that my face has the same finish all around. I don't swirl it to blend it together, 'cause I feel like that ruins the finish and also messes up the much needed coverage on my cheeks (lots of acne scarring *sad face*).

Gah, that wasn't brief at all. Well the point is, with the e.l.f. brush, I actually like the buffing motion at the end. Because the bristles are so incredibly soft and dense, it doesn't pull on the surface of my skin too much, causing neither 'pilling' (you know, where your foundation kind of balls up on the surface and is all gross looking) nor streaks. In fact it gives a sort of even soft airbrushed finish for me!
The only downside that I can think of with this brush is that because the hairs are packed together like chickens in a chicken factory (that simile made you sad, didn't it? Sure as hell made me depressed. I'll brainstorm happier similes like "a box of baby penguins" and so forth in my free time so that it doesn't happen again, I promise) that liquid foundation does tend to get really worked deep into the brush and it takes oh, an extra 25 seconds to deep clean it. I've been using it for about a month now, and despite many repeated washings, no shedding, bleeding or any other form of brush problems.
Also, you don't have to use this for liquid foundation, you could also use it for face powders. The nice thing about it is that due to it's flat top, you can get a nice even application of powder without a forming a big cloud of dust (you know, as you would normally swirl a big, fat, curved powder brush to get powder even on the entire brush). Basically, you can't lose with this one, especially not to try out at $3.

Special thanks to my friend Mae for giving me this brush so that I might try out its amazing properties!

Etude House Eye Contour Brush

Monday, April 26, 2010

Usually I don't do an entire post about just one product. The reason being that it's rather hard for me to come up with enough nice things to say. This here brush is an exception to the rule.
A little background info: for those of you who don't know who or what Etude House is, it's a Korean brand that features makeup, haircare and skincare. Recently, they started selling online to the U.S. (Yes! When I first found this out, jumping for joy quickly followed). Next time I go to Asia, I will surely visit one of their cute boutiques if possible because they're just about the cutest damn thing I have ever seen. Etude House has the cutest brush holder and Their main selling point is that they have quality products that are also affordable.
The brush that I'm talking about today, the Eye Contour Brush isn't actually available on their site yet. I got it off of Ebay for $6.47- including shipping and handling (not too shabby!). Since EH's US shipping is a flat rate of $6, I imagine that if you can find a reliable seller on Ebay (or buy lots of items on GMarket) it will be considerably cheaper.
I think that 'Eye Contour Brush' is a bit of a misnomer. With a title like that, I'd expect a the bristles to have a fancy shmancy cut, like some sort of taper. Nope, it's a very basic, medium sized eyeshadow brush. What's nice about it is that it's very well made- the ferrule is strongly attached, the bristles don't shed nor do they smell. The handle is neither too long nor too short. The weight (yes, I notice things like brush weight) is not feather light like an cheaply made e.l.f. $1 brush (bless these brushes though, dead useful) nor are they solid like my Sephora Prestige set brushes. Not too fluffy, not too dense.

In short, everything about this brush is not too much, not too little. Just right. This is the Goldilocks' baby bear of eye shadow brushes. There's something about the completely black brush that really attracts me. I've been able to get the perfect light wash of color all over my lids with this brush.
In fact, I'm also expecting another Etude House brush- a duo fiber one!
Oh. There is one thing. On the back of the packaging, it says that the bristles are pony hair. What the heck does this mean? I know in the purse and leather world, pony hair can mean anything from treated leather (US primarily) to actual pony hide (in parts of Europe, where consumption of horses is more common). So I emailed Etude House, trying to find an answer. I also asked how the hair was obtained, because I know it matters to a lot of people that their makeup and brushes are cruelty free. Will keep you posted!

All products shown were purchased by me, for my own use.

Cleaning Day! + More Walmart HD Brushes

Sunday, April 25, 2010

I spent all of Saturday afternoon rearranging my stash.
Since moving into the apartment, I've slowly taken over the computer desk (where we keep our desktop and also my laptop) with my makeup. Mr. MakeupWithdrawal stood steadfast, refusing to give in, thinking that somehow he might someday reclaim this large desk for his use. But yesterday, Saturday April 25th- I am proud to announce that he has surrendered unconditionally. He not only took the desktop computer off and took apart the jungle of cords that hooked up the speakers, he also moved it to my own corner of the apartment so that I might have better lighting. Another perk was that from this set up, I can easily take videos.

Under the desk, left hand side

I also found some cash that I had squirreled away and completely forgotten about! Mr. M has also promised that when we buy a house, he'll build me a vanity (not holding my breath for this one).

View from the desk

Ok, on the brush review. If you remember, last time I went to Walmart and bought two 'HD' brushes- a big soft bronzer brush and a highlighter brush (read about that here). This time, I thought I would grab one of the synthetic angled blush brushes (Around $6.50) and also a sharpener (98 cents, I lose these about as often as I lose my lip balms). The blush brush is wonderful, silky smooth with a round, angled cut top. At first it had a bit of a smell, but I washed it two times (no shedding or bleeding!) and the scent came out after the first rinse.

It's hard to tell, but I think this brush might even be softer than my Ecotools ones. Yes, really! I see myself using this one a lot for contouring.

I also like the sharpener. At first, I was a bit puzzled at the rubber cover that plugs every opening, but upon further pondering, I realized that it would help keep the sharpener clean and dust free. And it's ridiculously cheap at under a dollar! Even N.Y.C. sharpeners are $1.98 but this one is half that cost and very sturdy. It has two built in sharpeners, one for your standard pencil eyeliner and the other one for jumbo sized pencils like NYX Milk.

Pretty productive day, eh?

All items featured were purchased by me, for my own use.

Cheap Makeup High, Also Some Swatches

Friday, April 9, 2010

I love good deals. They give me a kind of high that I just can't duplicate in any other way. I went to the Dollar Tree again, and got some more stuff. I bought two more Moist & Matte Liquid Colors.I picked up another Charmeuse (a vibrant red) and Chiffon (a hot pink).
I really like these, because the color is really opaque and it doesn't dry out my lips. There is one minor drawback, they smell like nail polish. That can't really be good for your lips, so I wear lip primer as a sort of barrier.

I also bought six L.A. Colors Mineral Eyeshadows and am fairly happy with them. Here's some swatches. Notice how unlike the rest of my fabulous pictures, these aren't done in natural sunlight? That's because I really didn't think they were worth waiting till the next day and trekking outside for. The photos with and without flash pretty much do them justice.

Notes: I thought it'd be overkill to swatch each color four times like I normally do, with all the bells and whistles. Since I assume you are a benevolent reader and would like me to stay sane, I'll just generalize and say that these shadows look better with something underneath or wet. Black is a matte black with the tiniest particles of silver glitter, not really visible to the naked eye. In the last picture of wet shadows, you can see one sparkle. White is odd. It's like matte and pearly at the same time, which doesn't really make for the smoothest application. Beige is a shimmery champagne peach. Gold is a soft shimmery 20 carat gold. Teal is a really smooth, attention calling matte teal (as the name would suggest). Purple is a matte, ordinary violet. I sort of like the unimaginative naming scheme because everything is pretty self explanatory.

In particular, I'm rather fond of the Teal and Beige. Just due to the awesome color of the first, and the soft, champagney glow of the second (which could probably be great even as a highlighter). I think they'are a fantastic value, and I would highly recommend using all of them wet. Well, except for the White. It's just kinda weird.

I also raped Target today. Yes, that's right. They had the e.l.f. display finally up and yours truly took every last Elements compact left. All eight of them. Was that a little selfish? I honestly needed them- I had about 24 or so eye shadows in limbo ever since I stepped on one of my 28 slot palettes and destroyed it. Well, my sincere apologies to the people in the area of Voorhees and Cherry Hill, New Jersey. You have me to blame for your lack of compacts.
I also bought a single e.l.f. eyeshadow in Moondust, 'cause you know, taupes are my thing and I don't discriminate based on price. It's very soft but the problem is that on it's own it has very little color payoff and doesn't last at all. But pair it with NYX Jumbo Pencil in milk, and you've got a winner. Of all the taupes I own, this one is the least frosty. In fact, it's quite satiny in texture, with the tiniest bit of shimmer. This picture isn't blurred, honest. The shadow just really wants to crumble off my arm.

I also grabbed two more $1 eyeshadow brushes because they're so handy for swatching and for day to day use. The last thing that I found interesting and had to try out was the e.l.f. Complexion Perfection powder quad. I'll write a whole review about it, promise.

The Glory of Walmart (It hurts me just to say that outloud)

Sunday, March 21, 2010

I never thought I'd be planning trips of Walmart, but I yesterday I found myself with a sweet tooth (so to speak), yearning for some Hard Candy. I bought another blush to add to my collection, having already Pin Up and Living Doll. I also spotted the HD brushes that have been spotted at Walmarts around the country.

First, the blush. I've experienced good things with Hard Candy's blushes, and I thought Pin Up and Living Doll were getting lonely in my blush drawer, so I wanted to buy them a friend. I grabbed the last Honeymoon and was a bit apprehensive about it, because it looks light neon orange with lavender veins. But then, I remembered how I'd been proven wrong about Pin Up (which looks dark orange with black veins, but shows up as a lovely peachy shimmer flush) and decided to give it a go. Now, I've been reading reviews about it on MUA, and here's what irks me: people confusing the terms opaque/sheer and pigmented/nonpigmented. It seems to me that pigmentation refers to how dense the coloring of the product is (more of a term I'd use to describe the quality), and opaque/sheer describes how see-through it is. That being said, a product can be both pigmented and sheer. This would be the case with Honeymoon, it's light and shimmery, but you'll only need a little bit of it. Also, I wouldn't really call this a blush because it's so light in color (and once blended, almost exactly my skin tone) that it actually ends up being a glowy highlighter. I'm surprised that it doesn't make me look orange at all (I honestly thought I'd end up looking like a sparkly Oompa Loompa ). Hooray, another member of my Hard Candy family.

Now, the brushes. First up, we have this nice skunk for which I paid about $6 after taxes. I bought it because Target discontinued my favorite duo fibre brush (Studio Tools skunk, which is a dupe of the MAC 187, so in essence I bought a dupe of a dupe of a brush, whose price I couldn't justify). I'm feeling rather ambivalent about it. I don't think it's as nice as the ST one, the black fibers are not as stiff or hardy so the brush head is overall more malleable. It shed a couple hairs when I washed it, and under warm water some of the bristles went haywire and curled. However, it's as dense as the ST skunk, but slightly bigger so I don't mind having it in my arsenal of brushes, especially for the price I paid for it. I do wish that the handle was longer, because it's too short for my brush holder and dwarfed by my other brushes. Great for travel though, fits nicely into my makeup bag. Edit: After using this brush a few more times, it appears that it sheds quite a bit. I wouldn't recommend it.

This brush, excuse my language- is badass. It really is. I paid about $7, and it's most definitely worth every penny. It's so soft, and has the densest bristles I've ever had the pleasure to have held in my hands. It's great for powder foundation, setting powder, bronzer, mineral makeup (though with mineral makeup I feel like there's some waste) pretty much anything where you want to cover a lot of area with a soft, light hand. Hmm, you know what this reminds me of? Pictured on the left, is the Professionnel Platinum Bronzer Brush #48, which costs $35 at Sephora. Gee, $7 or $35? Thanks, Walmart. One thing to note, when washing this brush, you HAVE to dry it upside down. Why? If you don't, water will collect right under the bristles, in the metal cap where it's glued to the handle and after sitting there for a while, it'll smell awful. Learn from my mistake- I had stinky water leaking all of my hands when I tried to use it a couple hours after washing. Now, I tie a string around the handle and hang it from a clothes hanger.
Not bad for $18 total, right? I can't wait to go back there to try some other brushes.

Grouchy Mini Haul

Monday, March 8, 2010

I felt like crap today, I really did. I woke up terribly nauseous and with really painful hormonal acne. At least, I hope it's just hormonal. So I admit, I picked up a few things today, as a sort of retail therapy. I bought a few more Wet'n'Wild single eyeshadows (review of them soon to follow, I promise!), a new Wet'n'Wild lipstick- Just Peachy (903C), two WnW nail polishes, Essie Matte About You topcoat, a few e.l.f. tools, Studio Tools concealer brush and some aloe vera gel.

So I pretty much ruined my no-buy (again). I'm a quitter. I tried to stick to some cheap things, but the problem is when you buy LOTS of cheap things, it adds up. It probably would have been cheaper to bite the bullet and order that LORAC that I wanted. But back to the mini haul.
I started out by running to Target (3rd time this week) to see if they had an e.l.f. display yet. No luck, but I did see that they had stripped the Sonia Kashuk display, so the new stuff will be in soon! I also noticed that they took down the Boots display, I'm guessing e.l.f. will grace that spot. I bought a ST concealer brush (clearance, $1.48) which I think will be great for my delicate eye area, because it's really tiny and soft. Almost reminds me of a lip brush. Also grabbed an Essie matte top coat- I've been really wanting matte polishes lately, but figured a matte top coat would be a better investment than buying a new set of matte polishes. How thoughtful of me.

Now, disappointed by the lack of e.l.f, I ended up at Dollar General, knowing that they carried of few of their tools. Snagged 2 brushes (flat eyeliner and small eyeshadow brush) and a couple extra false lash sets (not shown). The eyeliner brush is really too wide to use with my cream and gel liners, which I like to have complete and precise control over. Also grabbed a eyelash curler, because as soon as my Shu Uemura curler gets here, I'm doing a curler review.
Moving on- I spied a W'n'w display at my grocery store, that wasn't completely molested. I'm serious here, the W'n'W displays at Walgreens look like they've been ravaged by some cosmetics hungry creature- everything good is out of stock. I managed to grab a couple nail polishes, a matte lippie and some single eyeshadows.

So what did I do right today? I used a coupon at CVS and got free aloe vera, which I had really needed. I also sent off my package to a MUAer (I hope she loves those brushes I picked out for her!).

Swatches tomorrow, scout's honor.

One last confession. I completely lied. I did order that LORAC.

Target Clearance ♥

Thursday, March 4, 2010

I got this stuff a while ago, but I'm finally getting around to reviewing it now. I picked up all of these items at 75% off.
All this stuff is from the 'for Target' lines of makeup, basically spinoffs of high end brands. I've tried NP Set (Napoleon Perdis) and pixi by Petra (pixi) before, and wanted to dip my toes into more of the stuff.
The first thing I got was a pixi palette with a little travel case in No.3 Bronzed Bombshell for around $7.50 (orig $30).

Let me just start out by saying that you'd have to be out of your mind to think that this is worth $30. The little makeup case and brushes are incredibly cheap feeling. However, I'll still use it because... I don't have anything better! The palette itself, I'm feeling a little iffy about. I'm a bit puzzled to be honest. The title, 'Bronze Bombshell' makes me expect, well bronze and various shades of metallic colors. The blush is a sheer brownish rose, the eye shadows are orange coral and brown, and the lip colors are again, a dark shimmery rose brown and a dark strawberry.

I was highly disappointed with the shadows, the coral one has disgusting chunky gold glitter and while the texture of the brown is excellent, it's very sheer and shimmery while I had hoped for more opaqueness. The lighter lip color just shows up with a hint of shimmer on me, no pigmentation there at all. The darker color is a nice surprise, it's actually a lovely cool strawberry, something you don't see all that often that is very opaque and creamy. Now for the best part- the blush. It's soft and buttery feeling, it has such a nice consistency, I wish it was sold by itself. Actually, I ended up depotting the blush for my blush palette (it wasn't hard to do, thanks to the cheap packaging- it popped right out).I get one good blush and lip color out of it, and I think altogether it's worth $7.50 (barely) but I wouldn't pay anymore for it.

Next items!

I bought two NP Set palettes for $4.75 each, what a deal (orig $19)! One is Wanderlust Must (right) and the other is Bon Voyage Baby (right). Wanderlust Must contains all glosses, while the other contains 3 shadows and two glosses. I'll be perfectly honest the sheer glosses look really similar on my lips, with only slight variations in darkness to really tell them apart. The more opaque colors are really nice, good pigmentation and interesting colors that I probably would have never bought on my own. The three shadows in Bon Voyage Baby make me really happy, I've always wanted a light yellow like that, that wasn't too cool or too warm but just right. The brown and shimmery golden orange shade are nothing special, but nice shades none the less. Overall, Bon Voyage Baby is great for when I'm too lazy to properly coordinate shades. I'll do a look with it soon.

The lip colors are used up way too quickly though- they're so soft and seem to melt at warm temperature because it's quite gooey every time I dip a lip brush in them. So I would definitely not pay full price for them. Good steal on clearance!
Oh yeah- did you see my Studio Tools Dual Finish Brush? I've been looking for this highly elusive skunk for YEARS. No joke, capital letters worthy. I'm literally mentally shouting. And when I found out that it was being discontinued, I was really sad because I figured, "There goes my shot at finding it!" However, the makeup gods were on my side that night, because I finally saw one at Target (last one!) and picked it up on clearance for $3 and change.

How about you? Ever get anything great at Target on clearance?

Is There Anybody as Excited as I am For These?

Monday, February 22, 2010

I'm really loving Target right now, honest. I recently picked up one of those famed amazing Studio Tools duo fiber brushes (more commonly known in the makeup world as a 'skunk') on clearance for $3.88. Although, I think it was red-tagged out because they're being discontinued, which does sadden me. But onto the more exciting news!

Sonia Kashuk 2010 Spring line! Are those brushes not gorgeous? I can't wait to get my hands on some, but my local Targets are always slow on stocking new items. I saw a picture posted by a fellow MUAer, and it made me a little sad to see brushes that were touted as 'natural' being wrapped in hard plastic packaging. But then I took a closer look, notice how the ad says 'eco chic' not eco friendly? Sneaky. None the less, the brushes look like they are beautifully crafted- just look at that round cut on the blush brush- and a tapering point too!
More great news about thrifty brush finds- do you remember during the last holiday season, there were some select e.l.f. Cosmetics items available at Target? It was mostly all from the $1 line, but also some value sets too. Well, e.l.f. Cosmetic's facebook confirmed that they would be releasing more items, and hinted that some Studio Line items would be available!

DiorShow Mascara (Iconic, Blackout & Diorshow)

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

There is a great mascara combo pack at Sephora, and yours truly HAD to have it. It contained a full sized Dior Iconic, a mini DiorShow and a mini DiorShow Blackout. Considering Iconic is $25 bucks on its own and the pack was $29, it was a great deal because it was like the two minis were a couple dollars each. This was my first run in with DiorShow (I guess I balked a bit at the price tag). Well, to be honest, each of the mascaras alone left me somewhat unimpressed. I wasn't disappointed, not quite, but I certainly wasn't wowed. Then I tried layering 2 of them- Iconic for length and DiorShow for volume and it was STUNNING! The same thing happened when I used Iconic and Blackout together. My lashes was this masterpiece, long thick black strands that looked almost fake. Grr, that's somewhat annoying that I have to buy two mascaras for the total effect that I want. Costly too! That means paying nearly $50 bucks for mascara. Another thing that displeases me is that there is very little mascara inside each tube. By comparison- Bare Escentuals Big Tease mascara had so much product that it took me a month of wiping the wand off everyday before it was as empty as the Dior tubes.
The bottom line is that while I will enjoy this treat that I purchased for myself, I will not repurchase because it's just too expensive. I feel like I was a little swayed by the brand and that the reviews over hyped this product.
Is it wrong that I dream that an ultimate mascara exists? One that lengthens and volumizes at the same time? And that it's less than a small fortune?

E.l.f. Haul (pt. 2) Makeup Brushes Review

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Yesterday, I went to General Dollar looking for some spray bottles (there's about 15 million uses for small spray bottles, I store practically every liquid I have in them) and found e.l.f. cosmetics there. I was pleased as punch (hey there, outdated colloquialisms) because I was going to order some of the brushes online for my sister anyways so I saved on shipping. I bought a large face brush, a bronzer/blush brush (it was packaged incorrectly in a eye blending brush package but says 'Bronzing Brush' on it), a small eyeshadow brush, a small eye defining brush. If you remember, previously I had ordered a mascara spoolie as well as a eyebrow brush/comb combo and found them to be very satisfactory.
Let's start out with the bad. When I opened the packaging, the brushes smelled simply awful. The bigger brushes (face and blush) were a weird maroon color- they've obviously been dyed and were all flattened (I fluffed them up for the pictures) .

I didn't want to wrap stinky brushes up and just send them to my sis, so I washed them with my homemade brush cleaner (see older post for recipe!). They immediately started to shed and bleed their dye when I lathered them up. I switched to cold water, and the water then ran clean. I placed them on a dish towel and the larger brushes actually bled on the towel. How attractive, I now have a dish towel that looks like I wiped a bloody knife on it. When they were halfway dry, I fluffed them up by gently tugging the hairs into the direction I wanted them to go. This actually worked great, I think I increased the face brush to 300% of it's original size. Also, I noticed that the hairs on all of the brushes were a little uneven, mostly on the larger brushes with more hairs.

What I really like about the e.l.f. brushes is that the eyeshadow brushes are of surprisingly good quality. They're soft and dense, though not as good as my Sephora or MAC brushes (I guess the appropriate sound here is 'duh!'). Though at a dollar each, I didn't have that high of expectations. They are a bit more flimsy- I put each brush to the test by trying to pull (lightly!) the metal band off where the handle meets the head of the brush. I succeeded, the eyeshadow brushes' head came right off. Don't worry, I glued it back together with Gorilla Glue, it's drying as I type and my sister will never know.
However, for people on a budget these are decent brushes and you just can't beat the price.
Cost: $1 a brush
Where: eyeslipsface.com or retailers such as General Dollar

E.l.f. Haul (pt. 1)

Monday, November 23, 2009

My goodness! I can't believe the things I got from e.l.f. I first heard of e.l.f. cosmetics while perusing through magazines. I couldn't believe how cheap their products were supposed to be, I was down right skeptical that I could ever like any of their cosmetics. Ugh, I can't believe I've missed out years of product enjoyment just because I was blinded by my prejudice- I thought costly always meant quality! But my cheap side won- I couldn't resist $1 makeup!
However, there are some down sides to e.l.f. products- here's my review on my haul.
I bought a little of everything- false lashes, cream eyeshadow, eyeshadow, mineral lip liner, eyeliner and some beauty tools.

First off, I bought a eyebrow grooming tool and a mascara comb for a dollar each. They look just like the brushes in my Sephora brush set, so it made me pretty happy. They are a little lighter in weight and upon closer inspection the quality isn't as good as my other brushes, but since they were a dollar each, I really can't complain. At these prices, I can afford to replace them quite often. I didn't buy any of the other brushes, but I did order some for my sister for Christmas so I'll be sure to post about them later on.

Next, the Duo Eye Shadow Cream. These were worth every penny and more! I bought Coffee & Cream, Eggplant and Olive. They are very sheer, but super buildable and highly pigmented colors. Each color also has a second color tone that shines through and makes it look wonderful. For example, the green Olive color has a gold undertone that makes it glow like you would not believe! The biggest problem is that they do crease and fade if you don't wear an eye primer. But with some Urban Decay Primer Potion on underneath, these cream shadows last all day. I especially like using these as a base, they help shimmery shadows stand out even more (the purple Eggplant color makes a fantastic plum smoky eye if you use it for a base!). However, I'm not sure how much I liked the glitter in the white part of Coffee & Cream, it was really fine and a nice gold, but glitter none the less. I thought it looked a little garish, but I guess using a little as a high lighter when I'm going out at night will add some interest around my face.
Eyeshadow Duo- It's very basic eyeshadow, and superb quality for the price. I got a matching Olive shade as well as a Butter Pecan. Nicely pigmented and the texture is really nice. It's hard to tell from the website but some of the shades are shimmery and some are matte. Butter Pecan consisted of two neutrals that were a very basic matte that will work great for day to day looks, especially for work. Again, if you want it to stay put, you'll use a primer of some sort.

Brightening Eye Liner- Ugh, not my favorite. I got this in Plum and I found that it was too hard and too oily at the same time. How's that possible? Well, it was hard to apply- it seemed almost like the liner needed to warm up next to my skin. With a little bit of force, I did manage to get it to work, but the color was too waxy- it didn't show up at all! It did show up on my hand, but I think the delicate surface of the eye area won't allow it to really pick up color. Even after going over the same like about 4 more times, I finally got a hint of color, but it wasn't well pigmented. It faded away within about 3 minutes of the application. That's not even the worst part, the next day I got a pimple on my lower lash line where I had used it! I'm not 100 percent sure that it's due to the eye liner, but it's pretty suspicious- oily product equals nasty skin. I've never had a zit in such a weird place before. However, I was determined to find a use for this product, I'm not one to even waste a dollar! I ended up shading my entire eye lid up to my crease and used it as a sort of base to a purple shadow. The best thing that can be said about this liner is that it comes with a sharpener... at least you can use that!

Eyeliner and Shadow Stick- This is a part of the Studio line. It's more expensive at a whooping $3. I'm half way in love with this product, but also half way wanting to cast it from my makeup collection. So I bought this in Pearl/Glow, the liner side being the pearl color, and the shadow side is a pinkish pearl, but to be honest, they look the same on skin. The liner is beautiful and creamy, I use it to highlight the inner corner of my eyes and it blends really well into the rest of my eye makeup. The shadow however, is pretty crappy. It has a lumpy consistency and somewhat tacky in feel. The quality of the product isn't all that great, the shadow keeps falling out. But, I do love the idea of the product and one end, but it probably isn't worth it for the price. I know, I know, three dollars, who cares? Well, I think I'd rather put that 3 dollars towards a MAC shade stick then continue to buy these.

Mineral Lip Liner- Got this in Peachy. I really should have read the reviews, it's actually a really bright coral color. It's a decent lip liner, but honestly- I'd rather buy something available from the drug store like Maybelline or Rimmel. Better bang for the buck. It does come in a nice twist up pen, but I'm too disappointed in what I received to want to try other colors, especially if they aren't true to their names/ the swatch shown online.

False Lashes- Fantastic! I can't wrap my head around the fact that they are a dollar a pair! I like the Dramatic black ones, they're pretty good quality. I can even reuse them if I want to, but they are pretty delicate. The eyelash glue that comes with it is somewhat dubious, I highly recommend to always use DUO Lash Adhesive. I put in another order for the Hollywood set from the Studio line, which is $3 for a pair of really wild looking lashes, a lash stand and a lash applicator. Again, I'd like to buy about 10 pairs of these lashes and at these prices, I really can afford to toss them out on a whim.

What really helps when buying e.l.f. products are the reviews from other people on the site. A general rule of thumb is that if it's 4.5 stars or higher, it's pretty great and well worth the price. 4 stars and lower, it's proceed with caution and buy at your own risk.
They also have mineral makeup which is a little more expensive but still very very cheap, and since it's 1/2 off right now, I'm going to put in another order for some, but I think I'll be buying it for Christmas presents, so I don't know if I'll get to review any. I will however, treat myself to some more and let you know how it goes!

Brushes (II)- Want

Friday, November 13, 2009

So once you have the basic brushes, there's a few extra ones that make life a whole lot easier. I love having these brushes because it can get pretty tiring of using the same brush for multiple purposes, washing and drying them over and over is kind of a bitch.

Eye Blender Brush- There's really two different kind of eye blenders. The first is flatter, and has a rounded tip like so. This one is the MAC217 brush.

It's a bit pricey at $22.50 so I've found a few cheap alternatives.This is actually an artist's brush, made by Loew Cornell. It's a 1/2 Maxine Mop made of goat hair and you can find it on Amazon.

This is from CostalScents.com (If I could marry a website, this would be the one). It's a bit softer than the MAC217, but at $3.49 it will serve any savvy penny pincher just as well.

The second type of eye blender brush has longer fibers and round with a slightly tapered end(or just a round end). Looks something like this MAC222.

Again, a similar one from Costal Scents for $2.95. Being too soft is the only complaint I would have for CS brushes, so a little less control.

Lip Brush- Preferably the retractable kind, so you can stash it in a bag for on the go touch ups of lipsticks.

I prefer lip brushes made out of synthetic material because natural hairs tend to fall out more and stick to your lips. And nobody likes hair in their mouth.
Fan Brush- When you apply eyeshadow, there's usually some that falls off and sits on your cheeks, this brush is fantastic for lightly dusting it away. Also great for applying the lightest hint of bronzer or highlighting powder. If your fan brush comes with a plastic guard, keep it! It'll protect the hairs from getting bent. This brush is really easy to find at art supply stores for under $5.

Angled Eyebrow Brush- I like having two flat angled brushes, one smaller synthetic for eyeliner and another slightly bigger one made of natural fibers for eyebrows. Either use this brush to apply eyebrow shadow or for blending in eyebrow pencil. You want bristles that are firm but not too stiff, that will help control any products used. Again, head to your local Michael's or AC Moore for a big selection of cheap brushes.
Foundation Brush- Flat, synthetic with rounded tip. Only really useful for applying liquid foundation. Artist brushes make the best foundation brushes.

A Lasting Love With Your Brushes- Take care of them like they're your own infants.
Deep clean them with brush shampoo at least once every two weeks. Your face will thank you for it. Can you imagine all the bacteria, oil and skin cells that end up in your brushes and marinate there day after day? I recommend washing any brushes that touch foundation, concealer and lip products even more often because those products often contain different oils and can get pretty cakey on the brush. In addition, you want to do slight cleaning routine every day. Quick brush cleansers usually contain higher levels of alcohol so that they dry faster. I myself am guilty of not sticking to this- most of the time when I'm putting on makeup I'm in a rush. But this is essential if you use lots of different colors, you wouldn't want to end up with brown eyelids because you mixed up 3 days worth of bright colors on your eyeshadow brush would you?
Here's a recipe for brush shampoo. I'm not paying $11 dollars at MAC or $6-9 at Sephora for a bottle of the stuff when there's all the ingredients sitting at home. Enkore on YouTube has a great video for making some, but here's my simplified version (his version uses leave in conditioner, but why use that when you can use the regular kind?)
Brush Shampoo
1 empty bottle (I used an empty Clinique makeup remover bottle)
1 cup hot water (hot enough to dissolve shampoo and conditioner)
1 tablespoon conditioner
1 tablespoon shampoo/Johnson's baby wash or 1 teaspoon dish detergent (it's much more concentrated)
1 tablespoon rubbing alcohol
Don't bother using measuring spoons, just eyeball it. It's not worth doing dishes for.

Squirt the shampoo and conditioner into the empty bottle and pour in the hot water. Put the cap on and shake it up until everything is completely dissolved. Add rubbing alcohol. See, ridiculously easy.

I pour a tablespoon of the shampoo into a shot glass and swirl the brush around the bottom. Then I take it out and massage the suds through the fibers and rinse with cold water. You can shape them while they're wet back to their original shapes, but don't ever set them in a cup to dry! The water runs back into the metal part where the hairs are glued in and it can grow mold in there.
If any of your brushes get really frizzy or terribly out of shape(like I am), I suggest coating it with conditioner and shaping it, then letting it dry. Then the next day, rinse it off in cold water.
I'm working on a recipe for daily quick brush cleaning (which will probably come in installation III of Brushes-Super Want), similar to Bare Escentuals Quick Change ($18 for 3.7oz) but a cheap version is E.L.F's Daily Brush Cleaner ($3 for 8.5oz).