Brushes etc.

The Makeup Brush Collective Part 3: Brushes I use for Blush

January 13, 2017 Paris B 6 Comments

I hope you’ve found the Makeup Brush Collective Part 1 and Part 2 helpful or at least enjoyable! In Part 3, and the final part, I show you the brushes I use most often and the types of brushes I use for cheeks. While in this category there’s usually reference to bronzer, blush and highlighter, I only really use blush the most often. So, I’ll only show you that. I don’t use bronzer, and highlighter is used only sparingly.

The Makeup Brush Collective: Brushes I use for blush

Blush is a weakness of mine, and you’d think that this would be the category where I own or use the most brushes. Well, you’d be wrong actually, because I’d actually worked out quite quickly what worked and what didn’t for me, and what sort of brush I preferred! Also, I’m not very experimental when it comes with blush LOL!

Don’t forget, you have to tell me what your favourite blush brushes are too! 😀

The Makeup Brush Collective Part 2 : Brushes I use for Eye Makeup

January 11, 2017 Paris B 10 Comments

We follow on from Part 1 of the Brush Collective (where I showed you my preferred brushes for face makeup) and head to the brushes I use for eye makeup. This is rather lengthy, as there is a lot for me to show you! Not because I’m showing off, but because I use different types of brushes for different applications and there are different brushes in each category.

I was never good at applying eye makeup. I actually started out using my fingers (which I still use in a pinch especially with cream eyeshadow sticks). Over the years however, with a lot of experimentation, I’d worked out the type of brushes I liked to use for a specific purpose, simply to make my life easier. I’m no professional makeup artist and I’m not even very good at doing eye makeup, so if you’re just like me, then these suggestions may help you get that one step closer to better looking eyeshadow application 🙂

The Makeup Brush Collective Part 1 : Brushes I use for the face – Liquid Foundation and Powder

January 9, 2017 Paris B 22 Comments

I received some eagle-eyed queries not long ago about makeup brushes and why I’d stopped writing about them. Well, it’s not for want of owning them. I am still mad about my makeup brushes, in particular Japanese made natural hair brushes, but I’ve reached my optimum satisfaction point – anything after this would be diminishing utility <- economics! argh! LOL

So, I’ve stopped buying and ogling the beautifully crafted Japanese makeup brushes (my wallet thanks me profusely), and am quite content with what I own. Also, I own A LOT. It’s embarrassing for someone who isn’t even a makeup artist, nor wears that much makeup daily. So, instead of pulling them out one by one to feature here on the blog, I’m going to talk about makeup brushes as a collective.

For this week, I’ll be featuring makeup brushes I use most often for face, eyes and cheeks. I’ll show you the type of brush, so you can find other options out there if you like, to see if the type of brush suits your makeup style. I’ll also tell you in gist how I work with these makeup brushes and why I use them and why I like them, if course.

We’ll kick off with makeup brushes for the face and lest I’m left to do all the talking, please let me know what your favourites are in this category too! 🙂

Contemplating if the Real Techniques Bold Metals brushes are Essentials or just hype

February 15, 2016 Paris B 12 Comments

Real Techniques makeup brushes are among the most popular brushes among beauty buffs, primarily because they are affordable and more importantly, function very well. While I don’t own nor use any of their eye brushes, I do enjoy using their face brushes for blush and foundation. They’re soft and dense and do a good job, while being fairly easy on the pocket.

I suppose it was a matter of time before a new luxe line appeared. I remember the buzz when the new Real Techniques Bold Metals range of brushes was launched. They were pretty to look at, but much to everyone’s surprise, not light on the pocket. That resulted in a rather polarised opinion on these brushes.

While some loved them, and how pretty they looked, others felt that they weren’t up to mark and were too expensive.

I was curious about them for a while, but as with everything from Real Techniques, I had to wait until they were available on iHerb before I would buy, as I’ve found them to be more affordable than buying locally. I believe I might have gotten them when iHerb has their regular discounts on beauty products, but I can’t remember for sure, because it was a while ago. I do remember that I got free shipping by regular post, which takes up to a month to arrive to me in Kuala Lumpur from the USA, but I’m usually not fussed because regular airmail post usually escapes Customs’ scrutiny, unlike the faster DHL option, and that is more important to me. Besides, I was in no hurry. They were brushes – I have drawers full of brushes! LOL 😛

I happened to come across the Real Techniques Bold Metals Essentials collection, which is a set of 3 brushes – #103 Angled Powder brush, #200 Oval Shadow brush and #300 Tapered Blush brush. I thought it would be a good way to test out the brushes from this collection, and to see if they were worth spending money on. So, are they? 😀

Brushes etc.

I tell stories on Instagram @parisbmws